Cavs Need Size, Can They Add It?

We understand basketball has morphed into a kind of positionless sports over the last ten years. No longer do a lot of team use a traditional center, power forward, small forward, shooting guard and point guard.

For example, the traditional point guard, think of a guy like Andre Miller or Mark Jackson, who is a distributor, scoring only when he has to. The point guard position today is for guys like Steph Curry, Damian Lillard, and even Darius Garland, guys who can stretch the floor with long range shooting and pass as well.

Despite the change in the sport, it is still a game where size matters. The three finalists for league MVP were Joel Embiid (7’0″), Giannis Antetokounmpo (7’0″) and Nikola Jokic (6’11”).

Unfortunately, the Cleveland Cavaliers have not following that trend.

Sure in 2021-22, J.B. Bickerstaff famously starting a front line of 6’11” Jarrett Allen and a pair of seven footers in Evan Mobley and Lauri Markkanen, but the only other players who received significant minutes that were over 6’8″ were Kevin Love and Dean Wade.

But Markkanen was moved to get Donovan Mitchell and was replaced in the starting lineup by 6’5″ Isaac Okoro. So, while the Cavs still have Mobley and Allen, they are undersized at the other three spots on the floor with both Mitchell and Garland being listed at 6’1″.

By contrast, let’s look at the highest remaining seed in the East, the Boston Celtics. They start a pair of guards both taller than the Cavs’ starters in Derrick White (6’4″) and Marcus Smart (6’3″). They aren’t as tall up front overall, but Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum kind of alternate on the wing and they are 6’6″ and 6’8″.

Al Horford is only 6’9″ at center, but there two most prominent reserves are Malcolm Brogdon (6’5″) and Robert Williams (6’10”).

And it is not just about height either. The Knicks’ Jalen Brunson is listed at 6’1″, but he’s thick, burly if you will. And he just overpowered both of the Cavs’ starters who are listed at the same height.

Same among the big men. Mobley and New York’s Mitchell Robinson are both listed at seven feet, but Robinson is a bigger player. And to be fair, Mobley is only 21 years old and we have no doubt he will get stronger as he gets older.

Against New York, Bickerstaff’s tallest reserves were 6’6″ Caris LeVert and 6’7″ Cedi Osman. The Knicks used former Cavalier Isaiah Hartenstein (7′) and also Obi Toppin (6’9″).

When you think about it, the only position where the Cavaliers are bigger than the norm is at power forward with Mobley.

The biggest challenge for Koby Altman this summer is to get bigger. First of all, the coach has gone on record saying he prefers bigger players. He needs to get a useful big man off the bench, one who can play and be effective when Allen and Mobley are resting.

We find it funny when folks want to trade Allen this off-season. If you do that, then you are short two big men.

And if you are going to continue to use a smaller backcourt, the wine and gold need to get bigger reserves. Having LeVert is good because they can play him with either Mitchell or Garland and have some size, particularly because the former plays bigger than 6’1″.

But you also need a small forward taller than Okoro or LeVert. It’s tougher to shoot over players taller than you than it is to do against smaller players.

Size still matters in the game of basketball even in today’s era. One step for the Cavs to be better next year is to get bigger.

That’s step one.

Comments About Altman’s Comments

Friday morning, Cavs’ basketball head honcho Koby Altman had his post-season press conference and essentially said there wouldn’t be a lot of changes in the off-season. Let’s hope this is just front office speak.

Yes, the Cavaliers won 51 games this past season, the most won in the post-LeBron James era for the franchise. However, a closer look at the team shows there are a lot of areas where the wine and gold need to improve if they want to make a deeper run in next season’s playoffs.

Altman went out and got a star last off-season, trading most of the Cavaliers’ assets for Donovan Mitchell, thus giving the team four all-star caliber players along with Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, and Evan Mobley.

It was a great move. Mitchell will likely be first or second team all-NBA. But now Altman and GM Mike Gansey need to focus on spots #4 through #10 on the roster.

We would guess there will be a priority to bring Caris LeVert back. LeVert is the only player besides Mitchell and Garland to be able to create his own shot, and he showed he can be a solid defender and good passer.

