Guards Need To Get Clase Back To Being Clase

We are sure many Cleveland Guardians’ fans are concerned about Emmanuel Clase’s struggles to begin the season. He has made 11 appearances to date in 2025, and probably the most concerning statistic is he has allowed 20 hits in 10.1 innings.

Look, every closer has stretches where things aren’t clicking. We went back to 2007, when the Yankees’ closer started the year with four straight scoreless appearances. The rest of the month, the great Mariano Rivera pitched five times.

In those five games, he pitched 3.2 frames and allowed 10 hits and nine runs, striking out four and walking two. He allowed just one homer. After that stretch, Rivera allowed 16 runs the rest of the season, finishing with a 3.15 ERA and 30 saves.

We aren’t concerned about the All-Star closer, mostly because he is still throwing around 100 MPH. However, we aren’t sure Steven Vogt should bring him into a one run game in the ninth for his next appearance. We’d use him in a lower leverage situation the next couple of times out.

It doesn’t mean we are running away from Clase, nor does it mean we advocated trading him. One of the complaints about the man who has led the American League in saves each of the last three years is he doesn’t strikeout a lot of hitters despite his ungodly stuff.

The last two seasons, he has fanned less batters than innings pitched, and in the two years prior, he fanned five more than his inning total in those years.

One popular theory is that hitters swing early in the count and take their chance because if Clase gets ahead 0-2 or 1-2, his stuff is so electric, batters have no chance. That seems plausible to us.

On the other hand, when the ball is put into play, there is a chance for a base hit to happen. But what doesn’t usually occur to Clase is giving up home runs. In his career, totaling 329 appearances and 323 innings, the right-hander has allowed only 14 homers.

To put that in perspective, Tanner Bibee has allowed seven dingers. This year!

It appears this year that many of Clase’s deliveries are winding up in the middle of the plate, and 100 MPH or not, hitters are going to put solid swings on pitches right down the middle.

The great thing for Steven Vogt is he has options to close games. We are sure both Cade Smith and/or Hunter Gaddis can close until Clase gets his location better. And Paul Sewald has 85 career saves. We would imagine the Guardians’ pitching coaches can find something relatively quick.

Unfortunately, using those pitchers as closers opens up a slot in the bullpen.

For a team like the Guardians, these games in April and May are just as important as the ones down the stretch. Every game you can put in the win column is important, so if you have the lead after eight innings, you have to put it away.

Guardians’ fans have been spoiled by Emmanuel Clase. He’s been so good for four years, three of those seasons with an ERA of under 2.00. And it is important for the staff to get him back to where he has been since arriving in Cleveland.

Heat Provide A Solid Challenge For Cavs In Round One

The Cleveland Cavaliers had to wait to find out who their opponent would be when they host the first round of the NBA Playoffs, and they will find they are about to get an early lesson about playoff intensity.

The Miami Heat will open the series tonight at Rocket Arena and will be making their sixth consecutive playoff appearance. Yes, they lost in the first-round last season but made the Finals the year prior and in 2019-20, and went to the conference finals in 2021-22.

This is not to say the Cavs won’t win the series, because they should, but the Heat have been there before and have perhaps the best coach in the league in Erik Spoelstra.

Miami is a solid defensive team, ranking 9th in defensive efficiency, but their offense is only 21st. The Cavaliers are actually the better defensive squad, ranking 8th. However, they had the best offense in the NBA this year.

They are led by the physical Bam Adebayo, who has played 74 playoff games in his career, and sharpshooter Tyler Herro, who averaged 23.9 points per game. They added former Cavaliers’ first overall pick Andrew Wiggins in the trade for Jimmy Butler and got defensive stalwart Davion Mitchell in the same transaction.

And rookie Kal’El Ware can be a force inside the paint as a good defender and shot blocker.

This will be a good test for Kenny Atkinson’s Cavaliers because we would expect the Heat to play very physical which is probably the biggest worry fans and experts have about Cleveland. How will they stand up against a physical team?

