Offensive Four Factors: Cleveland Cavaliers

Offensive Four Factors - Cleveland Cavaliers


Our next post in this series will highlight the offensive of the NBA's second worst offense, the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Marred by the loss of LeBron James, most NBA prognosticators felt that a serious drop in offensive efficiency was in order - it's safe to say these people were correct.  The Cavaliers offense scored barely over one point per possession.  Let's figure out why.

Cleveland Cavaliers


Offensive Rating - 102.2 (29th)

Offensive Four Factors Performance


eFG%: 47.2% (28th)
TOV: 13.4% (15th)
OREB: 24.2% (25th)
FTA/FGA: .233 (11th)

The two things that jump right out were their poor shooting and poor rebounding numbers.  The 5 players who played the heaviest minutes were JJ Hickson, Ramon Sessions, Anthony Parker, Daniel Gibson and Antwan Jamison.  None of these players are particularly great shooters, especially Sessions, Hickson, and Jamison, the three players who took on the heaviest offensive roles.

The same holds true for rebounding.  Outside of Anderson Varejao, Cleveland had little in the way of competent big-man play.  There are teams who are able to offset the handicap of poor shooting with above average offensive rebounding.  Cleveland was not one of those teams, as they performed well enough in the other 2 factors.

Much like Milwaukee's low turnover numbers helped save them from a historically bad offense, Cleveland's ability to get to the line with a decent amount of frequency coupled with their league average ball protection helped save them from being a complete and utter laughing stock.