As we hit the quarter pole in the NBA season, and the much awaited in-season tournament championship game (sarcasm intended), we find the Cleveland Cavaliers a bit of a weird team.
Part of it is the injuries that have plagued J.B. Bickerstaff’s squad all season. Cleveland has just two players, newcomers Max Strus and Georges Niang, who have played all 22 games thus far and only Strus has started all of them.
The Cavs currently sit at 13-9 on the year, good enough to be 6th in the Eastern Conference standings, but they have also won 9 of their last 12 games, so they are trending in a positive direction.
The have already lost six home games in 2023-24, more than any other team in the East that is above .500, and their 7-3 road record is tied with Minnesota and Oklahoma City for the best in the NBA.
Among those seven wins are quality victories at New York (6-3 at home), Philadelphia (8-3), and Miami, always a tough place to win for Cleveland.
That mark will be put to the test starting Monday when the Cavaliers travel to Orlando and then Boston for a pair of contests Tuesday and Thursday. Those teams currently have the best records in the East.
Cleveland started the season trying to push the pace, as most teams say they want to do, but have slowed things down a bit, and this has allowed them to play better on the defensive end of the floor, which has been their calling card.
They are playing faster than last season, when they ranked last in pace, as they are currently 18th. Defensively, they have dropped from first last year, to 8th right now, probably due to the faster pace, but really, anything in the top ten is very respectable.
Koby Altman tried to improve the wine and gold’s long distance shooting from a year ago by bringing in Strus and Niang, but Cleveland has actually dropped in three-point shooting percentage from 36.7% to 34.8%. They have taken about the same number per game, right around 32 per contest.
Niang, in particular, was off to a dreadful start from long distance, but over his last 10 games has knocked down 21 of 48 from beyond the arc, a 43.8% clip more in line with his career mark of 40%.
Darius Garland’s numbers in this area are way below his norm, making just 32.5% from three, and his lifetime mark is over 38%.
Donovan Mitchell is also down from a year ago at 35.7% compared to a 38.6% mark in his first year in Cleveland. We would like to see Mitchell attack more, particularly late in games.
You have to figure both of them will get it going from outside and then we can see the offensive potential of this group.
We would still like to see Altman find another solid big man at or before the trading deadline. Tristan Thompson has been better than expected when he’s played, but we don’t know if he can perform that well on a nightly basis.
He has provided solid to very good defense and rebounding when he has played but has played more than 10 minutes in just nine games so far.
We would also like to see Bickerstaff find more minutes for Craig Porter Jr. The rookie usually does well when called upon, but at times, he seems to be forgotten by the coaching staff. If he can be a solid backup at guard, that will help the depth greatly.
There is an adage that the NBA season doesn’t start until Christmas, which is only two weeks away. Quite frankly, we felt this current stretch would be tough for the Cavs, but they won the first two.
The Eastern Conference is tougher this year with the emergence of Orlando and Indiana, so the season will be a challenge for the Cavaliers. Let’s hope their best basketball is ahead of them.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 