Davion Mitchell’s presence on the floor could pose problems for Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell, more so the former. Garland has had issues against physical defenders in earlier playoff appearances, and he will be presented with this challenge right off the rip.

Spoelstra is known for doing some different things to take advantage of the opponents’ weaknesses, but we feel the Cavs are in a better position with Atkinson to counter those moves. No rap against J.B. Bickerstaff, who did a marvelous job with the Pistons this season, but in our opinion, he was slow to adjust at times to what the opposition was doing.

Besides, the wine and gold offense is pretty diverse. Like a lot of NBA teams, it is not primarily pick and roll oriented. Atkinson made Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen playing together effectively on offense by using player movement.

Cleveland does a lot of big-to-big passing, and a lot of flex cuts off the ball to get lay ups with the defense spread to guard the three-point shot, which the Cavs made at a 41.5% clip as a team.

They are deep too. We would expect Atkinson to stay with his nine or ten player rotation until someone forces their way out of playing time, either offensively or defensively.

The Cavs have been on cruise control for pretty much the last three weeks or so, but we anticipate them being ready right away tonight. They understand last season ended in disappointing fashion and they also realize they have a chance to put another banner up in Rocket Arena.

We think it is a good tone setter to play a team with the Heat’s pedigree right off the bat. The Heat was good defensively, but the Cavs have more weapons on offense. The series will be challenging but that good.

No better time to get in playoff mode than the first series.

Call Us Names, But Talking Baseball Is Tough Now

We love baseball. It has been our favorite sport as long as we can remember. And one of the reasons are the statistics. As broadcaster Bob Costas has always said, those stats are part of the game.

Everyone knows “714” is the number of home runs Babe Ruth hit. The same with “755” which is Hank Aaron’s total. Pete Rose had 4256 hits, Cy Young 511 wins. These numbers have become part of the sport.

However, today the numbers seem to have become “exit velocity”, “horizontal break”, “hard hit rate”. All of them are interesting numbers and certainly can add some context to how a player may perform. However, none of them have any influence on winning or losing.

And as long as they are keeping score, that’s what the game is all about.

We are sure at least one person will refer to us as “get off my lawn” guy and a boomer but let us say that we were a voracious reader of Bill James’ Baseball Abstract when it came out, and it certainly changed the way we view the game.

A person currently on the radio in northeast Ohio once said the best use of analytics is as a justification for doing something, especially when it doesn’t work out. For example, asking a manager why he pinch hit a certain batter. It’s because he hits .382 vs. right-handers. The hitter might have popped up, but there was a reason for the decision.

That’s fair.

The hitting statistics do not take into account the number of times a hitter strikes out. For example, Hitter A, has an average exit velocity of 92.9 MPH and a hard hit rate of 50%, barreling the ball 13.7% of the time, currently 13th in baseball.

Hitter B’s average exit velo is 86.3 MPH, his hard-hit rate is 21.4% and the barrel rate is 2.9%.

Hitter A is Cal Raleigh of the Mariners, who is currently batting .203 (to be fair a 786 OPS) with 20 strikeouts in 73 plate appearances. The other is Steven Kwan, who is batting .333 with an 893 OPS and eight whiffs in 73 times at the dish.

So, when Raleigh hits it, he hits it hard a lot. The problem is he doesn’t make contact 27.3% of the time.

And yet, some people will tell me that Raleigh is a very good hitter, which he is, for a catcher, but there is a lot of swing and miss in his game.

As for the break on pitches, we sometimes wonder if a batter just stood there and didn’t swing, he might walk or at the least get ahead in the count. We see videos of ridiculous breaking action on pitches, but a lot of them don’t land in the strike zone.

There are people on social media thrilled that this information was put on the scoreboard at Progressive Field. Never have a watched a game and thought wow, how much did that break?

It’s fun to see after a game, but during? It doesn’t matter to us.

