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When the Cleveland Cavaliers hired Kenny Atkinson as their next head coach, many thought Atkinson would reinvigorate the offense. Atkinson's offensive scheme is a precise, predicated motion-based offense. He wants to play with pace and make three-pointers while moving the ball and empowering his players to make the right reads. However, with the Cavs returning essentially the same group from last year early into training camp, the focus hasn't been 100% on offense. Instead, Atkinson shared that offense has been about 30% of what he and his staff have been working on with Cleveland's players. The major focus is their defense, centered around Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.
“[We want to] keep leaning on our defensive identify,” Atkinson said. “We kind of doubled down on that today. I think the guys were expecting all of this offense and a big offensive day, and I’d say 70% of the day was reinforcing that that’s still our identity.
“When you look at a team, the first thing you do is [figure out] their number one strength. I think to go away from that is a mistake. . . . And then [we want to] build the offense bit by bit. I don’t want to lose that identity. We’re going to double down on that.”
Atkinson's approach does make sense. The defense has indeed been this team’s identity. They’ve ranked no worse than sixth in defensive rating the last three seasons. In terms of defensive efficiency, which Atkinson shared is his tell-tale indicator, it's the same story. The Cavs have been a top-ten unit over the last three seasons and were the No. 1 team in defensive efficiency during the 2021-22 season.
“I don’t know how it is being a head coach, but I feel like you can’t come in and change the team’s identity,” Jarrett Allen said.
Atkinson isn’t trying to rebuild the wheel and do everything simultaneously for the Cavs. Instead, he's embracing Cleveland's core values and empowering their offensive abilities, little by little.
What did the Cavs work on offensively to start training camp?
While most of the focus was on defense to start training camp, Atkinson is still beginning to build Cleveland's new offense. While it might seem simple enough, Atkinson wants to create an offensive strength around offensive rebounding – especially with Mobley. Increasing offensive rebounds doesn’t make up for a lack of spacing, but it does help turn a disadvantage into a slight advantage. Your defender can’t box you out if they ignore you in the half-court or on the perimeter. Mobley can exploit ignorant defenders by using his new-found three-point shooting touch and playmaking vision to unlock the offense further.
Before training camp, Atkinson stressed the importance of having Mobley crash the glass and break out in transition. He continues reiterating that he wants to see Mobley do this more often this season, and it's been a focus early into training camp. This is all an effort to get Mobley more comfortable handling the ball. Atkinson pointed out that the spacing concerns are somewhat neutralized when you only have one big player playing off-ball. Allen also liked to see this from Mobley.
“We had him handling in the pick-and-roll and had somebody else set the ball screen,” Allen said. “It just opened up the floor so much. I’m in the dunker’s [spot], he’s at the top of the key. Usually, it’s one or both of us in the paint, clogging up the paint. Now it feels like there’s a lot more room for us to work with.”
Becoming a better shooter is the most straightforward path to creating more space. Mobley’s shot did look better on Monday, which is encouraging. However, becoming a better shooter isn’t Atkinson’s goal. He wants Mobley to be a complete basketball player and a central piece in Cleveland's offense.
