Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Sacramento Kings player grades

Kevin Love: A+

One of the lone bright spots for the Cavs on the night, Love was dynamic against the Kings, especially in the second half. Cleveland did a good job of team rebounding, so the fact he only came away with five rebounds didn’t hurt the team during his minutes.

J.R. Smith: A-

Smith bounced back from a disappointing first half with a strong second half. He scored 15 points on on 5-7 shooting from deep and pulled down six rebounds. The Cavs need much more production out of both Smith and Thompson if they want to raise their ceiling, so this is a welcomed step in the right direction.

Jae Crowder: B+

One of the few players to play defense on the night, Crowder played hard throughout the night and was one of four players with a positive plus/minus, along with Love, Smith, and Calderon. His outside shot is still an adventure, but he has found a way to make a positive impact on a consistent basis.

Jose Calderon: B

Shoutout to Calderon for the Delly special. 1 point, 1 assist on 0-2 shooting, yet a +13 in a 14 point loss. Is that meaningful? Probably not. But he was not disastrously bad on a night where most players were.

LeBron James: B-

A lackluster performance days before his birthday with a trip to Napa on the mind? Sounds like a late December game for LeBron. Of course his floor is still incredibly high, recording a 16 point, 14 assist, 10 rebound triple double. However, his defense was disastrous and he shot just 6-17 from the floor in a bad loss. It’s the type of performance that would net the 2017 MVP, but still beneath the level of play we are accustomed to seeing from LeBron this year.

Channing Frye: B-

Frye played 10 forgettable minutes, but did contribute with fivd points and two rebounds on 2-4 shooting. While he provides spacing, on nights where the team needs stops to turn the game around he just doesn’t provide them with an opportunity to do so.

Jeff Green: C+

It wasn’t a terrible performance from Green, scoring eight points on 4-9 shooting. But we’ve become accustomed to Green providing energy off the bench, and he simply played uninspired basketball.

Kyle Korver: C

Korver played hard, but just couldn’t find a rhythm on the night. He finished with nine points on 3-9 shooting and was a team-worst -27.

Tristan Thompson: C

I understand that Thompson is working his way back into game-shape and trying to get over his injuries, but he can’t be beat down the floor by Zach Randolph. The team really doesn’t have another choice other than to play him and hope he turns things around. But if he can’t by the trade deadline, they’ll need to face some hard decisions.

Dwyane Wade: D+

When the bench plays as poorly as they did on the night, the blame falls on Wade. He had zero feel for the game and was a non-factor in his 19 minutes.