When LeBron James went down during the Detroit game, Shannon Brown joined fellow second-year pro Daniel Gibson in having to shoulder some of the load running the Cavalier offense. Each one has done their job in terms of producing individual points. However, the inside game has suffered greatly since James hurt his hand at Detroit. To start the season, the Cavs countered the other injuries and contract issues by leaning on their starting frontcourt, with Gibson being the fourth leading scorer. In each game without James, Zydrunas Ilgauskas has not scored his season average and has only gotten to take at least 10 Field Goal Attempts in one of those games. Drew Gooden, meanwhile, has been right around his season average in the absence of the leading scorer. While Gibson and Brown are showing improvements in their individual abilities, they need to continue to learn how to help run the offense. Early in games, they have managed to push the tempo and score on fast breaks. But once the Cavaliers stop getting fast breaks, the offense has sputtered. Gibson and Brown need to realize the importance of a strong inside game in keeping the offense going. Obviously, success inside helps open up the rest of the court. This includes the big men getting the ball in the post and passing to teammates cutting to the basket or spotting up on the perimeter. Especially in the case of the scoring-minded young guards, having a good passing center like Z can help alleviate the loss of James's ball-handling skills. When the guards fail to keep the big men actively involved in the offense, they make the defense's job much simpler. Thus, as the Cavaliers push hard to cover for LeBron's absence, they tire out before the opposition does, making the dreaded 3rd quarter swoon inevitable. Soon, LeBron will be back, but hopefully Gibson and Brown have taken advantage of the learning experience and will do a better job of helping run the offense from this point forward.
In accordance with the release of the new NBA 2K11 basketball video game, legendary Chicago Bulls shooting guard Michael Jordan has returned to the media's spotlight. That is, Michael Jordan has caught the sports world's attention by saying that today's NBA rules would have allowed him to score 100 points in a game. No one is questioning Michael Jordan's uncanny ability to make plays, create shots, and score points. Michael Jordan is right in saying that, overall, today's rules favor offensive players, particularly guards. Much less contact is allowed in defensive play; some of what was legal when Jordan played (such as forearms and handchecking) is now deemed personal foul-worthy. Furthermore, with a 30-team league, talent is spread out more than it used to be, and players--while on average are more athletic today--come into the league much less fundamentally sound. However, Michael Jordan has forgotten about the re-emergence of zone defense in the NBA. True,