Love Cavs’ Season To Date, But Playoffs Will Tell The Story

As the Cleveland Cavaliers keep rolling along, with an NBA best record of 47-10, it is time to remind everyone what we said during their 15-game winning streak to start the season.

It is definitely sad, but the real season for this group starts when the regular season ends, and the playoffs begin. And that’s not being a Debbie Downer. It’s just that the Cavs won a playoff series a year ago, and when your regular season record is as good as Cleveland’s, championship aspirations in play.

That doesn’t mean we aren’t enjoying the regular season either. The style of play this team uses and the togetherness they exhibit make it very enjoyable to watch. For example, last Friday we were looking for a competitive game against the Knicks, and instead it was a 27-point lead on the way to a blowout win.

But we can look ahead because there is no playoff race to speak of. Cleveland is going to be there. In fact, Sunday’s win over Memphis meant the wine and gold have already clinched at least a spot in Adam Silver’s “play in tournament”.

And there are 25 games remaining.

The NBA playoffs are just different. In the regular season, teams rely on what they do well and sometimes it causes an issue against a singular opponent because their strength isn’t something you are good at defending and vice-versa.

But in the playoffs, you are playing the same opponent for perhaps seven consecutive games. And if you can identify a weakness on the other side of the floor, you attack it until the other team adjusts.

Most Cavs’ fans will remember how in the 2016 NBA Finals, the Cavs went after Stephen Curry on the defensive end, taking advantage of the Warriors’ switching on defense until Curry was on LeBron James and/or Kyrie Irving.

That’s the sort of thing we are talking about.

So, as marvelous as Darius Garland has been this season, shooting a career high 49.3% from the floor and 42.5% from three, and a turnover rate the lowest of his career, there will be a lot of pressure on him once the post-season begins.

He would be the first to admit he didn’t play well in either of the last two playoff seasons, and opponents hunted him on the defensive end as well. And we don’t know if he will be better until we see it on the floor.

We were discussing Isaac Okoro over the weekend and agreed he is a very good defensive player. However, opposing teams are going to leave him open in a playoff series until he proves he is willing to take and make shots on the perimeter, particularly three pointers. If he cannot, Kenny Atkinson will have to be very judicious with his minutes.

Again, this is not to be a pessimist, rather it is exciting to see if the Cavs have learned from the past two campaigns and will be better for it.

We want to see this version of Evan Mobley in a playoff series. The All-Star version of Mobley. He’s averaging three points more per game than a year ago, while still remaining one of the best defenders in the league.

It is important to keep winning in the regular season and stay ahead of Boston in the conference standings if only to make them play New York in the second round. And the Cavs do have a six-game lead there.

Regular season success is nice, but in the NBA, teams are measured by playoff performance. And we will have to wait six weeks for that.

Nothing To Worry About, Cavs Just Battling Some Depth Issues

The Cleveland Cavaliers have lost three of their last four games and some people are in panic mode. Did everyone really think this Cavs’ team was going to go 74-8 and have the greatest regular season in NBA history?

We didn’t. We would also feel differently about these past two weeks if A). the Cavs were being beaten soundly and B). they were completely healthy.

Let’s look at the second thing first. One reason for the wine and gold’s success this season is their depth, Kenny Atkinson plays 11 guys more than 10 minutes per game. When they have had individuals out for a game or two, that depth pays off because the other players fill in those minutes.

Over the past week or so, the Cavs have had three or four players out, forcing Jaylon Tyson, Craig Porter Jr., and Tristan Thompson to play significant minutes. Individually, when one of them has had to fill in, it has been done seamlessly but having to play all three of them out there, sometimes together, has taken a toll.

One of the four possible Cavaliers’ all-stars, Evan Mobley, missed four games in the last ten days, but the guy who is probably the fifth best player on the team, Caris LeVert, has also missed four contests, including the last three, all losses.

LeVert doesn’t get a lot of love from fans, who mostly look at scoring averages and three-point shooting. But he gives the Cavs some length in the backcourt and on the wing, can create his own shot, and is a solid defender. He’s a very important player, and that’s why we shake our head when we hear about possible deals for him.

