Easing Concerns About Cavs, Mobley.

The Cleveland Cavaliers aren’t taking anyone by surprise this season. Last year, coming off a 22 win campaign in the 2020-21 season, they got off to a fast start because perhaps opponents did not take them seriously.

They got into the “play in” tournament with 44 victories but lost both games to Brooklyn and Atlanta, thus not making it to a best of seven series.

This year, other teams are very aware of J.B. Bickerstaff’s squad making a 12-7 record to start the year more impressive. They’ve beaten Boston twice in hard fought overtime games, and that is half of the Celtics’ loss total.

We also have to remember the Cavs have also already been on one of their west coast trips this season, going 2-3 on the five-game trek. And they’ve also played Milwaukee twice, losing both times, and therefore have played four games, a little over 20% of their schedule against the two teams who reached the NBA Finals out of the Eastern Conference the last two seasons, and are the favorites to get there again this season.

Of course, when the wine and gold do lose a game, the “football mentality” of the city comes alive and there is panic and dismay in the air.

Friday night, the Cavs had a terrible third quarter against the Bucks and there were questions from social media about the team and the coach. Keep in mind, Cleveland was without three key players in their nine-man rotation–Kevin Love, Caris LeVert, and Lamar Stevens, and then Jarrett Allen hurt his hip in the second quarter and played just three minutes after.

Right now, the Cavaliers’ roster isn’t deep enough to sustain that many players being out, particularly one of their big men, as after Allen and Evan Mobley, there isn’t much depth.

Speaking of Mobley, we have seen some criticism of his progress in his second season. We feel that is ludicrous.

His minutes are up slightly, his shooting percentage has increased to 54.1% from 50.8%, his free throw accuracy is better (up to just under 71%) and his rebounding is also up slightly from 8.3 to 8.5. His scoring has decreased by a half a point per contest, down to 14.5, and that is a product of getting one less shot per game.

Let’s face it, the Cavs have more offensive weapons than they had last season, so there are less opportunities for Mobley offensively right now. We think as the season goes on, Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell will get better finding the second-year pro where he prefers to get the ball, and his offensive numbers will go up.

That said, Mobley is still third on the team in shot attempts per game behind the two starters at guard.

He will also get stronger as he gets older, and that will help him on both ends of the floor. No reason for concern.

When Love and LeVert get back, the Cavaliers will have a better bench and adding two players who can contribute will greatly help production on both ends of the floor.

If anyone is worried about the Cavaliers, take a deep breath. They are handling things just fine.

Wine And Gold Bench Not Getting It Done

The Cleveland Cavaliers had a red-hot start to the season. After losing their opener to Toronto, they reeled off eight straight wins, several of them without All-Star guard Darius Garland, who was poked in the eye in the first game of the season.

Everything was clicking for J.B. Bickerstaff’s crew, Cedi Osman got off to a great start shooting the three ball, Dean Wade scored a career high 22 points in a comeback win over New York. And they beat Boston on the road in overtime with Donovan Mitchell and Caris LeVert both scoring 41 points.

But on the west coast trip, the Cavs were going for win #9 and led the Clippers in the fourth quarter, but lost, starting a five-game losing streak that ended Friday night in a double overtime win over Charlotte.

Sometimes it’s difficult to get a victory after a long losing streak, and hopefully now that the wine and gold got back in the win column, they can right the ship. But some holes did spring up during the losing skein.

Jarrett Allen missed a couple of games with an ankle problem, and that exposed a size problem. Allen and Evan Mobley are a big reason Cleveland succeeds defensively (they are still 4th in defensive efficiency), but they are the only rim protectors on the roster.

With Allen in there, Mobley can get out an defend on the perimeter where his length bothers smaller players, as it did at the end of the first overtime Friday night against Terry Rozier.

The only other experienced interior big man is Robin Lopez, signed in the off-season as a free agent. Lopez is a seven footer, but is slow, and not really a shot blocker. And quite frankly, we don’t think he can be out there for 25 minutes a game if something happened to Allen or Mobley and they couldn’t play for a stretch of games.