On Tuesday night, Bo Naylor was 0 for 1, with a walk, sacrifice fly, and sacrifice bunt. To us, he contributed to the offense. Games where a batter goes 0 for 4 and doesn’t walk? He has contributed nothing to the offense.

And hitters who do this on a regular basis are anchors in the batting order.

Look, these things are fun to look at for the newer fan. We get that, but let’s remember the game is about 27 outs and scoring more than the opponent. Simple numbers, correct?

A Good Homestand Buoys Some Concerns For The Guardians

When the Cleveland Guardians came home after their season opening nine game trip, it seemed like the team was running in quicksand a bit.

The defense was shaky, the offense only had four players (Steven Kwan, Jose Ramirez, Carlos Santana, and Kyle Manzardo) hitting, and the pitching, usually the hallmark of any Cleveland team was not very good.

Then they came back to Progressive Field, and the pitching found itself, allowing only 10 runs in a six-game span, although to be fair, the horrible Chicago White Sox were the first three games, and they only tallied three times in the trio of games.

This is not to say everything is fine and there are no worries, but the Guardians sit at 8-7 now after 15 games, sitting a game behind Detroit in the AL Central standings.

The starting pitching was much better, but the number of innings the rotation is providing is a problem. The farthest any starter went on the homestand was the six innings provided by Ben Lively on Sunday. Luis Ortiz went 5.2 on Saturday and was outstanding, striking out 10 Kansas City hitters.

The biggest issue is that the starters are throwing a lot of pitches to get through five innings. Friday night, Tanner Bibee held the Royals scoreless for 4.2 frames but had to come out after tossing almost 100 pitches.

The same was true with Gavin Williams last start. The opposition isn’t scoring, but the pitchers aren’t being economical about it.

Bibee has walked seven in 14.1 innings this year. Williams has six in 13 frames, and Logan Allen seven in 10 innings.

Of course, this puts an enormous load on the bullpen. Paul Sewald, Jakob Junis, and Cade Smith have already been in 8 of Cleveland’s 15 games to date, and Emmanuel Clase, Hunter Gaddis, and Tim Herrin have been in seven. We know the Guardians are very protective of these relievers, but they had to carry a huge load a year ago.

Something to keep an eye on as the season goes on.

We also think at times; Steven Vogt creates this issue. Allen was pulled after 83 pitches and two out in the fifth with a 3-1 lead. Yes, there were runners on second and third, but why not give the young pitcher a chance to get out of it?

The offense is still struggling, hitting just .222 as a team, but they received a boost this week from Angel Martinez, who was called up because Lane Thomas has a bruised wrist after getting hit by a pitch.

The switch-hitter went 5 for 10 in three starts, with a pair of doubles and three runs knocked in. Gabriel Arias had a solid week as well, getting 5 hits in 17 at-bats with a pair of home runs.

There are still too many players who are simply not contributing at the plate. Daniel Schneemann has started 2 for 22. Nolan Jones has drawn six walks, tied for third on the team, but is 5 for 35 with 16 Ks. Jhonkensy Noel is 6 for 32 and has only fanned six times but doesn’t have an extra base hit.

Still, Ramirez has not gotten hot, outside of his three dinger game against the Angels.

But the length of the lineup was a concern coming into the season, and it doesn’t look like it has gotten any longer. Cleveland still has a below average offense. The league is scoring 4.12 runs per game, the Guardians are at 3.93.

It’s a good sign the Guards have started out 7-2 vs. the Central, but they haven’t played Detroit or Minnesota. The Orioles should be a good test for the pitching over the next three days.

Hopefully, the starters can start going at least six innings on a regular basis.

Even If No QB At #2, Browns Need To Win In ’25

Well, does Joe Flacco being signed by the Cleveland Browns mean the team won’t be drafting a quarterback with the second overall pick? We believe none of the pundits out there know what Andrew Berry is going to do, but it would not be a shock if they deferred on a QB until later in the selection process.

Whether they find the answer or not, there is one thing we don’t want to hear from the organization heading into the season. And that is we are looking towards next season.