The Cavaliers need more “basketball players” on the second unit. What we mean by that is players who can do a little bit of everything, like LeVert.

Right now, after the five players already mentioned, it feels like the balance of the squad is made up of one-dimensional players.

Isaac Okoro and Lamar Stevens are defenders, providing little on the offense end. Ricky Rubio is a playmaker. Dean Wade? He’s supposed to be able to provide outside shooting, but frankly, we’ve said all year he’s probably better defensively than people think, and not as good of a shooter as purported.

Cedi Osman is the closest to having an all-around game, but it seems like the coaching staff has very little confidence in him.

And without a doubt, Cleveland needs some shooters. The playoff series vs. the Knicks begged for someone, anyone to be able to make an outside shot consistently. Danny Green was signed on the buyout market and contributed one made three-point shot.

They also need size, and need size that can play in April. The last two years, the front office offered Ed Davis and Robin Lopez as reserve big men. Neither contributed much on the court. Altman and Gansey must get at least one big who can spell Allen and Mobley, and we would get two.

Basketball is still a sport where size matters, and J.B. Bickerstaff, who loves size, shouldn’t have to play Osman or Green at power forward in a playoff game.

From a coaching standpoint, Bickerstaff needs to do something differently offensively. Mitchell came into criticism for the post-season performance and to his credit, he owned up to it, but what did the coaching staff do to get him open looks? Opposing teams don’t guard Okoro, but the Cavs keep putting him in the corner to shoot threes.

That’s exactly why they don’t guard him.

They also don’t really have a plan for Mobley and Allen on the offensive end.

The defensive mindset is great, no question about it, but the Cavs only scored 100 points once in the series, the game they won. And the trio of Mitchell, Garland, and LeVert took 63% of the shots Cleveland attempted.

FYI, the Knicks top three in shots taken (Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle, and R.J. Barrett) took 58% of their shots.

There is very little movement off the ball for Cleveland. It’s pick and roll or bust. And we know that’s what the league has become, but there has to be some alternatives.

If Altman went before the media and promised big changes, the speculation would be running rampant already. He has to know the Cavaliers have to get better in 2023-24, and that will be difficult with no changes on the roster.

Can The Cavs Respond Tonight?

A week and a half ago, basketball fans in northeast Ohio were excited about the Cavaliers. They won 51 games and had homecourt advantage in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

Things can change drastically in ten days, right?

Tonight, the Cavs are playing for their playoff lives, down 3-1 to the New York Knicks with a possible elimination game at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

Can the Cavs come back and win the series? Our first thought is no, because New York has exposed the weaknesses the Cleveland roster has, namely a top-heavy roster that provides little depth.

One issue we don’t think J.B. Bickerstaff can address is the lack of a third big man who can get on the court. We aren’t going to re-hash the whole Kevin Love situation again, but the real issue is Koby Altman and Mike Gansey did not replace Love with another serviceable big. So, when Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley are on the bench, the Cavaliers really have no big bodies to replace them.

We say it all the time, yes, basketball has changed. The smaller players do have a bigger impact on the game right now, but never forget that size still matters. You have to have size to win, and beyond Allen and Mobley, the wine and gold don’t have enough.

Bickerstaff needs to pull out all stops tonight, he really has nothing to lose. The Knicks primary offensive threat is Jalen Brunson, and the Cavs best success against him is to guard him with bigger people, which we agree with.

Brunson is simply too strong for Donovan Mitchell or Darius Garland.

We believe you have to use Isaac Okoro on him with Caris LeVert and Lamar Stevens also taking turns guarding him. Stevens hasn’t played real minutes in the series, but we think he has to be on the floor tonight.

We have heard many folks complaining about Mitchell’s performance on Sunday and about Allen’s play in general. We agree Mitchell played poorly, but think about it, what did the coaching staff do to help him?

The Knicks are trying to take Mitchell away from the Cavs, and that’s good strategy, he’s their best player, but the Cavs’ staff have to figure out a way to get the All-Star guard some good looks, perhaps with some off-ball screens to get some shots in the paint so he can get in a rhythm early.