Missing Dean Wade doesn’t help the cause either. He was already starting at the four for Mobley, and as soon as Mobley came back, Wade went down. We’ve talked about the lack of depth among the big men in the past and this injury highlights the problem.

Wade’s career high in games played is 63 back in 2020-21, his first full year with Cleveland, and since then, he consistently misses about a third of the regular season. His injury forces Thompson to play much more than we are sure Atkinson would prefer.

Losing the depth is a big issue. And it’s forcing the coaching staff to go deeper into the bench. That may pay dividends down the road, getting time for Tyson and Porter Jr., but in the short term, it has caused a problem.

However, it is not as though the wine and gold are getting blown out, despite the injuries. Two losses to the Rockets, who are 30-14, by one on the road and by four at home, is hardly anything to be upset about. The loss to an undermanned Sixers’ team wasn’t ideal, but that’s life in the NBA.

Look, the Cavs aren’t a perfect team and having several rotation pieces out of the lineup exposes some of their flaws. It also doesn’t mean they have hit the proverbial wall. They’ll be fine when they get these important players back.

It should also remind the front office to not stand pat at the trade deadline. Even a marginal improvement could be the difference between a conference finals appearance and an NBA Finals spot.

NBA Trade Deadline Coming, What Say You, Cavs?

In less than three weeks, the NBA trade deadline will be here. It actually arrives sooner than the Super Bowl, as it is on February 7th, whereas the NFL title game is the 9th.

Cavs’ fans and media alike were preaching continuity, letting the current roster play through the season and seeing what they could accomplish, after all the wine and gold have the league’s best record at 35-6.

That is until last Thursday’s blowout loss at the hands of the other roster dominating the NBA right now, the Oklahoma City Thunder, who sit with a 35-7 mark.

OKC led by 18 at the end of the first quarter, 26 at halftime, and 38 points at the end of three quarters in the rout. And suddenly, everyone said the Cavs needed to make a move on or before February 7th.

We will blow our own horn here for a second by saying this was always an issue for Kenny Atkinson’s squad, even coming into the season. If the Cavs have a weakness, it is they lack size throughout the roster.

Long, athletic teams have given them a problem all year (although not that much of an issue because they are 35-6). Boston handed them their first loss. Atlanta knocked them off in back-to-back games.

In last Thursday’s game, the Thunder were missing big men Chet Holmgren (7’1″) and Isaiah Hartenstein (7’0″), but a look at who plays the most minutes for them reads this way: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (6’6″), Jalen Williams (6’6″), Lu Dort (a rugged 6’4″), and Cason Wallace (6’4″) along with the two big men.

That is where Cleveland’s smaller backcourt has a distinct disadvantage. Donovan Mitchell found it very tough sledding against Dort, shooting 6 of 31 in the two games against the Thunder. We also know that Atkinson will come up with some ways to get Mitchell freed up if the two teams meet in the NBA Finals.

We said going into both of the games that fans should not read too much into the pair of contests, that they would simply be a good measuring stick and as it was, the two teams split the games.

We simply found it interesting that everyone jumped to the same conclusion we had since the first game of the regular season. The Cavs need to add some height.

It was almost immediately reported after the loss last Thursday that the Cavs were interested in 6’8″ wing Cameron Johnson from Brooklyn. He would add some size along the perimeter and also shoots 42.6% from three.

We would definitely be someone the front office should have interest in.

They also need another solid big man. Evan Mobley missed the last two games with a calf injury, and outside of Jarrett Allen, Cleveland doesn’t have another big man you can trust putting on the floor for 20 minutes per night.

Tristan Thompson is a good locker room guy, but we would bet Atkinson doesn’t want him on the floor very long.

As for the locker room chemistry, if it is as strong as reported (and we have no doubt otherwise), there shouldn’t be an issue. The one thing Koby Altman has always prioritized is character, he has never brought a “knucklehead” into the locker room. We have no doubt it will be no different this year.

But the Cavs have been so good this season, the front office has to go for a title right now. This is the time. Taking steps is one thing, but when you have played halfway through the schedule and you are on a 70-win pace, the shiny gold Larry O’Brien Trophy should be on everyone’s mind.