For many years, prior to drafting Baker Mayfield and hiring the current regime, the mantra from the Browns has been like the sign in the bar–“Free beer tomorrow”. Meaning we’ll be good next year.

Enough.

Don’t have a quarterback, fans shouldn’t care. And improvement to let’s say 5-12 or 6-11 shouldn’t be tolerated either. We think many people, both fans and media alike forget the Browns made the playoffs in 2023 with an 11-6 record. That’s just one season before last.

Whether or not it is Flacco or Kenny Pickett or someone they draft this year, Browns’ fans should demand nothing less than a playoff contender.

As for the organization, we have already laid out that most NFL teams have quarterbacks drafted in the first round. Could Cleveland be lucky and find Brock Purdy or Jalen Hurts or perhaps a Russell Wilson later in the draft and have that passer emerge to lead the franchise out of the doldrums?

Sure. And today we could buy a winning lottery ticket.

To us, thinking you are going to find your next long-term starter in rounds #2 or #3 smacks of something the team has been accused of for many years. Thinking they are smarter than everyone else. Sometimes everyone is doing something for a reason, and that reason is generally success.

And if they decide to start the season with Flacco and Pickett backing him up, then devise a system that can win with them behind center. Coach Kevin Stefanski demonstrated he can win and win a lot with Flacco running the offense. They will need a solid running game, so they can operate the play action passing attack the coach prefers.

It’s up to Jim Schwartz to get the defense back to the level it played at in 2023, and it will be helped by not having a QB that turns the football over on a regular basis. By the way, that’s not a rap on Jameis Winston, whom we wanted the team to bring back.

Winston only started less than half the team’s games and Cleveland still led the league in turnovers in 2024.

Since the Browns don’t want to let everyone know who pushed for the Deshaun Watson move, we feel no more excuses should be accepted. Yes, we get this is an expansion team, but it should not take this long for extended success.

Berry, Stefanski, Paul De Podesta, and the Haslam family should know their fan base is tired of watching mostly terrible football over the last 35 years.

The message should be clear. Be better.

#1 Seed Clinched. Cavs Now Need To Get Some Rest

It’s all over in the Eastern Conference. The Cleveland Cavaliers clinched the best record in the conference and home court advantage in any series in the East with their win over the Bulls Tuesday night.

So now it is sit back and wait for the weird “Play In” Tournament to be over to see who the wine and gold take on in the first round. Right now, the contenders are the Magic, Hawks, Bulls, and Heat.

The best record out of that group is Orlando’s 39-40 mark, but we know the Magic gave Cleveland a tough series last season, and they lost Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner for significant time during the regular season, so they are better than their record.

The other three teams are currently at least five games below the .500 mark, although everyone is familiar with how the Heat play when it comes playoff time.

The Cavs have three games remaining, two with Indiana, who sit in the #4 spot in the East, and are a possible second round match up and one more with the Knicks, who will probably be the #3 seed. The first two games are vs. Indiana and New York on back-to-back nights on the road, so we would bet many of the starters will either not suit up or will play very reduced minutes.

We know Jarrett Allen wants to play in all 82 games, so he will make an appearance in both road contests, but at least on Thursday, we would guess Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and possible Ty Jerome and De’Andre Hunter will sit that one out.

NOTE: Mitchell, Garland, Mobley, and Max Strus have been ruled out for tonight’s game.

So be ready to see lots of Craig Porter, Jaylon Tyson, Luke Travers, Chuma Okeke, Nae’Qwan Tomlin, and Emoni Bates over the next three games.

We are sure Bates is already dreaming of how many shots he can put up before the end of the season.

The players who carried the load to a 63-16 record deserve to rest up for the playoffs and stay healthy. And by the way, we aren’t greatly concerned about Mitchell’s sprained ankle. If need be, he could have two weeks off before the first playoff game for the Cavs.

Basketball players play basketball. And if they are on the court, there are chances for injury. And shouldn’t the Cavs be able to beat a first-round opponent without Mitchell if they had to?