As for Allen, he is having problems defensively, but mostly because he is helping with players who are penetrating, and he’s done that all year. He either needs his teammates to keep their men in front of them or somebody to pick up his man when he helps.

That isn’t happening.

Offensively, the Cavs really don’t do much for Mobley or Allen. When the Knicks’ trap out front, the middle is open and that’s where Mobley can help. Get him the ball there and he can either attack the basket or set up a lob for Allen. But really, the Cavaliers don’t ever make a reasonable effort to establish either on the offensive end.

We would go back to starting Okoro, and use LeVert, Osman, and Stevens off the bench. That’s it.

Again, it is a tough road for the Cavs to win this series, but they need to extend the series back to New York to gain some respect among the basketball cognoscenti.

The flaws were always there, they are just being exposed now.

Once Again, The Cavs Have To Dig Deep.

The Cleveland Cavaliers seem to relish a challenge, especially in their first-round playoff series against the New York Knicks.

They blew the home court advantage they gained with their 51 regular season wins by losing game one at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, and after a win to even the series, they put the pressure firmly on themselves this afternoon by getting smoked at Madison Square Garden Friday night, losing 99-79.

It was the lowest point total of the year for any NBA team.

Both teams struggled in the first quarter which ended tied at 17. Jarrett Allen was outstanding, making all three of his shots, grabbing three rebounds, and blocking a shot. On the negative, Darius Garland was awful, missing eight shots, including four three-pointers.

That was followed by a 15 point second quarter. Cleveland was 2 for 19 from beyond the arc at the half, and to us, the crazy stat was that those 19 attempts were almost one-half of their field goal attempts (43).

The Knicks started knocking down closer shots and led by 13 at the half. The wine and gold actually outrebounded New York before intermission26-24.

In the second half, only Caris LeVert (7 of 11, 3 of 7 from three) and Donovan Mitchell, who was 5 of 11 in the first half, and made half of his eight shots in the second, were able to put the ball in the basket.

Coach J.B. Bickerstaff did change the starting lineup, moving LeVert in, replacing Isaac Okoro, but that left the bench with no weapons. The non-starters, excluding garbage time, took just seven shots, making two.

We said (before the game) we would have started Danny Green if he was going to make a change, but frankly, we would have just stayed with Okoro. And although we are usually critical of Okoro, we thought Bickerstaff didn’t play him enough. He was making an impact when he came in during the first half, but only played seven minutes until the game was decided.

Before the series started, we noted Cleveland needed at least one reserve to play well. In game two, LeVert did. With him starting, they need all five starters to produce. They didn’t.

We mentioned earlier that Allen took three shots in the first quarter, making all of them. Unfortunately, those were the only three he took all night, as the Cavs decided to ignore going inside.

Why is that a problem? If you aren’t going to look inside, Evan Mobley only had 10 shot attempts as well, it allows the Knicks’ big men, mostly Mitchell Robinson to have no real defensive responsibility. Robinson was able to block a Mitchell jumper in the first half.

After the game, Bickerstaff said the Cavs had open looks, they just didn’t make them. To us, that’s a rather simplistic view of the game of basketball. True, the wine and gold shot just 38.8% from the floor. But if a team takes a lot of poor shots, they will probably shoot a poor percentage.

Bickerstaff keeps talking about his team’s inexperience, and they haven’t grasped that in the playoffs, every possession is important. You cannot have 20 turnovers, and bad shots are pretty much the same as a turnover.

Here’s what we mean by a bad shot. At the end of the first half, the Cavs were down 40-32 with :40 remaining. They had a chance to keep it close going into the half.

Instead, Mitchell took a three with plenty of time on the shot clock, missed it, and New York came down and hit a three. Then another turnover and a Knick hoop and the Cavaliers were down 13 at the half.

In our mind, Mitchell’s shot is only good if he makes it.Today’s game is the turning point. If Cleveland wins, they regain homecourt advantage and come home with two of the remaining three in downtown Cleveland.