Since the winning streak ended, the bench hasn’t provided much, meaning Bickerstaff has a very top-heavy roster.

They have four all-star caliber players in Mitchell, Garland, Allen, and Mobley, and two solid veterans in Kevin Love, who could be out for a while with a hairline fracture of his thumb, and LeVert, meaning the depth folks thought the Cavaliers had is no longer there.

As noted earlier, Osman and Wade had great starts to the season, but the former hasn’t been good lately and Wade has been hurt but followed up the 22 point game with a scoreless one. No doubt, Bickerstaff needs both to step up and provide production each and every night.

After not getting much time early in the season, Lamar Stevens has taken advantage of the injuries and has started to get minutes again, getting at least 29 in last three contests, averaging 9.3 points in those games. He’s solid and deserves to keep getting minutes, probably at the expense of Isaac Okoro who is really struggling, especially on the offensive end.

Raul Neto got playing time while Garland was out, but since the Cavs went west, he’s been AWOL.

That leaves Bickerstaff with six solid players, guys he can depend on every night. That’s not enough, particularly for a time with playoff aspirations.

The first thing that needs to happen is someone, notably Osman and Wade, need to step up, but it doesn’t have to be one of those two, they are just the most likely candidates. It could be Okoro too, but he seems to have lost confidence in his offensive game right now.

Maybe it’s a slump for the bench crew, or perhaps we were all just fooled by the eight-game winning streak. But if this team wants to avoid the play in tournament, they need depth that Bickerstaff can rely on.

Time for some players to step up

Mitchell As Advertised.

When the Cleveland Cavaliers took a big swing for Donovan Mitchell late last summer, we were a bit skeptical on the deal. We thought it robbed the Cavs of the “big” identity, not having Lauri Markkanen, at 7′, playing small forward.

We also thought it did not solve the problem of the team’s small backcourt, with Mitchell and Darius Garland measuring at around 6’2″.

However, until you see a player every day, it’s tough to evaluate him properly. And man, were we wrong about Donovan Mitchell.

One question we had was his will to win, and he has proven that should not have been questioned. It’s pretty clear he feels this team has more weapons than he played with in Utah, and when Garland gets back, you have to think this team will even be better offensively.

Also, Mitchell plays much bigger than his listed 6’1″. He has a very strong upper body and can get off the floor and battle for rebounds and navigate his shot against much bigger players. He plays with force.

And he’s a willing passer. In his six games with the wine and gold, he has had eight or more assists in four of them. Granted, Garland is out of the lineup, so the ball is in Mitchell’s hands a lot. But as a point of comparison, in Collin Sexton’s three plus years with Cleveland, he had eight or more assists just nine times.

Plus, he’s another guy who plays with the “scrap” that J.B. Bickerstaff loves to talk about. In the last two games, the Cavs trailed by more than 10 points, but kept working hard, picking up the intensity on the defensive end of the floor, which enabled them to come back and win both.

Mitchell also seems to have fit in seamlessly with his new teammates, taking a leadership role right from the start, but he looks like he’s played with this group for years. We are sure when Garland returns, there might be a bit of an adjustment because both players like to have the ball in their hands, but they seem to have good chemistry, as does the rest of the roster.

And already, they’ve had a number of players step up. Friday night, Caris LeVert had 41 points. Sunday, Kevin Love had 29 points. Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley have been a defensive force inside and on the boards.

Cedi Osman and Dean Wade have both contributed the long-range shooting needed while Garland has been out, with Wade knocking down a ridiculous 15 of 24 three-point shots.

We are usually critical of Isaac Okoro, particularly offensively, but his defense Sunday night was a big reason for the victory over New York.

After tomorrow night’s contest with Boston, the first long trip of the season comes along, starting in Detroit and moving to the west coast. Getting Garland back should ease the burden on not just Mitchell, but every Cavalier.

Will there be some regression? Sure, we doubt the Cavs can continue to shoot 43% from beyond the arc for the season. On the other hand, there will be games where Allen and Mobley both contribute more on the offensive end.