Remember, the Cavaliers lost a second round series to Boston a year ago, and the Celtics didn’t have Kristaps Porzingis?

We are sure that Mitchell is fine and will probably be on the court in one of the last three games. And even if he isn’t he should be 100% when the playoffs begin.

So, the rest of the week should be about resting some key players and having everyone healthy heading into Easter weekend and the first round of the playoffs. Unfortunately, because of the tournament, the coaching and scouting staff cannot do a full deep dive, but we sure reports are being put together on all possible opponents.

It was a great regular season for sure, but these next two months will decide whether or not this season is a success or if some difficult decisions need to be made.

A Different Opening Trip For Guardians Compared To 2024

It’s Opening Day in Cleveland and that’s a certain sign of spring, despite today’s weather forecast. However, the Guardians aren’t coming home with momentum like they did last season in manager Steven Vogt’s first season.

Because of the renovations to Progressive Field, the Guards spent the first nine contests on the road in 2024 and starting hot, arriving in town with a 7-2 record, in route to a 19-10 mark at the end of April.

This season hasn’t been the same. Cleveland won the season opening series at Kansas City, taking two of three, but the west coast was not kind to the team, as they dropped five out of six in San Diego and Los Angeles against the Angels.

Until Luis Ortiz went six innings in the last game of the trip, no starting pitcher completed that many innings on the sojourn. All in all, Cleveland pitching has the second worst ERA in the American League at 5.09 and is tied for second in allowing the most home runs, giving up 14 gopher balls.

The defense has also been a concern, leading the AL in errors to date. Jose Ramirez has made four errors, mostly not coming up with ground balls. Cleveland pitchers have already allowed eight unearned runs, so the mistakes have been costly.

The baserunning hasn’t been crisp either. The Guardians picked up their first stolen bases of the season on Sunday, their ninth game. They’ve been caught four times. And we’ve seen Gabriel Arias thrown out at third in San Diego with men on first and second and no one out, and Brayan Rocchio allowing himself to get tagged out on a double steal attempt with Steven Kwan at the plate.

The latter also should be filed in the curious managing file.

These kinds of mistakes make us wonder if training camp was a little less focused this season coming off winning the AL Central last year.

Offensively, the Guardians are ninth in runs scored, but averaging only 3.78 per game. To be fair, the league average of 4.37 is bloated by the Yankees and Red Sox’ figures, but outside of Kyle Manzardo, no relatively young player has stepped up.

Against the Royals, Guardians’ hitters fanned 18 times and drew 16 walks. In the last six games, Cleveland hitters have struck out 59 times with the same number of bases on balls in twice the amount of games.

Rightfield continues to be a problem as Nolan Jones and Jhonkensy Noel have combined to go 4 for 38 with 13 punchouts and just three walks and only two RBI, both coming on outs.

Lane Thomas has also struggled at the dish, getting off to a 5 for 29 start that includes just one extra base hit. The bench group of Daniel Schneemann, Johnathan Rodriguez, and Austin Hedges have combined to go 2 for 22 in the young season.

Having young players in part-time roles in tough on them, as it is hard to produce with sporadic at bats. That’s an excuse for Rodriguez. It is more than likely that Schneemann will be a utility guy for his career, so he needs to hit when he’s in the lineup.

Look, it is still early. In fact, it is very early. Our concern is we aren’t seeing the crisp baseball we saw a year ago. And we haven’t even talked about how the bullpen has struggled so far.

Despite Recent Struggles, Cavs Are Sitting Just Fine

If you listen to the national media, the Cleveland Cavaliers are a nice story. They’ve had a great regular season, but many don’t think they can compete with the defending champion Boston Celtics.

Frankly, a lot of this conversation has come because the Cavs are just 6-5 in their last 11 contests, and their opponents have only been held under 110 points three times in those games.