There is less than three weeks to go for it.

In Praise Of Garland

We have been very critical of Darius Garland’s playoff performances each of the last two seasons. Opponents were physical with him, and he responded by not being very careful with the basketball.

In 2022-23 Garland averaged 21.6 points in the regular season with 7.8 assists and 2.9 turnovers. In the playoffs, his scoring was comparable at 20.6, but the assists were down to 5 per night while turning it over 3.6 times per game.

Last year, we knew Garland battled injuries all season long. His scoring dropped to 18 points per contest, and his assists were down to 6.5 and his turnovers up to 3.1.

In the series against Orlando and Boston, Garland’s scoring fell to just 15.7 points with 5.8 assists. His turnovers did improve to just 2.3 per game.

We have wondered if the Cavs can get to where they want to be, champions, with a smaller backcourt of Garland and Donovan Mitchell.

The way Garland has stepped up his play this season, we are now anxious the see this guard tandem in the post-season.

Since Garland has been with the Cavs for six seasons, it’s hard to realize he’s still only 25 years old. He concentrated on getting stronger and so far, the results are tremendous.

Like most of the Cavaliers, his minutes are down (33.5 for his career, just 30.2 this season), but his scoring is comparable to his best seasons of 2021-22 and 2022-23 when he averaged about 21 and a half per night. He’s at 20.9 this season.

His shooting has never been better, hitting a career best 49.8% from the floor and 42.9% from three, also his best mark as a pro. His assists are down from his highest mark of 8.6 per game in his third year in the league, but he’s still dishing out 6.7 helpers, while his turnovers are at a career low of 2.4.

Better shot selection for Garland, as well as his assist numbers being down are both the result of Kenny Atkinson’s offensive scheme with players and the ball moving quickly. And credit Garland for flourishing in the attack.

No doubt, the proof will come in the playoffs. The way the Cavs’ offense runs, they aren’t depending on just one player initiating it, sometimes it’s Garland, at times Mitchell, and we’ve even seen Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen being asked to do it.

That will likely mean the trapping Garland saw from the Knicks in the first-round loss won’t occur often in this playoff year.

We are sure teams will attack Garland on the defensive end of the floor, which isn’t a new strategy. Heck, the Cavs used it in the 2016 Finals when they repeatedly targeted Stephen Curry. Can the improved offense of Garland make that a strategy that doesn’t pay off the way opponents think it will.

Atkinson has challenged him in certain game, most notably the second match up vs. Boston when he told Garland he had to rise to the challenge of guarding Jayson Tatum.

Good health, maturity, and a new offense have guided Darius Garland to his best season, without a doubt. Hopefully, it pays off in April, May, and hopefully June.

Cavs Giving Some Vibes Of “Miracle” Team

Think about it for a bit…29-4

The Cleveland Cavaliers started this season with a 15-game winning streak, but right now, they’ve won eight in a row, and started an always tough west coast swing the Friday after Christmas, and won handily against Denver, Golden State, and the Lakers.

One of the indicators of how good a basketball team is their margin of victory, which is second in the NBA at 11.88, just behind Oklahoma City’s 12.0. The only other team over ten points per game are the defending champion Celtics (10.73).

At this point of the season, the NBA is kind of lopsided. There are only six squads that sit 10 games over .500, while there are five teams that still have not reached the 10-win mark.

If you look at teams who have a legitimate chance to end the season by hoisting the Lawrence O’Brien Trophy, there is no doubt the Cavaliers are one of those teams. It is remarkable to think that it was just the 2018-19 campaign where the wine and gold won just 19 games, and they followed that with the same number of victories in the COVID shortened season.

The national media talks about Kenny Atkinson’s club, but they haven’t really been a huge story in the Association to date. One reason is the people who cover the NBA seem to have an agenda on what stories will be important before the season starts, and it is hard to break into that realm.

The other reason is playoff success. This iteration of the Cavs (Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, and Evan Mobley) have only one a single playoff series, the seven-game victory over Orlando last season.