Can the Cavs adjust? Can they get someone out of their bench? Can Garland rebound from a terrible game? The answer to those questions has to be yes.

Cavs Still Have Work To Do In Last Week Of Season

We have reached the last week of the NBA regular season and the Cleveland Cavaliers have just four games remaining.

Their “magic number” to clinch home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs is two, and the four games they have left are against the teams currently in 12th, 13th, and 14th place in the Eastern Conference.

The Knicks are in the fifth position and they play a pair against Indiana (the Cavs’ opponent tonight), the Wizards (11th place), but they have a tough one at New Orleans, who is fighting for their playoff position in the west.

We aren’t putting too much stock Friday night’s loss to New York at home, as we are hoping J.B. Bickerstaff wasn’t about to show Tom Thibodeau, the Knicks’ coach, how he was going to defend G Jalen Brunson.

That’s the only explanation we can come up with because Brunson lit up Cleveland for 48 points.

Bickerstaff went with Donovan Mitchell on Brunson and really didn’t waver from that, but again, in a seven game situation we are sure the Cavs would blitz the Knicks’ point guard and force the ball out of his hands.

Of course, two of the Cavs’ better defenders, Jarrett Allen and Isaac Okoro, did not play but both will be ready when the playoffs start in two weeks. Still, because the Cavs are a team that hangs its hat on the defensive end of the floor, it was a bit startling to see Brunson get 48 points, even though he did take 32 shots.

New York didn’t have Julius Randle, out at least two weeks with an ankle sprain, and we bring this up because we would love to see the Cavs clinch the fourth spot sooner than later because then Bickerstaff can start giving some of his regulars some time off.

We have been saying this for some time, but the Cavaliers are not a particularly deep team and we can see by having Allen and Okoro out forces Bickerstaff to use players he probably wouldn’t want to use in a post-season situation.

And the less playing time the top players for Cleveland get going forward, it would seem to minimize an injury risk.

Our guess is the coaching staff will lean heavily on his four core players (Mitchell, Darius Garland, Allen, and Evan Mobley) a lot in the playoffs, playing each of them 35-40 minutes per night.

Behind this quartet, we would expect Caris LeVert to get the next most court time, likely between 30-35 minutes.

If he goes with the higher amount, that would be 195 minutes out of a possible 240, leaving 45 minutes remaining. Okoro likely gets the majority of the time, around 25-30, probably depending what he is doing on the offensive end.

We would expect Ricky Rubio and Cedi Osman to get what is remaining. Meaning he the Cavs will play eight, which is what most figured all along.

But there still is work to do. The Cavaliers need to win two more games, or less if the Knicks stumble. And they need to get everyone healthy and have them stay that way.

Cavs’ Needed To Make The Playoffs This Year. They Did!

Before the NBA season started, we felt the goal of the Cleveland Cavaliers should be to avoid the “play-in tournament” nonsense that the NBA put in place and get to a seven-game series.

Sunday night’s win over the hapless Houston Rockets clinched that for JB Bickerstaff’s squad. The wine and gold have won 48 games so far, and should hit the 50 win plateau in 2022-23.

How many times in franchise history have they reached that mark without LeBron James on the roster? Well remember, the Cavs did have a pretty good team in the late 80’s and early 90’s, getting 57 wins in 1988-89 and ’91-’92, and had 54 victories in ’92-’93.

It hasn’t happened often.

When Koby Altman pulled the trigger for Donovan Mitchell last summer, we were skeptical. The Cavs’ identity was the big front line last season, and trading Lauri Markkanen took away the unique style Cleveland was playing.

Also, the trade did not address the Cavaliers’ lack of size in the backcourt. They were still starting two small guards.

Watching Mitchell play night in and night out changed our mind. He will make either the second or third team All-NBA this year, and there were games this season where he willed Cleveland to victory.

He’s averaging 4.5 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game in addition to his 27.4 points. And he and Darius Garland have meshed very well. The latter is scored the same as a year ago (21.7 last year, 21.6 this season) and his assists aren’t too far off, down from 8.6 to 7.8.

