CAVS.SPACE

Atlanta Hawks: They are quietly one of the Eastern Conference's best teams.  With primarily the same core group in place, their chemistry and team defense overcome their individual deficiencies.  They are playoff-bound again this year, but they will need a breakout performance from someone--possibly the aging Tracy McGrady--in order to defeat the Heat, Bulls, or Celtics in the playoffs. Boston Celtics: It is too early to panic regarding the Celtics' early season struggles.  Paul Pierce is the heart of their offense and is a reliable matchup defender.  The main change to their rotation should be to separate Kevin Garnett and Jermaine O'Neal--both big men can still rebound and block shots but lack speed and lateral quickness due to constant knee problems, leaving the Celtics weak against faster-paced play when they are on the court together. Charlotte Bobcats: The Bobcats have a decent mix of veterans and young players with an experienced head coach in Paul Silas.  How

Despite going on the road, the Cavaliers played much better in game number two of the 2011-2012 campaign, beating the Pistons in Detroit.  As was seen tonight under the guidance of coach Byron Scott and staff, tenacity on both sides of the court will serve this young Cavaliers team well.  Those who watched the first two games of the season could tell the Cleveland defense improved from its opening night performance at home versus Toronto.  Here are some other observations from the first two games. Scouting is Critical: The Cavs did a good job of carrying over their scouting from the two preseason games into the game against the Pistons.  The team forced the Pistons--who have a lot of players that like to score off the dribble--into some tough shots, including forced jump shots after ball swings with the shot clock winding down.  Moreover, the Cavs exposed the Pistons' underdeveloped chemistry through smooth passing on offense.  During the game, it was obvious that Detroit's

Awards MVP: Kevin Durant Rookie of the Year: Kyrie Irving Defensive Player of the Year: Rajon Rondo Sixth Man of the Year: Shannon Brown Most Improved Player: Shannon Brown All-Star Game MVP: Derrick Rose Stats Leaders (random order) Points: Kevin Durant / Derrick Rose / LeBron James Rebounds: Kevin Love / Dwight Howard / Blake Griffin Assists: Steve Nash / Rajon Rondo / Chris Paul Steals: Russell Westbrook / Rajon Rondo / Chris Paul Blocks: Serge Ibaka / Josh Smith / Dwight Howard

The NBA Championship will likely be won by one of the following teams (in no particular order): Eastern Conference: Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, Boston Celtics Western Conference: Oklahoma City Thunder, Dallas Mavericks, Memphis Grizzlies, San Antonio Spurs Why can they win the NBA championship? Bulls:   With a healthy lineup, the team boasts stellar rebounding and defense, the reigning MVP (Derrick Rose), and a bonafide clutch playoff perimeter shooter (Rip Hamilton), giving the team more firepower than last season to challenge the other top contenders. Heat:  The offense will benefit from LeBron James and Chris Bosh posting up more this season, while key acquisitions Norris Cole and Shane Battier give the team additional talent at the point guard position and a consistent wing defensive stopper; Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller remain strong bench contributors. Celtics:  Playoff experience and team chemistry remain strengths as an aging core seeks one more championship run wh

Christmas Day is here, meaning that the 2011-2012 NBA regular season is ready to begin!  With several moves made by teams prior to and after the lockout, team chemistry has changed for most teams. As always, team chemistry rankings are a relative concept; in evaluating this preseason's rankings, teams were believed to be in one of three tiers: 1st-11th, 12th-22nd, or 23rd-30th.  For example, while the defending champion Dallas Mavericks rank 5th in the season's first list, the Miami Heat rank 8th; both teams have had some upgrades and changes to their rosters and appear to have about the same quality of team chemistry.  By ranking, the Sacramento Kings are not that far behind at 12th, but their chemistry is thought to be quite a bit behind the Mavericks and Heat. Ranking at the top is one of the teams favored to win the NBA championship this season: the Oklahoma City Thunder.  The Thunder made minimal changes to their roster and did a good job of creating better team balanc

In sports, analysts and media outlets across the country regularly post power rankings.  Likewise, analysts and media outlets also post preseason capsules to predict teams' regular season records.  For the most part, these rankings are based on past and recent wins and losses, various statistics, and other subjective observations.  Team chemistry is occasionally mentioned but oftentimes is completely excluded from these official ranking processes.   This season, I have decided to start posting periodic rankings of team chemistry across the NBA.  This should give an additional perspective in regards to evaluating how well teams are developing, how well players are getting along, how well players function together within each team, and how much injuries and roster transactions affect teamwork.  Isolating team chemistry as a separate evaluation tool may suggest how well teams are prepared to handle the challenges of playoff basketball.  There is no standard statistical process f

Baron Davis Amnesty Clause Release:  This was a tough call to make, as Davis brought leadership and confidence to the Cavs last year, not to mention the Clippers' #1 pick, which was used to draft Kyrie Irving.  Davis will still be paid while his back injury heals, and his departure clears up space both in the salary cap and on the roster--a win-win for all involved. It should be pretty exciting to see Irving, Ramon Sessions, and Daniel Gibson get their time--Sessions and Gibson showed very good court chemistry together last year.  Likewise, the on-court chemistry of Anthony Parker and Omri Casspi should make the offense look a lot more fluent.  Lastly, having Anderson Varejao back in the lineup with Tristan Thompson coming off the bench should help build up the defense's identity.  Defense is as important to coach Byron Scott as it was to coach Mike Brown; many analysts and fans miss the fact that Scott's playoff teams in New Jersey and New Orleans ranked in the Top 5 in

*Originally published on Yahoo! Contributor Network in 2011. In his first year as Cavaliers head coach, Byron Scott led the rebuilding team to a 19-63 record.  In his previous head coaching stints, Scott managed to lead the New Jersey Nets back to the playoffs within 2 seasons and the New Orleans Hornets back to the playoffs within 4 seasons.  While reaching the playoffs this season may be quite a stretch for the current Cavs team, a review of past statistics can help clarify Scott’s strategies to improve the offensive and defensive play.     Improving Execution of the Princeton Offense Regarding pace (estimated possessions per game), the Cavaliers last season played at a faster pace than any of Scott’s past teams (93.0 possessions per game).  Relatively speaking, the pace was 10th fastest in the league, which was comparable to the pacing of his offenses with the Nets (12th-91.8, 9th-91.8, 10th-91.6).  However, Scott’s Hornets teams always ran one of the 10 slowest paced offen

The NBA has had a new active collective bargaining agreement (CBA) for only a few days now, but there have been a lot of roster transactions with more rumors, negotiations, and moves ahead.  Here is a look at some of the early moves. Irving, Thompson, and Casspi to the Cavaliers.   The Cleveland Cavaliers drafted Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson and acquired Omri Casspi as potential franchise cornerstones.  In the process, the team traded away popular rising post player J.J. Hickson.  The Cavs have some decisions to make regarding the amnesty clause with Baron Davis, re-signing Anthony Parker, and trading Ramon Sessions.  While Irving has drawn many comparisons to Chris Paul, the team would be better served to keep Davis or Sessions in front of Irving for at least his rookie year.  While Paul had two full years of highly competitive NCAA basketball at Wake Forest, Irving had one injury-shortened season of 11 games at Duke.  Past point guard apprenticeships for the Cavs include Mark