However, the darlings of the Western Conference, Oklahoma City have done the same. The only difference is the Thunder did not make the progression from also ran to the “play-in tournament” to losing in the first round, to winning in the first round like Cleveland.

And despite this tremendous start to the season, the reality is the real season for the Cavs starts in the playoffs.

These Cavs remind us a bit of the “Miracle at Richfield” team from 1975-76. That team had nine players who averaged over 15 minutes a game, whereas Atkinson plays ten players regularly and when injuries have occurred, other players have stepped in to take their place in the rotation.

We have talked about how Mitchell, the team’s star, is playing a career low 31.5 minutes a night. The ’75-’76 Cavaliers had a former All-Star in Nate Thurmond anchoring the second unit, and the star of the franchise’s early years, Austin Carr, also came off the bench.

Both teams could shoot from outside. The ’76 team, who got to the Eastern Conference Finals, had outside marksmen like Carr, Bingo Smith, Campy Russell, and Dick Snyder. This year’s squad lead the NBA in three-point shooting, making an absurd 40.7% as a TEAM!

The next best percentage is the 38.8% being made by the Knicks.

We have seen people saying nothing should be done by president of basketball operations Koby Altman at the trade deadline. However, we disagree.

Yes, this group has amazing chemistry, but they still need another post presence in case of an injury to Allen and/or Mobley. And we also think that could use another wing defender with some length.

This team has amazing depth, particularly at the wing position. With Max Strus’ return, Atkinson now has Strus, Caris LeVert, Isaac Okoro, Georges Niang, and Sam Merrill to play on the wing.

And we haven’t mentioned rookie Jaylon Tyson, who when pressed into service has done a solid job.

The one thing Altman has seemed to always prioritize is character. The Cavs haven’t really had a “knucklehead” or “diva” on their roster for a long time. So, we have no doubt if a deal is made, the addition will fit right into what is working right now.

In a week, the Cavs and Thunder get together in Cleveland. That just might be an NBA Finals preview.

Cavs’ Recent Losses Indicate A Roster Weakness

While there shouldn’t be any real concern over the Cleveland Cavaliers first losing streak of the season, it can be true that some of the concerns we had about the roster showed up in the two straight losses to the Atlanta Hawks, a squad with a 9-11 record to date.

We have been pointing out for we guess a couple of years about the lack of height on Cleveland’s roster. We talked about it before the playoffs last year anticipating a match up with Boston.

While the wine and gold have two smaller guards in Donovan Mitchell (6’3″) and Darius Garland (6’2″), Boston goes with a pair of 6’4″ guards in Jrue Holiday and Derrick White.

The Cavs start 6’5″ Isaac Okoro at forward, while the Celts have 6’6″ Jaylen Brown and 6’8″ Jayson Tatum. And they have Kristaps Porzingis (7’2″) at center, meaning the Cavaliers have a size advantage at only one spot in Evan Mobley.

Atlanta is built similarly although they have Trae Young (6’1″) at the point. The rest of the starting five is 6’8″ Dyson Daniels, 6’8″ Zaccharie Risacher, 6’9″ Jalen Johnson, and 6’10” Clint Capela.

And they use 6’8″ De’Andre Hunter off the bench as well.

Coincidentally, the Celtics and Hawks have dealt Kenny Atkinson’s crew their only three defeats this season and of course, the Cavs and Celtics play tonight at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

It is difficult to point out weaknesses when a team is 15-0 or even 17-1 (still a little weird doing it at 17-3, frankly) but Cleveland needs more size and athleticism at the wing spots and definitely they need another inside player.

We liked the Ty Jerome signing a year ago because at 6’5″ he gives the backcourt more size. But Cleveland is still full of wings that go 6’5″ or 6’6″ when many teams in the league go 6’7″ or 6’8″ at those positions.

And getting Max Strus (6’5″) back doesn’t solve that issue.

Dean Wade is a valuable defender and is 6’9″, and he can defend on the perimeter. However, there are two problems with the fifth-year player out of Kansas State: He’s very streaky with his shot and he’s injury prone.

Wade has only played more than 60 games once in his career in 2020-21, and since his high was 54 games last season. Availability is an ability.