However, it’s hard to find anything to point at on this team right now. There were questions about the #3 spot coming into the year, but LeVert, Osman, and Wade have done a yeoman’s job there.

Right now, isn’t this team just as likeable as the Guardians came to be?

Who Plays Small Forward? Cavs Have To Have An Answer

The Cleveland Cavaliers have started training camp for the 2022-23 season and they know who four starters will be: Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell will be the guards, Evan Mobley will be the power forward, and Jarrett Allen be man the pivot.

The question is who will start at small forward or the #3 spot. Most fans have their favorite to play there, but really, there is more to it than just numbers.

The player that J.B. Bickerstaff chooses has to fit with the others. He has to be an offensive threat, otherwise the opponents will double team someone, which will limit the effectiveness of that player and possibly the entire offense.

And while he needs to be an offensive threat, he has to understand he will be the fifth option on that side of the court, knowing he needs to be a facilitator to get the ball to the others.

Lastly, Bickerstaff has to worry about the second unit too. He needs to create balance so when three bench players are on the floor, the Cavs aren’t worrying how they are going to score.

We believe the contenders are Isaac Okoro, Caris LeVert, Cedi Osman, Dean Wade, and Lamar Stevens

The favorite to land the spot is third year player Okoro, mostly because he was the 5th overall pick in the 2020 draft. Okoro improved his three point shooting from 29% as a rookie to 35% last season, but last season, opposing teams were leaving him open, and he still seemed hesitant to shoot.

For us, he needs to demonstrate he can knockdown shots without hesitation and make defenses pay attention to him. If he can do that, he might be the guy.

LeVert is the most accomplished scorer of the group, scoring at 14.6 points per game in his career. He’s a good passer and is certainly someone the defense would need to pay attention to. That’s probably why he’s a better fit with the second unit, using he and Kevin Love as the primary weapons among that group.

We are fans of Osman, so we are a little biased here. We think Osman has been miscast as spot up three-point shooter, and although he has a career mark of 35%, he’s inconsistent. He’s really a slasher/distributor, that’s what he does internationally, and is a solid defender.

Doing those things, he might be a great fit with Mitchell, Garland, Allen, and Mobley. He is willing to shoot though, and has size too, at 6’7″ (compared to Okoro at 6’5″ and LeVert at 6’6″).

Wade is 6’9″, so he would fit more into Bickerstaff’s love of size, and he’s a good shooter (36% from three), but he seems hesitant to shoot at times and thus far in his career, it feels like he goes through stretches where he disappears on the floor. It’s hard to justify increased minutes if that happens.

Stevens would be a good choice too. He gives you the same defense as Okoro but with a better offensive game. We often think Stevens would get more time than Okoro if the latter wasn’t the fifth overall pick.

What we like about Stevens is he knows his game, and he can be effective in the mid-range game, so defenses have to respect that.

The performance of these five players is something to watch when the exhibition games commence. But don’t just look at their numbers, look at what the play on the court looks like with the other starters.

Cavs Make A Big Swing, Now How Does It Work?

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.

Cavs Still Looking For A Wing/Shooter.

The Cleveland Cavaliers will start training camp in about six weeks, and expectations will be high, considering the wine and gold doubled their win total from 2020-21. Going from 22 victories to 44 with largely a young roster will create those thoughts.

Since free agent signee Ricky Rubio likely will not take the court until January coming off knee surgery, the biggest addition was Ochai Agbaji, who is a rookie.

We liked the selection of Agbaji, who should bring some needed outside shooting to the team, but as we said, he is in his first year in the league, and who knows what the adjustment period will be, although being a four year college player, one would hope it won’t be too long.

The Cavs will also get Collin Sexton back, when his contract situation gets settled. Sexton will provide a boost to the scoring for the team, which ranked 25th in the league a year ago.

And we know the front office added Raul Neto and Robin Lopez to the roster too, but Neto is here to provide depth at the point until Rubio returns, and Lopez is probably insurance against an injury to one of the big men.

