We always thought the Cleveland Cavaliers would get involved when Donovan Mitchell was traded, but not in a million years did we think the Cavs would be the team getting the three-time All-Star.
First, kudos to Koby Altman and Mike Gansey for swinging for the fences and getting a player that is one of the top 20 players in the league, and they didn’t have to surrender either Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, or Evan Mobley.
However, the proof will be when the wine and gold take the court in the regular season.
Going into the off-season, we felt the Cavaliers needed to shore up the small forward spot (#3) and get more outside shooting.
After this deal, those needs are still there, and we also didn’t like the small backcourt when it was manned by Garland and Collin Sexton, who was sent the Jazz in this trade. Guess what, Mitchell is only 6’1″, so Cleveland is still small at guard.
Ochai Agbaji was supposed to help with the shooting, and he was also sent west in this transaction, and Lauri Markkanen was part of the unique trio of seven footers J.B. Bickerstaff started last season and was a problem for opposing teams.
He’s gone too.
Mitchell is a dynamic scorer, averaging 23.9 points per game in his career, but our question with him (and we aren’t going to hide it now) has always been can he be the best player on a title contending team? We don’t think he is.
However, that could be a moot point because soon, maybe this year, Mobley will be the wine and gold’s best player, and by the way, we also said that a year ago when people were debating about Garland, Sexton, or Allen.
Last season, Mitchell averaged 20.5 shots per game, and Cleveland’s leader was Garland at 17.3. No doubt, this is the most talented team Mitchell has played with. With Utah, the Jazz’ second best player (or best early in Mitchell’s career) was Rudy Gobert, a great defensive player but not someone defenses focused on.
The third best player was Joe Ingles, who we really like as a player, or Mike Conley or Bojan Bogdanovich. In Cleveland, we will play with two All-Stars from last year in Garland and Allen, and Mobley.
If the Cavs’ trio from last year keep improving, and they should they are all very young, especially Garland and Mobley, Bickerstaff would seem to have a quartet of very good players to build around.
So hopefully, Mitchell comes in with a “just want to win” attitude and isn’t hung up on number of shots he gets or points he scores.
Again, we don’t know that he thinks that way either.
Who replaces Markkanen as a starter? We would try Caris LeVert or Cedi Osman there, because he’s a better offensive threat and taller than Isaac Okoro.
That assumes Altman and Gansey are done making moves this off-season, and we know they are always looking to improve the roster.
If LeVert starts, the bench would be made up of Kevin Love, Okoro, Osman, and we would guess Lamar Stevens and Dean Wade.
Not a lot of shooting in that group except for Love, and really Okoro and Stevens are very similar players.
We have seen speculation that Okoro could start, but maybe Stevens is a better choice unless Okoro makes a big leap offensively. At the end of last season, other teams stopped guarding the second-year player out of Auburn, and that causes problems for the offense.
Again, perhaps another move is coming.
Give the Cavs tremendous credit for going out and getting perhaps the best player on the market this off-season. Should bring a lot of excitement to Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse this winter.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 