After their 16-game winning streak ended just prior to a west coast trip, Kenny Atkinson said he would be trying some different combinations, mainly because they had a 7.5 game bulge over Boston in the East entering the trip.

We can’t find any flaw in that logic.

Watching the halftime show Wednesday on ESPN (yes, we know, that’s our fault), a casual fan would have thought the wine and gold were trying to get into the Play in Tournament, not have the second-best record in the NBA.

We are not saying the Cavs are a shoo-in to get to the conference finals, but they have been one of the best teams in the league since day one. We write that knowing what we have said all along, this season for Cleveland will be determined by how far they advance in the playoffs, and we also think the front office believes they can win the title.

There have always been strange trades in the NBA, and we like to talk about the comment Gregg Popovich had when the Lakers obtained Pau Gasol from Memphis. Popovich made a statement to the effect that it must be nice to give up nothing and get Gasol.

We might be saying the same thing about De’Andre Hunter at some point, because he seems to be the perfect piece for the Cavaliers.

In just under 25 minutes a game since his arrival, Hunter is scoring 14 points and grabbing 4 boards while shooting 43.7% from three. Most importantly, he gives Atkinson some length on the wing.

We would not be surprised if the Cleveland-Boston match up occurs with a trip to The Finals at stake, we see a lot of this combination on the floor: Donovan Mitchell, Ty Jerome, Hunter, Dean Wade, and either Jarrett Allen or Evan Mobley. That group has the length to give the Celtics some competition.

Still, the Cleveland player to watch most remains Darius Garland. The sixth-year guard is having perhaps the best shooting year of his career, making a career-high 47% from the floor, and his second-best year from three at 40.2%.

In his two playoff seasons, his shooting dropped 2% in both seasons. And he had turnover issues.

Let’s face it, in every playoff series, opponents hunt the weakest defensive player on the floor, and for the Cavs, most often it is Garland. He has to be at least decent on that end of the floor when the post-season starts.

We expect Atkinson to lean into what has been the Cavs’ advantage all year. They have depth, and we think the coach will play 10 until a player shows he’s not deserving of the time.

They will move the basketball, and when you do that, it makes it difficult to trap players in order to get the ball out of their hands. In essence, they will play their brand of the game and make the other team stop it.

The difference is we think Atkinson does a good job of adjusting and doing something else to counter the defense.

The playoffs start in about two weeks. We think part of the Cavs’ “struggles” have been because they are anticipating the post-season tournament.

Starters Throwing Strikes, Hitters Striking Out. Two Early Problems For Guards

It’s early folks, it’s extremely early.

We know the MLB Network is already making projections on how many home runs the Yankees will hit this year with their new torpedo bats, and have also started the ridiculous MVP Ladder, but the reality is the Cleveland Guardians and most Major League teams have played just six games.

There are still 156 to go. Remember, one of the sport’s old adages: You can’t trust what you see in April or September.

However, since we wanted to have some discussions about the Cleveland Guardians’ start to the season, we have just those half dozen contests to go on.

Our impressions? Nothing that would differ with anything we thought going into the season.

The starting pitching, save for Tanner Bibee and Gavin Williams, has been for lack of a better term, shaky.

Luis Ortiz, who came over for Pittsburgh in the three-way deal involving Andres Gimenez, had problems throwing strikes, walking four in 4.2 innings, and also allowed nine hits. The concern is Ortiz had the same issue in exhibition play. Logan Allen wasn’t bad in his first start holding San Diego scoreless for four innings, but he walked five in 5.1 innings, and eventually the free passes came back to haunt. He had control problems in 2024.

And the impenetrable bullpen been shaky, with Emmanuel Clase blowing a save in the season openers, and Cade Smith and Hunter Gaddis had some issue in the loss in Kansas City.

Oh yeah, and Joey Cantillo, who probably should be in Columbus starting games for the Clippers, has had issues throwing strikes out of the bullpen.

Offensively, things looked good in KC with the Guards garnering almost as many walks as strikeouts.