Besides even if Wade is available, the Cavs still need another big man. If something would happen to Mobley and Allen long term, who picks up the slack? If there is a move to be made at the trade deadline, it should be to get a veteran big man who can defend the rim.

And yes, we know Tristan Thompson is on the roster, but he’s there for his veteran leadership and knowledge. If he has to start playing 20 minutes per night, it’s a problem for Atkinson.

Look, the Cavs weren’t going to go 82-0 or even 81-1 this season. They were going to lose some games. Also, they aren’t a perfectly constructed NBA team, there isn’t one, not even the defending champion Celtics.

They came into the season with some flaws on the roster, but the shooting and execution of the players covered some of that up.

We aren’t concerned by the two losses this past week, but watching how Atlanta plays should give everyone, including Atkinson and the coaching staff, an idea of why they are a tough match up.

That’s just the nature of the sport.

Being Thankful…for Kenny Atkinson

Happy Thanksgiving to all of the readers and followers of Cleveland Sports Perspective! Hope you enjoy the most overlooked (in our opinion) of the major holidays.

We have sports thankfulness for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who besides playing outstanding basketball to start the season, also keep sports fans in the area from obsessing on the terrible season the Browns are having.

The 17-2 start is a total surprise of us, and we still think the true test for this basketball team will be the playoffs. We hate saying that because it seems like we are downplaying an amazing first month of hoops, but we know the Cavs are a strong regular season team, will their new style and new coaching pay off next spring.

We liked Kenny Atkinson as a head coach when we had the Brooklyn Nets overachieving during his time there, and when he was dismissed there, he did what basketball lifers do, learning more about the game as an assistant under two men who won NBA titles in Steve Kerr and Ty Lue.

The prevailing thought around the NBA media folks was the wine and gold needed to trade either Jarrett Allen or Evan Mobley, because their view of the game is skewed by how most teams in the NBA play today, with one big man inside and four shooters around the perimeter.

And neither Allen nor Mobley are particularly prolific three-point shooters.

Since basketball is a sport where height matters, we always felt the two big man lineup could succeed, and with the offense described above, you have a lot of players standing around, ready to shoot, while another player tries to get dribble penetration and force the defense to help.

Atkinson figured having Allen and Mobley moving and not being stationary would be a device to make it work.

Mobley is actually making less three pointers than a year ago by percentage (35.3% compared to last year’s 37.3%) and is only taking less than one more shot per contest. He also has the ball in his hands more, and his scoring is up two points per game.

An overlooked reason is his free throw percentage which is up to 82.4% from last year’s career high of 71.9%.

We love how Atkinson isn’t afraid to talk basketball philosophy after games. J.B. Bickerstaff used to talk more about effort, and “the grit” of the players, but Atkinson talks about how the players move on the court, who influences the game without scoring, etc.

Another subtle thing occurred Sunday night. After rookie Jaylon Tyson, usually not in the rotation had to play against New Orleans because of injuries and had a big game, the coach made sure he got minutes in the next contest.

Players need rewards for playing well.

There is also an old hoops adage that says if you don’t play your bench, you will never have one. Last season, the Cavs had five players who averaged more than 30 minutes per night and generally played eight or nine most games.

This season, only three players play 30 minutes, led by Donovan Mitchell’s 31.5 (he played more than 35 last season) and they play 10 or 11 most games.

That develops depth.

Look, Bickerstaff inherited a mess when he took over the job and he restored order, leaning on defense to give the younger Cavs an identity.

He’s doing the same thing in Detroit, where he has the Pistons sitting at 8-11 after winning just 14 games all of last year.

But Kenny Atkinson seems to be putting the finishing touches on this group. They’ve embraced the defensive concepts the former coach taught but now have a more diverse offense to go with it.

That is a reason to be thankful.

Right Now, A Total Buy In For Cavs’ Players

As the Cleveland Cavaliers continue their tremendous start, we heard a comment about the off-season that seems to make a lot of sense.

The organization didn’t do a lot in terms of roster reconstruction over the summer, but they did take care of some potential free agents.

