Tonight is game six of the NBA Finals, and the season could reach its conclusion if Golden State takes the game, wrapping up the franchise’s fourth title since 2015.
However, most teams are looking forward to next season, and that kind of kicks off a week from today with the NBA Draft. For those hoping to be playing in the Finals, this is their first chance to start to improve their roster.
Since the Cavaliers did not make the playoffs this past season, making it only to the “play in” tournament, obviously they are a team that needs to get better so they can finish in the top six of the Eastern Conference standings in 2022-23.
Much of that improvement will come from experience. Remember, the wine and gold’s three best players are very young. All Stars Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen will be 22 and 24 respectively when next season begins.
And rookie of the year runner up (he was snubbed for the honor) Evan Mobley, will be 21. This trio will get better from experience if they put the time in on the practice floor.
That will make the team better.
And remember, if the Cavs can come to a contract extension with Collin Sexton this summer, he played just 11 games due to a knee injury and having him on the court will also improve the squad.
Conversely, how will Kevin Love play next season, a year in which he starts as a 34-year-old. His minutes were down to 22.5 per game, the lowest number of his career, as he embraced the bench role for J.B. Bickerstaff.
Love nailed 39.2% of his three-point attempts last season, his highest percentage 2017-18, the last time he made the All-Star team. He also played the most games since 2014-15, his first year in Cleveland, playing in 74 games.
We don’t anticipate much of a drop off for the veteran. He was happy last season because the Cavs were winning though, if they get off to a bad start, you have to wonder if Love will still be happy.
Bickerstaff and his staff need to be prepared to combat what other teams may do against the three seven foot front court starters the Cavaliers use. And if Caris LeVert is still here, how does the staff make best use of him.
The one criticism we had of the head coach was that he did a great job developing a style of play early in the year, but in the second half, they seemed to move away from it.
We get injuries were a factor, but the defense and rebounding did slide as the season went on, and that wasn’t due to injuries, the attitude seemed to change.
In conjunction with that, GM Koby Altman can’t have the end of the roster filled with G League guys and veterans there for locker room presence.
At the beginning of the season, Altman signed Kevin Pangos and Ed Davis for depth. While Davis contributed early, by the end of the season, he shouldn’t have been on the floor. As for Pangos, in his first NBA action, it was obvious he was not an NBA player.
That cannot happen again this off-season.
There are also players the organization needs to make decisions on, notably Cedi Osman and Dylan Windler.
It’s obvious the organization isn’t enamored with Osman, and most times, they don’t use his best skills (driving, creating). They seem to want to make him a three-point specialist.
Windler has had injuries and just hasn’t produced when he is on the court. Holding on to both doesn’t sound optimal.
Next year starts in one week. We will see if Altman has anything up his sleeve in moving playersa as the first round unfolds.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 