After a four-game trip that started well in Miami, the Cleveland Cavaliers dropped the final three games and now seem to be at a crossroads. Their record has dropped to just two games over .500 at 14-12, and Friday, they received bad news.
Two of their starters, Darius Garland and Evan Mobley, will be out for extended periods due to injury, Garland with a broken jaw, and Mobley is having arthroscopic surgery on his knee. Garland will miss approximately three to four weeks, and Mobley six to eight weeks.
As we said last week, the Cavs’ season has been weird, filled with several injuries, and with extended absences of two starters, the depth will really be tested.
We have complained about the make-up of the Cleveland roster for a while now, so coach J.B. Bickerstaff will have his hands full trying to keep his team in playoff contention, because injuries or not, missing the post-season after last season’s 51-win campaign, would be a disappointment.
We would assume that the loss of Garland means the ball will be put in Donovan Mitchell’s hands, and he is averaging 5.1 assists per night, and frankly, has been better with the ball than Garland in terms of turnovers this season, averaging one less per game.
That would move Max Strus to the two guard, giving the wine and gold a more traditional sized backcourt. However, moving Strus creates an opening at the small forward spot, and therein lies the roster construction problem.
Bickerstaff likes to bring Caris LeVert off the bench, so the candidates to start at small forward would seem to be Isaac Okoro or Georges Niang. Dean Wade might have been a choice as well, but he’s probably the starter in Mobley’s spot.
You would think a player who was the fifth overall pick should be the starter, but Okoro still is not a viable option offensively, so it is difficult to give him extended minutes because opponents don’t feel the need to guard him.
So, we would probably go with Niang, because it would seem to spread the floor for Mitchell. Having Strus, Niang, and Wade on the court together could give Cleveland the ultimate floor spacing.
There is a flaw to this though, and that is Wade is nowhere near the rebounder that Mobley is. On a per 36 minute basis, Wade gets 7.5 rebounds, compared to Mobley’s 11.2.
Wade needs to show up once and for all. The organization has a much higher opinion of him than we do, and now would be a good time to see why.
We have talked about the lack of big man depth for the Cavaliers for some time now, and here we are again. For some reason, Bickerstaff seems reticent to use Tristan Thompson on a regular basis, even though the veteran is just 32-years-old.
We know Thompson is offensively challenged, but he can still defend on rebound (he gets 11.3 boards per 36 minutes). He going to have to be out there every night now, we would think.
Garland’s injury would seem to force rookie Craig Porter Jr. on the court. He’s been impressive in limited appearances, and this should give him an opportunity to see if he can adjust since defenses will see him more often.
And as for the big men, maybe we will see Damian Jones and/or Isaiah Mobley get an opportunity to see some minutes.
The Cavaliers have a top heavy roster, with five very good players (Mitchell, Garland, Jarrett Allen, Mobley, and LeVert). Now, two of those guys will be missing for a while, and they will need more from the everyone. That doesn’t mean hoisting up more shots either.
They just need everyone to do a little more. For example, Mitchell to be more of a distributor, Allen, a couple more buckets per game, etc.
If players don’t step up, the Cavs might have too deep of a hole to dig out of when Garland and Mobley get back.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 