If we assume coach J.B. Bickerstaff is going to stay with his “jumbo” lineup, starting Lauri Markkanen at the #3 spot, and we have no reason to believe they would be changing that, he is doing it because the roster really doesn’t have a legitimate 6’7″ or 6’8″ wing player.

Right now, the reserve wings would be Agbaji, Isaac Okoro (6’5″), Lamar Stevens (6’6″) and Cedi Osman, who is 6’7″. However, the coaching staff seemed to sour at times on Osman in the second half of the season.

When the Sexton situation is resolved, in our mind, Bickerstaff can trust eight players. The starters: Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, Markkanen, Darius Garland and either Caris LeVert or Sexton.

Off the bench he has Kevin Love, Sexton/LeVert, and we will throw the rookie in there as well, because we think Agbaji’s shooting will play.

We like Stevens, and at the end of the season thought he should be getting more minutes than Okoro, but is he a rotation piece on a team contending for home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs?

We’ve seen people talk about Okoro’s long distance shooting (35% from three) being respectable, and his percentage is, but he is reluctant to shoot in our mind, and the one thing fans overlook is the release time.

If it takes the player a long time to get the shot off, it doesn’t really help the offense much, because they can only shoot if they are unguarded. It doesn’t matter about the percentage they would make.

As for Osman, we like him as a player, but the Cavs have seemed to make him a three point shooter, and we feel he’s at his best as a slasher and creator. As a shooter, he’s streaky, which is great if he’s hot, but ugly if he’s not.

We believe the Cavs will try to bring in a better, proven option at this spot before training camp begins, but the league is kind of constipated right now waiting on what’s going to happen in New Jersey.

We wouldn’t be surprised if Cleveland is somehow involved and upgrades at the wing/shooter spots.

Cavs Ink A Trio, But Haven’t Addressed A Huge Need.

The NBA free agency period started last week, and the Cavaliers did sign three players to help the 2022-23 roster, although they still haven’t addressed their biggest need.

We are sure every fan of the wine and gold are thrilled by the return of Ricky Rubio. The veteran was a key to the Cavs fast start last season, averaging 13.1 points and 6.6 assists in 34 games before tearing his ACL, and then being dealt to Indiana right before the trade deadline.

Rubio provided a veteran playmaking role and was a great mentor to Darius Garland.

He likely will not be able to play until January, so the front office went out and signed another veteran point guard in Raul Neto, who has averaged 8.1 points over the last two seasons with Washington. He had a three to one assist to turnover ratio last year and will be Garland’s backup until Rubio is ready.

They also added veteran big man Robin Lopez. And for those questioning adding another center, remember the Cavaliers were forced to use Moses Brown when Ed Davis showed he could no longer provide quality minutes. He did average 7.1 and 3.5 boards in 36 games with Orlando last season.

However, the team still needs help at the wing position. Yes, they did draft Ochai Agbaji, who should help, but he’s a rookie. You simply cannot count on him.

When looking at the team’s depth chart, we will assume for now Caris LeVert as the starter at the #2 spot, so the starters would be Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley, and Lauri Markkanen up front with Garland and LeVert at the guards.

Who is the next five? Obviously, Kevin Love and Collin Sexton (assuming he’s resigned) and Neto will be in the mix. Folks are going to mention players like Cedi Osman, Lamar Stevens, and Isaac Okoro, but we would submit those guys aren’t good enough if you are a playoff contender.

Those guys can be contributors and can help in spots, but really the wine and gold need a veteran, someone they can count on.

Stevens and Okoro are solid defenders, but opposing teams aren’t really going to devote much attention to them on the offensive end. Okoro did hit 35% of his three pointers a year ago, it’s just that he’s hesitant to shoot. Stevens is a solid guy, and normally knows what he can and can’t do on the floor. That’s a good thing.

But if you have your sights set on home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, which Cleveland should, your second unit has to be better.

We also have to mention the strategy for the three second round picks in the draft were odd. Two of the three picks are guys (Khalifa Diop and Luke Travers) who clearly won’t be playing in the NBA this season, and the third is Mobley’s brother.

That doesn’t really help this year’s team.

