In Which I Lambaste Mike Brown (with a poke at Doc Rivers as well)

Cleveland "wasted" a "great" Kyrie Irving performance in losing to Atlanta in double OT last night. I'm using scare quotes generously here because Kyrie wasn't actually that good, using 41 possessions (!) to get his 40 points, while allowing Jeff Teague to go for 34 and 14 (using a slightly more efficient 33 possessions). And really, it was more or less a lot of the same one-on-one hero ball, the shots just happened to fall last night:
The critique of Brown here is that having Kyrie in the game and on Teague (instead of say Dellavedova or Jack guarding Teague) is that he either schemed "switch everything," which is a the correct strategy if up 3 (more below), or had to realize a switch was coming, basically allowing Atlanta to ensure a favorable look for themselves.
Oddly, at the end of regulation, up 3, the Cavs were not switching anything, allowing Teague a wide open look at the 3 which tied the game:
And to be fair to the Cavs, the individual breakdowns in terms of failing to totally account for time and score happens to well coached teams as well. A few weeks back, I looked at Dallas almost giving up a tying 3 in the same spot:
This "bracket" strategy, by the way, is how Boston played the end of game situation today - notice how Jeff Green is cognizant of his help both towards the baseline with Humhpries sagging off the inbounds passer as well as to the opposite side of the floor with Jordan Crawford and Avery Bradley:
Nor should Cleveland's management escape here. Their last few offseasons have been great examples of each individual move being defensible, but collectively showing no real plan of attack. Drafting Bennett and signing both Bynum and Earl Clark is curious - you just picked a guy first overall and are signing guys to either directly (Clark) or indirectly (Bynum, but shifting some of Varejao's time to the 4) who block his development, and doing so with players who are either barely above replacement level or huge gambles or both. Signing Jarrett Jack when he his 100% duplicative of Irving and Waiters was also questionable considering the gaping wing holes the team has. Brown seems to have finally realized his best lineups include all 3 guards together, but now his best lineups usually involve Jarrett Jack checking a small forward. This mismatch goes both ways, but through Jack's midrange heavy style, probably favors any opponent with a marginally competent offensive SF. covers half of a coaches job. The other half is motivating players. Between the Waiters/Irving feud and Bynum's apparent mental checkout, Brown appears to be failing on this note as well. Add to that his horrific handling of Anthony Bennett - up until today, he has received sporadic minutes and has been yanked at the first mistake. By not allowing Bennett to learn from his failures and mistakes, he has in effect assured his continued propensity for both. Not a great return for any high lotto pick let alone a #1 overall.
Nor should Cleveland's management escape here. Their last few offseasons have been great examples of each individual move being defensible, but collectively showing no real plan of attack. Drafting Bennett and signing both Bynum and Earl Clark is curious - you just picked a guy first overall and are signing guys to either directly (Clark) or indirectly (Bynum, but shifting some of Varejao's time to the 4) who block his development, and doing so with players who are either barely above replacement level or huge gambles or both. Signing Jarrett Jack when he his 100% duplicative of Irving and Waiters was also questionable considering the gaping wing holes the team has. Brown seems to have finally realized his best lineups include all 3 guards together, but now his best lineups usually involve Jarrett Jack checking a small forward. This mismatch goes both ways, but through Jack's midrange heavy style, probably favors any opponent with a marginally competent offensive SF.