Mitchell was reportedly a defensive issue in Utah, but he has bought in to Bickerstaff’s defensive mantra and gives effort each and every night.

If anyone questions the deal because of what was given up, we would say if you can get a top 15 player in the league, it would seem to be worth the price.

It will help this young group of Cavaliers, only Mitchell (26), Caris LeVert (28), and Cedi Osman (27) are over 25 among the top eight players in terms of minutes played, to get in a seven-game series to see the intensity of the games, and to make adjustments on a nightly basis.

And that goes for Bickerstaff as well.

Mitchell has played in 39 playoff games in his career, more than Jarrett Allen, LeVert (each with 9), Garland (0), Evan Mobley (0), and Osman (14) combined. No doubt, he will be leaned on heavily to guide the inexperienced guys through the grind.

It could mean a lot for the careers of Garland and Mobley in particular to be exposed to basketball’s post-season.

If the standing hold and the first-round opponent are the New York Knicks, we anticipate it will be a very tough series, and that’s a good thing. There shouldn’t be any more games against the Rockets, Hornets, or Pistons when you get to this point.

The Cavs’ style of play, defense first, controlling the pace should play well in the playoffs. However, teams will focus on Mitchell, so others are going to have to take advantage. And we would love to see Mitchell not settle for the long jump shots and attack the basket more.

He seems unstoppable at times doing that.

It’s been a long time (1997-98) since a Cavaliers’ team without James made the playoffs, so that is not anything to dismiss. They should celebrate the accomplishment. That they didn’t is a good sign for this group.

JB Seems To Want Another Big. Go Get Him One.

Since the middle of this NBA season, we have been concerned about the Cleveland Cavaliers not having enough depth of big men.

They start one of the best duos in the league with Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. But the signing of Robin Lopez is fine if he is going to play once a week for about ten minutes, but if he is pressed into service longer or more frequently than that the Cavs have a problem.

Some folks have the opinion that in the playoffs Allen and Mobley will play about 40 minutes per game, so there is no reason to bring in another player who can handle center or power forward, but we like to have our bases covered.

Allen’s recent eye injury brought the need for another decent big man into focus (no pun intended). Yes, Cleveland has won three of the four games without their starting center, but they lost to Philadelphia, who of course has MVP candidate Joel Embiid.

Lopez got eight minutes the first game Allen was out and the Cavs were a minus 9 in those minutes. He hasn’t been in a game since.

Dean Wade got the opportunity the next game, another win over the lowly Hornets, and he provided no points (on four shots) and more concerning, no rebounds in 19 minutes! The exclamation point is for someone 6’9″ playing that long without accidentally getting a rebound.

Against Philly, coach J.B. Bickerstaff dusted off two-way player Mamadi Diakite, who had played all of 16 games with the Cavs this season, and he played nine minutes, totaling two points and a rebound. He then played 12 minutes in the win over Washington, getting two points, five boards, and picking up five fouls.

We realize there is no question Allen and Mobley will play the bulk of the minutes once the playoffs start. But what if they have to miss time? If it is a long-term injury, the Cavaliers are probably screwed anyway, but what if either has to miss a game? Or one of them gets into foul trouble?

Does Bickerstaff really want to trust Diakite to play 15-18 minutes in the playoff game? And based on the Wizards’ game, could he last 15 minutes without fouling out?

After the Sixers’ game, the coach said he felt the team was short on big men, shorter than he is comfortable in being. So why don’t Koby Altman and Mike Gansey get him another player with the ability to play the #4 or #5 spot?

They used the roster spot created with the Kevin Love buyout to sign another wing, 6’4″ Sam Merrill, who has played in just two games since his arrival on March 3rd. And that was after signing Danny Green on the buyout market. He’s appeared in four games.

We understand Green’s experience may help come playoff time, but why get another wing like Merrill when there is clearly no playing time available for him.

The front office could still go out and get another big man before the playoffs, but they would have to cut someone. Maybe that’s why Diakite has played the last two games, they are seeing if he can be a contributor going forward.

