Kenny Atkinson’s experiment may needs some work before it’s playoff ready.
De’Andre Hunter’s defensive versatility was among the first things Koby Altman, Cleveland Cavaliers President of Basketball Operations, brought up during his media availability shortly after completing the trade with the Atlanta Hawks. Specifically, he brought up his ability to guard centers if needed.
“De’Andre Hunter brings tremendous defensive versatility,” Altman said in February. “I would urge everyone on this call to watch his last game in an Atlanta Hawks uniform where they put him on Victor Wembanyama to guard. Not the easiest cover in the world, if you can imagine, but that shows you his versatility just in terms of guarding fives all the way to perimeter guards to wings.”
The second half of Friday’s win over the San Antonio Spurs was one of the first times they’ve done so, partly because Jarrett Allen sat out the final two quarters and Dean Wade missed the game due to illness.
This provided an opportunity for head coach Kenny Atkinson to test out some different small-ball lineups.
“I think of the big picture, that’s my job,” Atkinson said postgame. “I wanted to test this group too. We played that small ball lineup, really small, Dre at the five, see what that looks like. [We] experimented a little, got a look at it. That’ll be good information for playoff time.”
The experiment didn’t go well. Cavs were outscored by three in the five minutes Hunter played center and would’ve lost by more if the Spurs didn’t miss wide-open layups.
“It didn’t look great tonight,” Atkinson admitted. “We’ll see [if this is something we can turn to in the playoffs]. … I’ve seen it where you do have to go small, so I’m glad we got a look at it. We got film on it. We can take a deeper dive into it when we look at the minutes.”
So, let’s take a look at what happened on both sides of the ball in those minutes.
Reviewing the defense
The Cavs gave up baskets on the first three Spurs possessions Hunter played the five. Two of these buckets didn’t have anything to do with Hunter playing center. The other one you could partially pin on Hunter if you wanted. He didn’t help from the strong-side corner, but that isn’t a situation you always want to send help from.
Rebounding is always going to be a concern with any lineup that features Hunter playing the four. That’s exaggerated when he’s at center.
San Antonio grabbed three straight offensive rebounds at the end of the third quarter. They somehow came away with no points in that stretch, but the overall defensive process was bad.
Hunter’s lackluster screen navigation means that you have to naturally switch more actions when he’s on the court. This can lead to mismatches.
Here, Hunter was on the perimeter when the ball went up. He didn’t get back into the paint to help which left Donovan Mitchell to box out the 6’9” Sandro Mamukelashvili. Hunter didn’t arrive early enough to help (nor did the rest of his teammates). This led to an extra possession for San Antonio.
The offensive rebound right after that was a direct result of Hunter getting lost on two screens. He should’ve picked up Blake Wesley cutting to the basket instead of standing motionless at the free-throw line. It’s also fair to wonder what exactly Javonte Green was doing during this entire sequence.
This was just bad.
We know that your defense isn’t going to be great when you’re playing Hunter at the five. But you can’t also pair him with Green and expect things to work out. Atkinson talked about trying to get useful tape for the playoffs. There’s no chance this is a lineup configuration you’re going to see in a meaningful game.
The Cavs went back to Hunter at the five for just over a minute in the fourth quarter without Green on the court.
Below is a good example of how you want to play on the defensive end with Hunter at the five. Here, he does a good job of recognizing the switch, contesting the drive, and staying with the box out. That box out allowed Sam Merrill to come in and grab the rebound.
Unfortunately, they weren’t able to build on that solid possession. Hunter fell asleep and allowed a half-hearted cut from Julian Champagnie to result in an easy basket just a minute later.
It’s bad to lose focus like this when you’re on the court with phenomenal defensive bigs like Allen and Evan Mobley. It absolutely can’t happen if you’re the team’s only forward.
Reviewing the offense
Hunter playing the five is only intriguing because of what it can provide offensively. There’s a difference between having five players on the floor who can shoot and having five on the court that are guys you absolutely cannot help off of no matter the circumstances.
The play below illustrates how deadly a lineup like that can be, even though Merrill wasn’t able to knock down the open look.
A screen and roll from Strus caused the defense to panic. The weakside help defender sprinted down from the corner, but that left two defenders to guard Garland, Hunter, and Merrill. A cut from Hunter opened up a wide-open shot for Merrill.
This is absolutely what you want from a five-out lineup.
The other offensive possessions with Hunter at the five were similar. The cutting and driving lanes were completely wide open, and if you helped, the Cavs have good enough playmakers to find the open man every time.
These didn’t all result in baskets, but the shot quality was exceptional.
Final verdict
It’s easy to see why you’d want to use this in a break glass in case of emergency situation due to the offensive firepower. But if you’re going to do this, Hunter’s defensive focus needs to be considerably better than it was against San Antonio.
Hunter is a fine on-ball defender, but his lack of defensive awareness and poor screen navigation leave him susceptible to bad stretches like we saw against the Spurs. We know that it can look better when he is locked in, like he was in the first few weeks after the trade. If you get that version of Hunter, maybe this could work for a one or two-minute stretch in a playoff game.
Still, the best option for a lineup that could simulate this would be with Wade at the five and Hunter at the four. Those groups have similar offensive spacing (132.5 offensive rating in 80 possessions) with more defensive upside.
It’ll be interesting to see how these lineups, and other small-ball units, are used over these final five games with Allen getting more rest opportunities like he had against the Spurs. We’ll see if they can grow from what was a bad showing in San Antonio.