Now, we are very early in the off-season, so there is plenty of time to improve the roster, so no time to be really concerned as of yet. But although we don’t have a problem with the free agents the Cavs inked, they still haven’t addressed a big need.

Cavs Should Be Looking At Top Four Spot in ’22-’23.

Now that the Cleveland Cavaliers did not advance to the real playoffs, which started Saturday, it’s time to look towards the 2022-23 season, and there will be expectations for J.B. Bickerstaff and his squad.

It will no longer be a nice story to get close to the playoffs. The expectation by most observers, will be making one of the top five seeds in the Eastern Conference.

The question is how will that be accomplished.

Cleveland has to get better offensively. They were 20th in offensive rating this season and seventh defensively, although that ranking declined after the midway point of the campaign.

The Cavs should have Collin Sexton healthy heading into training camp, barring a trade. We say that because what assets does GM Koby Altman have to try to improve the wine and gold?

Kevin Love’s contract is now expiring, and that used to have value, but in the past few seasons, it has been less and less important. And Caris LeVert has one more year on his current deal. Does the front office want to extend him?

They have a lottery pick, which will likely be the 14th overall pick barring some extreme luck in the draft lottery. We feel the Cavaliers would be better off moving that pick for a veteran who can contribute immediately.

The team is young enough right now, and to us it is obvious someone with more experience would be a bigger help.

Altman and Bickerstaff have to decide what kind of team they want going forward. Early in the year, it used size, playing slower, and playing defense. It was an old school approach.

Is that the way they want to continue? We asked because in the second half of the season, they seemed to get away from that style. We know injuries played a big factor, but the Cavs did go 9-17 in their last 26 contests.

Can they play two smaller guards together and be effective on the defensive end?

One thing is for certain, the team needs some wings that can shoot the basketball, someone in the 6’7″-6’9″ range. Yes, Love does that, but good teams have more than one player like that, and with guys like Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley inside, having shooters will make them more effective.

Speaking of Mobley, no doubt he will get stronger in the off-season and be more of a force next season and beyond. With so much discussion about Garland’s improvement and being the team’s best player, he is just renting that title because next year, Mobley will likely be the Cavs’ premier star.

Altman also has to make the roster deeper. Coming into the season, he filled two spots, Kevin Pangos and Ed Davis, with players who can’t play in the NBA. That can’t happen this off-season.

And decisions have to be made on Dylan Windler, who either can’t be a rotation player on a good team or needs a fresh start somewhere else and Cedi Osman, who ended the year not in agreement with the coach.

Osman is another guy who plays much better in international competition, when he is used as a playmaker, a drive and dish guy. He’s not used that way with the Cavs, so other teams may have an interest in him.

Lamar Stevens played his way into having a future here, but can the same be said for Isaac Okoro? Okoro has not developed any kind of offensive game, and the question is can he? He’s another player who may have value for a young, developing team.

The Cavaliers are not that any more. They won 44 games in the regular season, double last year’s total. They should be thinking about a home series in the first round of the playoffs and advancing.

In many ways, this is a bigger off-season for Altman and management that the last three summers.

Cavs Need To Regain Early Season Style This Week

It is okay to change expectations of your favorite team once a season starts.

Before the 2021-22 NBA season started, we were projecting the Cleveland Cavaliers would take a jump from their 22 victories last season to around 30 wins this year. They far exceeded that number, piling up 44 wins, double last year’s total.

And that’s great. The organization seems to be headed in the right direction, with a young core of players, all-stars Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen, and a player who is a favorite to win Rookie of the Year honors in Evan Mobley.

However, on February 11th, the expectations were far greater. After beating Indiana, the Cavs were sitting at 35-21 and a first round home playoff series was in sight.

Perhaps we were all being naïve. After, many younger NBA teams start the season well and the veteran teams catch up as the season progresses. But it seemed like the young guys wearing the wine and gold had a formula for winning. They were a defensive first team that played with what their coach, J.B. Bickerstaff called “grit” and “scrap”.

Then the all star break hit and so did the injuries.