But against the Padres, Cleveland hitters whiffed 33 times, including 16 in the middle game of the set, and walked just five times.

You aren’t going to score many runs with that ratio, and the Guardians didn’t, crossing the plate just four times in the three games.

The usual contributors offensively have been fine. Steven Kwan is off to an 8 for 23 start and a .400 on base percentage. He still hasn’t seemed to earn any respect for the men in blue, being called out on strikes on several questionable calls.

Jose Ramirez missed a game with an injured wrist but is 5 for 17 with a homer and two other extra base hits.

We were concerned about the production of the team against right-handed pitching, and a few of the players Steven Vogt needs to be solid vs. those arms have struggled.

Kyle Manzardo, who surprisingly has been a terror vs. southpaws is just 1 for 14 vs. righties. Bo Naylor is just 1 for 12 with seven whiffs, and Carlos Santana, who struggled from the left side last season is just 3 for 14 with just one walk.

And two of the three hitters we have contact concerns about, Gabriel Arias and Nolan Jones, have accumulated 13 Ks and two walks. Arias has had success though, getting off to a 6 for 19 start.

Cleveland travels Los Angeles this weekend for a series against the Angels, who are off to a surprising 4-1 start before finally getting home, and hopefully, the starting pitching does a better job, particularly in throwing strikes.

And they get to come home, which should help the team get comfortable.

For Okoro And Wade, Offense Is Key To Playoff PT

The Cleveland Cavaliers reached the 60 win plateau for the third time in franchise history and their magic number to clinch the top seed in the Eastern Conference is now four, meaning it’s very likely that will be the case.

We have said all season long, a remarkable regular season really, that the Cavs are in the unfortunate situation of having the regular season being rendered rather meaningless in terms of how the 2024-25 season will be viewed.

Most people knew the wine and gold were a playoff team, so the season will be measured by how successful they are in the playoffs. This means the season will only be a success if they at least advance to the conference finals.

Of course, with three winning streaks of over ten games, we are sure Kenny Atkinson and the front office are expecting an NBA championship. That’s why Koby Altman made the De’Andre Hunter deal.

No doubt, the players think the same.

We think Atkinson will start the post-season by playing ten guys as he has all season long. A lot of pundits will tell you coaches shorten their rotation in the playoffs, but they do that usually because a couple of guys aren’t playing well, and the margin for error is much less in the playoffs.

Two of the players who will be on the spot during the playoffs will be the team’s two defensive specialists, Isaac Okoro and Dean Wade.

Okoro is an excellent wing defender and has improved his three-point percentage to where the past two seasons he is making 39.1% and 37.4% of his long-distance shots. We feel he is more versatile offensively that has been shown. Cleveland has made him virtually and “3 and D” player, but he can take the ball to the hole and can be an effective cutter in Atkinson’s offense.

His problem in the playoffs has been his hesitancy to shoot the ball. And he either doesn’t want to shoot or isn’t making shots when he does take them, it will limit how much he can play, the deeper the Cavs go in the post-season.

Wade has a reputation as a good shooter, but his career mark from three is just 36.6%, and his making 35.2% this season. His real value is his defense. At 6’9″, he can defend on the perimeter, a big deal especially in a series vs. Boston with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

Along with Hunter, the Cavs can now match the Celtics’ size on the wing.

Wade is streaky as a shooter, we have documented before that if you take five games away from his career, his three-point shooting drops to the 33% range. In the playoffs, he needs to either be hot from outside or better yet, become more versatile, meaning don’t be afraid to put the ball on the floor.

We know Atkinson is going to use Hunter and Ty Jerome off the bench. If he shortens his rotation, Okoro and/or Wade are likely to be on the bubble along with Sam Merrill. The latter’s situation is easy. Although he has improved defensively, if he’s making shots, he will play.

Since February 1st, he’s knocked down 39.4% of his threes. That kind of percentage would get him on the floor. For Okoro and Wade, the coaching staff know what they will bring on defense.

For them, it is how much they can contribute on the offensive end.