The biggest one of course was signing Donovan Mitchell, a perennial all-star to an extension taking him through the 2027-27 season. Although many in the national media had Mitchell declining the player option he had after next season, the five-time all-star decided to stay with the Cavs.

Team president Koby Altman also signed Evan Mobley through 2029-30 and Jarrett Allen through 2028-29. Darius Garland, the other member of what the organization calls “The Core Four”, was already under contract until 2027-28.

As these signings were announced, we thought it was odd to make a commitment to a group that hasn’t been to the conference finals as of yet.

On the other hand, none of the Cavs’ best players are worrying about getting big contracts anymore. And that makes for a more cohesive basketball team.

We aren’t saying any of these guys were ever selfish on the floor, but there is certainly a thought for most players of making a good reputation in the league, showing they can put up numbers, because if they do, a big deal will be coming their way.

Mitchell is the team’s leader and his buy in to what new coach Kenny Atkinson wants to do probably puts everything in place, but you have to wonder if the contract had an effect.

In his first two seasons with the Cavaliers, Mitchell averaged 28.3 and 26.6 points per game playing around 35 minutes per night. He also took about 20 shots per contest.

We know it’s early, way early, but this year, the former 2nd team all-NBA selection is scoring just 22.5 points per game in 30 minutes, taking two less shots per game.

Look, winning makes everyone happy, and because Cleveland has started 10-0, pretty much everything Atkinson has touched has been golden.

Coincidentally, the organization has long felt that for the team to take another step forward, Evan Mobley needed to be more a part of the offense. Mobley is averaging two more shots per game this year, and his scoring average has risen from 15.7 last year to 18.4 in 2024-25.

Mitchell has always expressed a desire to play for championships. Most players feel the same way, but it’s not that they don’t want to win, it’s they don’t know how to do it. Sometimes it’s as simple as trusting your teammates more.

We aren’t saying the difference is because he got his life changing contract, but rather, he feels more comfortable because he got his deal, and is a better player.

And we aren’t just pointing out Mitchell here, we are saying getting everyone on long term deals has fostered more of an emphasis on the team. Right now, every player is sacrificing playing time, as no one is playing more than Mitchell’s 30.3 minutes a game.

If Atkinson can keep the minutes down for his star players, it could and should pay dividends later in the regular season and the playoffs.

Also, the increased time for the reserves mean if they are called upon later in the season, they will be ready. No one gets better by sitting and watching.

Right now, the only agenda for the Cavaliers is winning. Hopefully, that’s the way it stays because team basketball is beautiful to watch.

An Impressive Start For The Wine And Gold

We said all summer long that Cavaliers’ president of basketball operations Koby Altman’s instance on not making any roster changes, thus putting all the blame for what went wrong last season on J. B. Bickerstaff was misguided.

After the first seven games of this NBA season, we are eating a big fat excrement burger.

New coach Kenny Atkinson’s edition of the wine and gold is off to a tremendous start, winning every single one of the seven games they have played.

The Cavs opened with three non-contenders in Toronto, Detroit, and Washington, but then went to Madison Square Garden to beat the Knicks and then handled the Lakers and short-handed Orlando Magic easily, before heading back on the road to beat Milwaukee.

Last season, Cleveland scored 112.6 points per game, ranking 20th in the league in scoring. So far, although it is early, the Cavaliers are second behind Boston, scoring 122.4 points.

What’s even more impressive is they haven’t sacrificed defense in doing that. They were 7th in points allowed and 6th in defensive efficiency in 2023-24. This year, they are 5th in points allowed and 4th in defensive efficiency.

They are knocking down 40.6% of their three-point shots, up from 36% a year ago, and they are taking about the same number of shots from distance. And the only players shooting a seemingly ridiculous percentage was Caris LeVert (11 of 21) and Ty Jerome (6 of 12).

Atkinson has gotten more players involved, playing at least 10 players in each game, with no one averaging 30 minutes per game. Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell lead the team at 29.6 per night.

The most surprising contributor early on has been Jerome, who played just two games last season due to an ankle injury. We liked the signing a year ago because Jerome has point guard skills and has size at 6’5″.

He is averaging 9.9 points and 3.1 assists per contest but has a calm presence about him and doesn’t try to be spectacular, he just makes the right play more often than not.