All three of the star players missed parts of the second half and the style of play changed. The defensive mindset seemed to wane, the grit and scrap weren’t as prevalent. The latter should not have departed with Garland, Allen, and Mobley.

GM Koby Altman swung a trade before the deadline to bring in Caris LeVert, but he was injured too, and when he came back, it didn’t seem like he fit in. There were games where he was a key part of the offense, and others were it felt like he was an outsider.

So the Cavs fell into the “play in” tournament and as the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference, they have two shots to get into a seven game series, and to us, this is a needed step for the future of this group. They need to experience what the playoffs are like and apply that to how they prepare for the 2022-23 campaign.

Their best hope to win one of these games, and if they lose at Brooklyn tonight, they will play either Charlotte or Atlanta at home on Friday to be the 8th seed, is to get back to the style that brought them to that 35-21 record.

Slow the pace, play defense, and run when you get the opportunity. All of these teams have dynamic point guards that need to be controlled. They have to be kept out of the paint where the interior defender have to provide constant help.

Supposedly Allen will not be available tonight against the Nets, and if he isn’t, we would start Moses Brown at center with Mobley and Lauri Markkanen on the front line. That’s how the Cavs played most of the season, especially when they were winning. Size.

It also allows Mobley to provide weak side help as a shot blocker and to be able to concentrate on Kevin Durant on the perimeter.

Playing like they have over the last six weeks seems like a recipe to go home at the end of the week. Hopefully JB can get that message across to his young squad before tonight’s game.

No Time To Settle For Cavs Now

The Cleveland Cavaliers have already clinched the opportunity to play additional games after the regular season ends. However, injuries continue to plague the young Cavs.

In addition to Jarrett Allen being out, Evan Mobley went down with a sprained ankle Monday night, and hopefully will be back later this week. At 20 years old, he should be a fast healer.

With all the injuries, we are hearing it would be best if the wine and gold would lose in the play in tournament, and thus keep their first round draft pick.

That’s a losing, defeatist attitude.

While it is true no one thought Cleveland would finish with an above .500 record at the beginning of the season, the team isn’t satisfied with that, and neither should the fan base.

Even if the Cavaliers lose in the first round, and quite frankly, it is likely they will, because the top four teams in the East, Milwaukee, Boston, Miami, and Philadelphia, are very good, the experience they will gain will be a huge benefit next season.

And they should also do everything they can to get into the top six in the Eastern Conference, so they don’t have to go through the mini tournament.

No doubt it will be difficult with the injuries, particularly if Mobley misses a handful of games, because much of the success the team had was because of playing the two big men together.

In order to succeed without two of their three best players, the Cavs need to return to the “grit and scrap” they played with earlier in the season. Monday night against Orlando, coach J.B. Bickerstaff went with Lamar Stevens and Dylan Windler down the stretch, and it worked because they played solid defense.

It won’t be easy with games on the road against Atlanta and New York this week, and three of the remaining four games after that trip are against the Sixers, Nets, and Bucks. And only two of the games left will be played at home.

And the Cavs will need players to step up. Moses Brown figures to get some time, perhaps Cedi Osman will emerge from Bickerstaff’s doghouse. They will also need offense from Lamar Stevens and Isaac Okoro.

It would also be nice if Windler A). Wasn’t afraid to shoot and B). Made a couple of shots. His attitude right now seems to be he can’t miss a shot if he doesn’t take it.

We also have to take exception to criticism of Caris LeVert. Yes, we know he isn’t averaging 18 points per game and he’s only shooting a little over 40%. But the other night, he kept taking the ball to the basket, and that’s a welcome sight at times, because too often lately, the Cavaliers start settling for the three point shot.

It’s particularly maddening when they need a hoop to stop the opponents’ run. That’s when you need to work for a good look. LeVert tries to get that good look. It hasn’t gone in often, but we think it will soon.

With six games left in the regular season, this isn’t the time to be complacent or settle for just a winning record. Use the toughness the Cavs had early in the year and gut your way through until Allen and Mobley are back.

We are sure that’s what Bickerstaff wants.