Will the Cleveland Cavaliers have issues on defense?
The Cleveland Cavaliers have had an all-time great offseason. They convinced the game’s best player, forward LeBron James, to return and now they have agreed to trade swingman Andrew Wiggins and forward Anthony Bennett to the Minnesota Timberwolves for star power forward Kevin Love.
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The Cavaliers should be one of the elite teams in the league, but many believe defense could be a problem. Jabari Davis of Basketball Insiders takes a look at the defense of the Cavaliers.
"Offensively, it’s a really fun problem for Coach Blatt to have…but I do wonder what he’s going to be able to come up with on the other end of the court.Waiters may have butted heads with Kyrie in the past, but with LeBron and KLove (eventually) in the lineup, he’ll simply have to fall in line at this point, if we’re being honest about things. That isn’t exactly a defensive unit by any stretch of the imagination, but I would imagine they will feel confidently in their ability to simply outscore teams on many nights and do “just enough” on the defensive end while they are developing their schemes in the early going."
James averaged 27.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 1.6 steals per game while shooting 56.7% from the field, 37.9% from three and 75.0% from the charity stripe last season. Love averaged 26.1 points, 12.5 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game last season while shooting 45.7% from the field, 37.6% from three and 82.1% from the charity stripe last season. Irving put up 20.8 points, 6.1 assists, 3. rebounds and 1.5 steals per game while shooting 43.0% from the field, 35.8% from beyond the arc and 86.1% from the free throw line.
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