The Cavs have made it a priority to get into the playoffs, the real seven game series playoffs this season. Why not go out and get an insurance policy for the post-season if Allen or Mobley have to miss some time next month?

It just makes too much sense.

Cavs Have Come A Long Way, But It’s OK To Want More

It was just two years ago that the Cleveland Cavaliers finished the shortened 2020-21 season at 22-50, and those 22 victories were the most by the franchise since LeBron James departed for the Los Angeles Lakers after four consecutive Finals appearances.

They’ve come a long way since then, winning 44 games last season and this year stand poised to make their first playoff appearance without James on the roster since 1997-98 when Mike Fratello’s squad went 47-35 and lost in the first round.

This will likely be the best non-LeBron season since 1992-93 when Cleveland went 54-28 and lost in the Eastern Conference semifinals to the Bulls, led by a guy named Michael Jordan.

So big picture, the Cavaliers have made tremendous progress over the last two seasons, going from one of the worst teams in the league to one that right now would have home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

How can anyone complain about that?

It’s a fair question to ask, especially to us, since we have been a little concerned about the play of the Cavs, particularly their bench, which obviously is still a work in progress.

When Koby Altman started the rebuild, it began around lottery pick Collin Sexton, but really made a leap when Altman was able to get Jarrett Allen from Brooklyn in the James Harden move from Houston to Brooklyn.

Since the center arrived, he has averaged 14.6 points and 10 rebounds a game, while providing excellent defense. His presence and the drafting of Darius Garland the same season gave the wine and gold three solid pieces, although Garland had some struggles in his rookie year.

The past two seasons saw the drafting of Evan Mobley and the dealing of Sexton for the more polished Donovan Mitchell, an established three time all-star, adding two more building blocks, giving the Cavs a “core four” as a foundation for success.

That success has arrived, as Cleveland will likely win 50 games this season.

There is an angst that comes with success though. There are no guarantees the Cavaliers will finish in top four of the East next season, so although we don’t want the front office to do anything that will jeopardize success down the road, because Mitchell is the oldest of the core at 26-years-old, but you have to think Altman and GM Mike Gansey could have strengthened the current roster for the stretch run.

We understand the brass wanting to see how the current members on the roster play in important games and post-season ones too, but we also think it’s fair to not expect those guys getting better with higher stakes on the line.

We’ve also been very concerned about the lack of size on the roster besides Allen and Mobley, and Allen’s eye injury brought a spotlight on that. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem he will be out long, but we don’t see Robin Lopez being effective for a long period if he was needed.

And time will tell if J.B. Bickerstaff’s plan to ramp up minutes right now to prepare the players for a heavier workload come the post-season will do just that or will the four most important Cavaliers just be worn down after the regular season.

At some point, we believe the coach will rest Mitchell, Garland, Allen, and Mobley for the playoffs, perhaps in a couple of weeks.

The Cavs have turned it around over the last two seasons and a best-of-seven series will come their way next month. But it’s alright to want more, with the expectation that the best will come in the next couple of seasons.

There’s nothing wrong with that.

No Trades For Cavs, But Green Is Coming. Anyone Else?

The Cleveland Cavaliers seemed to have found an elixir to their January malaise and have reeled off six straight victories, pushing them into fourth place in the Eastern Conference, which would give them home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

It was a bit surprising that Koby Altman and Mike Gansey did not pull off a trade at the deadline, mostly because only four teams in the league did not make a deal.

As we have been saying over the last month, we felt the Cavs needed a big more than a wing heading into the post-season, but the front office didn’t do that either, although it looks as though Cleveland will be signing veteran free agent Danny Green, recently traded from Memphis to Houston, and then bought out by the Rockets.

Green has only played three games this season, recovering from a knee injury, but he brings some length at the wing position and he’s a career 40% shooter from three-point range. Cleveland could use another reliable shooter from outside.

Green’s signing will take place after he passes through waivers, which should happen later today.

It will be interesting to see if Altman grabs another big man that comes available on the buyout market.