The great start is excellent, but unfortunately for this group, the real test for these Cavs will not come until April and May, meaning the playoffs.

Barring injuries, we know this is a playoff squad, so can this style win in the post-season. The questions will be there until proven otherwise: Can the Donovan Mitchell/Darius Garland backcourt win in the playoffs and can Jarrett Allen and Mobley be on the floor together and provide an effective offensive system.

On the other hand, we love the more diversified offense, not as reliant on the pick-and-roll, while not losing the defensive focus. We also always thought Allen and Mobley can both be active on the offensive end and Atkinson has given them the ball at the free throw line and let either find open shooters.

Again, we will stress it is very early in the season. And that the Cavs brought back the same team is huge early in the season, while other squads are working in new players, Cleveland has an advantage in that they’ve all played together.

The Cavs’ best start in their history? They went 8-0 to start the 1976-77 campaign, the year after the “Miracle of Richfield”, when the NBA/ABA merger took place, and many teams had major roster shifts.

The wine and gold did not and won 16 of their first 20. Spoiler alert…they finished 43-39. Just so no one gets too carried away.

A Young Team? Not Really True For The Cavs

The Cleveland Cavaliers made news this week when they signed C Jarrett Allen to a contract extension. Earlier this summer, they signed Evan Mobley to a second contract, meaning every member of the so called “Core 4” are signed for the long term.

And everyone is aware that Donovan Mitchell re-upped with the franchise on a three year deal for a ton of cash.

That doesn’t mean none of the contracts are tradeable, but we digress. Broadcaster Jim Rome used to say players can’t “self-gloss”. meaning they shouldn’t give themselves a nickname, and we feel this way about the “Core 4”.

Heck, former Cavs’ GM Jim Paxson somehow got rid of Shawn Kemp’s bloated contract, so it is possible.

The Cavs organization has started calling them that, and our problem is they haven’t accomplished enough to earn that moniker. Winning one playoff series simply doesn’t do it.

And the organization is paying them a whole lot of cash to a group that again, has never advanced beyond the second round of the NBA playoffs.

Another thing that concerns us about the Cavs’ front office is their insistence the team is young. The reality is Cleveland is 16th in the NBA in the average age of the players, ranking between Atlanta and Sacramento with the roster averaging 26.2 years of age.

Two playoff teams rank in the top 10 youngest rosters: Oklahoma City is 2nd at 23.4 years old, and the team Cleveland defeated in the first round, Orlando is 4th at 24.0. That’s why fans and the front office should be concerned about finishing in the top four this upcoming season. Orlando will no doubt improve.

The Cavs should also worry about Indiana passing them in the standings, as the Pacers are the 11th youngest squad and advanced to the Eastern Conference finals last season.

Of the ten oldest rosters in the league, all but Chicago had winning records a year ago, but none of the teams in that group would be considered “up and coming” because of their age.

Cleveland has only six players born after the turn of the century and of that group, the only ones who get significant playing time are Mobley and Darius Garland. Mobley is beginning his fourth season, and Garland is entering his sixth.

Everyone is expecting Mobley to make a leap at some point and without a doubt he has improved, but in his first three seasons, his per game averages in points have been 15.0, 16.2, and 15.7, and his rebounds have been 8.3, 9.0, and 9.4.

If he doesn’t show dramatic improvement this season, we fear this is what he is, a very good, solid player, but not an all-star.

Many people say he can’t get better because of the presence of Allen, and we will agree to a point. We will see how new coach Kenny Atkinson handles the duo offensively before saying having them both on the floor doesn’t work.

Garland’s stats tumbled last year, but we would attribute that to injuries, but he’s also now been in the league for five seasons. How many players make a big leap in performance after five years?

And of course, we also wonder about the fit between him and Donovan Mitchell. And when we say that, we aren’t insulted anyone’s talent, but in basketball, the pieces have to fit together.

In our minds, this is another reason the Cavs should not run it back in 2024-25. They aren’t a young team. At this point, the players are who they are.

Don’t believe the young team stuff spouted by Koby Altman and his staff. It’s a myth.