The Cleveland Cavaliers open their 50th NBA season Wednesday night in Orlando, and the big question for the team right now, is will they be the worst team in the league this season.
Last year, they won 19 games, the second worst mark in the NBA, but they didn’t have Kevin Love for much of the campaign, he played in just 22 games.
Having him back healthy would seem to make the wine and gold better just on its own merits, but add in a year of experience for Collin Sexton and the fifth overall pick in last June’s draft in Darius Garland, and you would think an improvement would be likely.
Unfortunately, the injury bug has already bit the team hard, leaving new coach John Beilein very frustrated.
Two big men who figured to see a lot of time in 2019-20, John Henson and Ante Zizic, have missed a lot of time early, and likely won’t be ready for Opening Night.
That leaves Love and Tristan Thompson as the only experienced big men on the roster, and makes using the former at center at times a must.
The Cavs’ organization has ignored big people in the past, and this year, there still isn’t depth at that spot.
Cleveland does have only 13 players on the roster right now, so a move or two will probably be made before Wednesday night.
Sexton and Garland should be the starters at guard Wednesday, but injuries have hurt the depth. Brandon Knight has missed time in camp, and Matthew Dellavedova sprained his thumb in the last exhibition season, making his availability questionable.
This means a lot of minutes for Jordan Clarkson, who also seems to be the back up for Cedi Osman at small forward. This means Kevin Porter Jr., who is another rookie may have to get meaningful time early in the season.
Another injury has put the Cavs’ other first round pick, four year college player Dylan Windler out of the lineup. The shooter would probably have been Osman’s primary back up, but with him out, that role falls to Clarkson and Porter.
The front office claimed Tyler Cook from Denver on waivers, and he is more of a stretch four, but although he is also a four year college player, he has no professional experience.
So, when the season tips off later this week, Beilein has two veterans to count on in Love and Thompson, two young players with some experience in Osman and Clarkson, and a bunch of guys who are either 19 or 20 years old, or are new to the NBA.
That’s a tough way to try to win games right away. Hopefully, Henson, Knight, and Dellavedova will be back fairly soon to lend some wise heads to the mix, and the coaching staff has no option to ease a kid like Porter into the fray.
It’s easy to say just throw the kids in and see what happens, but that makes for one helluva learning curve.
And sometimes, that ruins a player or severely retards their development. That’s why you see a lot of first round picks not put it all together until they go to a second team, or go back to the G League to get playing time.
Patience is going to be a key for the coaching staff to be sure, and early on, the Cavs should lean on Love, and try to run as many set to get shots for Love, Garland, and Sexton.
It may be a couple of months before we see any definitive progress for this year’s Cavaliers.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 