I don't know if they will get much better. Miami with the big 3 was a different beast. Lebron and Wade both were good to great defensive players when dialed in, and Bosh wasn't horrible (he at least tried). They also had Joel Anthony and Mario Chalmers, both of whom played defense. With the Cavs you have Verajao in the middle (doesn't intimidate anyone except hairdressers) and Love, who has never played defense since stepping foot onto an NBA court (he wouldn't be very good at it even if he tried). Irving is also guilty of not playing good defense during his career. Yes he gets steals, but he would be out of position and generally not very interested in playing defense. When have you ever seen Irving in a low defensive stance, hands up, with a look on his face saying "I dare you to try and score on me." Never. Their problem isn't scoring, it's defense. While I am sure it will improve some, they don't have the personnel to be great on that end. It's why I think come playoff time, Chicago would win the series, especially if D-Rose is playing.
their problem is, indeed, on the defensive end. while kyrie irving and dion waiters are worthy culprits to pinpoint, lebron has also been uncharacteristically lazy on that side of the court. most importantly, though, is the fact that their bigs simply can't defend the interior. this season, anderson varejao is giving up a mediocre 50% shooting at the rim, and kevin love is giving up a ridiculous 61% shooting at the rim...
the problem with love is the same problem that kings fans long feared would plague demarcus cousins: that, for all of their offensive skill, you couldn't build a winner around them because they were below average interior defenders. the difference is that cousins made strides on defense last season, and he's completely transformed his game on the defensive end to begin this season. based on the stats so far for '14-'15, cousins is an outright defensive anchor, whereas love only appears to be getting worse on that end. cousins has the tools, the size, the desire. love can match cousins for footwork, but he doesn't have the size or the desire to become even a league-average defender...
in cleveland, love has essentially become the most expensive stretch-4 in league history. he's getting very few post-up opportunities, and three-pointers are constituting about 40% of his attempts from the field--by far the largest percentage of his career. he's also shooting 40% from the field in total--by far the lowest percentage of his career (not counting the '12-'13 season in which he only played 18 games). love went to cleveland assuming he was going to be the robin to lebron's batman, but irving is clearly playing the #2 role, and that appears to be problematic for love. he's not getting quality shots within the flow of the offense, and he's clearly feeling displaced because of it. as a result of his fluctuating role, he's also clearly dogging it on the defensive end, and he's never been a good defender to begin with!
the cavs are a mess, at the moment, and if they don't sort it out, i fully expect love to pull a dwight howard and jump ship from the super team in order to find a more comfortable role elsewhere...