Right now, the Cavaliers have Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley starting at center and power forward, respectively, but they really don’t have anyone else with size that they can trust with meaningful minutes.

The team’s third big is probably 6’9″ Dean Wade, who is more of a wing to our way of thinking. He plays more offensively and defensively on the perimeter, and he is a very good defender out there. Kevin Love has fallen out of the rotation and although he still can rebound, he doesn’t match up with many opposing big men who operate in the paint.

Robin Lopez is still on the roster but doesn’t have the lateral quickness needed to defend in today’s NBA. We wondered the other night why Bickerstaff didn’t use him when the Bulls put Andre Drummond in the game. There aren’t many players he could match up against.

We were interested in Dewayne Dedmon, recently let go by Miami, but he decided to sign with the Sixers, just ahead of the wine and gold in the standing. Dedmon is a seven-footer who played in 30 games with the Heat, scoring 5.6 points and grabbing 3.7 boards. And over the past couple of years, he’s developed a little range from behind the arc, hitting 11 of 37 threes this season.

If J.B. Bickerstaff could get five minutes a game out of an added big man, that’s an extra two and a half minutes of rest for Allen and Mobley per game for the rest of the season. And if one of them has to miss a game, there’s a legitimate big man to substitute in.

It’s seems to us that this recent hot stretch has featured Mobley and Allen more on the offensive end, the Cavaliers are making a concerted effort to get them the ball early in games so they can work inside out. The pair and making 55.4% and 65.3% of their shots from the floor respectively.

The Cavs are going to need their two big men in the playoffs and getting them even a little more rest during the remaining schedule should help them in April and May. Especially because both are so active defensively.

Does the front office feel the same way?

A Week Before Trade Deadline, Will Cavs Shore Up Holes?

The NBA trading deadline is a week from today and no team may be more in need of making a move than the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Of course, Koby Altman pushed most of his chips to the center of the table this summer getting Donovan Mitchell from Utah, and Mitchell has been sensational, averaging 27.6 points per game, and providing leadership for the young Cavs.

As we have said before, over the past couple of months, the wine and gold have been a bit stagnant, they didn’t win back-to-back games in the month of January. There is no question some veteran NBA teams kind of go through the motions prior to Christmas, but they start getting a little more serious when the calendar changes to the new year.

However, the Cavaliers are not a veteran team, they still need to establish themselves as one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference. We said before the season started that making the “play-in” tournament was not good enough in 2022-23.

If the organizational goal is to finish in the top six in the East, guaranteeing a seven-game series, then Altman needs to make a move. We said before the season started that the top-heavy roster had four real good players (Mitchell, Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, and Evan Mobley).

They have three solid bench players in Kevin Love, Caris LeVert, and Ricky Rubio. Love has struggled since injuring his thumb and Rubio is just coming off knee surgery. As for the rest of the bench, it is filled with one dimensional players.

Isaac Okoro is a very good defender with limited offensive skills. Lamar Stevens is a good defender and knows his offensive limitations and usually plays accordingly. Dean Wade is a better defender than he gets credit for and isn’t as good of an offensive player for the reputation he has gained around town.

Right now, we think Cedi Osman should be the starting three and give him an extended shot. Osman has the size to play the spot (Okoro and Stephens are undersized), is a very good passer, and although he is streaky, he can drive to the basket.

And he’s willing to shoot, something Wade is reticent to do at times.

And the only one of these players who is truly young is Okoro, who is 22. The others are 25 and older, which would seem to mean they are what they are.

So overall, this roster just isn’t deep enough to be a serious playoff contender. We would guess that Altman and Mike Gansey know this as well. The question is can the Cavs make a move prior to the trade deadline that will bring another solid, dependable player for Bickerstaff to use.

It’s a delicate balance because the Cavs are still a very young team, but they would most definitely benefit from getting in a seven game playoff series, even if they don’t survive it. Getting Mitchell would seem to be the sign the real playoffs are the goal this season.

The Cavs fast start drew notice around the league, and the better teams in the league are preparing better to play them. The front office has a week to adjust back by adding more talent to the roster.