Cavaliers Impressed With David Blatt’s Offense
Rookie NBA head coach David Blatt started training camp with his Cleveland Cavaliers team this week and is receiving early praise from his players on the offense being put in place. Blatt’s Princeton offense (where he played college ball) is predicated on reading and reacting, constant ball and player movement, screening, and cutting.
Mike Miller has reportedly called the offensive system “borderline genius” and LeBron James has apparently already learned the offense from all five positions on the floor.
The latest from the Cavs on Blatt’s offense, via Brendan Bowers of SLAM:
Brendan Haywood: I like his offense a lot. There’s great ball movement, which is very key in the game of basketball. There isn’t as much of one-on-one. There’s a lot of the ball being kicked from one side of the court to another, which is important. But I said ‘Spurs-esque’ because it’s really all about ball movement—like how the Spurs create those mismatches with defenses by moving the ball so precisely. It doesn’t let the defense lock in on one guy.
Shawn Marion: But it’s really free-flowing, like I said. The ball really moves. By moving the ball like that, we should be able to keep some offensive pressure up on teams. Spacing is really important too. Both forward positions are interchangeable and it’s important for guys to get to their spots.
Joe Harris: I really enjoy the offense overall. It’s great for guys like myself and James and Mike Miller because it gives you spacing to knock down shots. Then that opens things up for our playmakers, LeBron, Kyrie, Dion, those guys can really attack the basket and create off the bounce with that spacing.
The additions of LeBron James and Kevin Love to form an elite trio with point guard Kyrie Irving has the focus on offense for the revamped Cavaliers. Brendan Haywood called it “Spurs-esque”, which is now the model for offensive basketball since this past NBA Finals. Blatt certainly has the talent in place, and so far his players are embracing his vision for their style of play.