For Cavs, Fit May Mean More Than Numbers

It has now been a couple of weeks since the Cleveland Cavaliers were eliminated in the second round of the NBA playoffs by the Indiana Pacers, who will start participating in the NBA Finals tonight.

We know president of basketball operations Koby Altman said he is willing to run it back next year with a roster that did finish with the best record in the Eastern Conference, but we also know that is talk at a post-season press conference.

What we mean is Altman isn’t going to tell anyone what he intends to do in the media.

We have listened to several people in the media who we feel know the game, and talked to people we have coached hoops with, and it is interesting to note they all agree with our thoughts on what to do with the Cavs.

All of these people say it is time to revamp the Cleveland backcourt of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland, and obviously Mitchell is not going anyway.

This is not to denigrate Garland, who is a two-time All-Star, and through six NBA seasons has averaged 18.9 points and 6.7 assists per contest on 45% shooting, 39% from three. No doubt he can play and score.

But many of the people we have heard and/or spoke to all talk about “fit”. And to us, we just don’t see this combination fits.

The famous example of this is the 1971-’72 Los Angeles Lakers, who replaced an aging, injured Elgin Baylor with a 6’5″ small forward in Jim McMillian and almost immediately embarked on a still record 33 game win streak and eventually an NBA title.

Obviously, McMillian wasn’t as good as Baylor, an all-time great, but he fit with the rest of that group.

So, while we usually error on the side of talent, in basketball, how the pieces fit matter greatly. We also would argue on the side of size, and we don’t mean getting a smaller player with a freakish wingspan that Jay Bilas would love, we mean actual height.

We have argued for a few years now the Cavaliers have to get bigger at guard and at the three. De’Andre Hunter can start at small forward and would take care of the latter. He’s listed at 6’8″.

The two teams in the Finals have size. Oklahoma City’s starters are 6’4″, 6’6″, 6’6″, 7’0″, and 7’1″. The smallest of their three primary reserves is 6’4″.

Indiana’s starters are 6’5″, 6’5″, 6’5″, 6’8″, and 6’11”. Their three main reserves are 6’9″, 6’1″, and 6’6″.

Notice only one player under 6’4″, and the Cavs start two guards who are under 6’3″. And it is tough to play against players who are bigger than you.

That’s part of the fit problem for Cleveland. And the front office of the Cavaliers, nor its fans should be looking strictly at numbers when looking at a change. Again, Garland is a very good player and put some very good numbers, but we just think putting a bigger player opposite Mitchell would help in the long run.

We would say Altman should add more size or at least open up playing time for some bigger players. They need a serviceable backup for Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen for sure, but we’d like to see someone like 6’8″ Luke Travers and 6’10” Nae’Qwan Tomlin get a good opportunity as well.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More Thoughts On The Cavs’ Roster

All kinds of stories were written after the Cleveland Cavaliers were eliminated from the NBA playoffs Wednesday night, some of them were pretty easy to see truth in .

And it looks like everyone has decided that if Donovan Mitchell stays, the front office will be moving on from Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen.

We will come back to that. It’s also expected that J.B. Bickerstaff will not return as coach. We’ve been pretty transparent that although we don’t think Bickerstaff is a great “x’s and o’s” coach, we don’t hold him solely responsible for the early exit.

(NOTE: We don’t think the front office thinks it was an early exit, it was the GOAL).

However, there have been published reports that Bickerstaff’s job was on the line in December, and if you were thinking of replacing him that early in the year, you shouldn’t have brought him back after last season.

Now for the roster. We have been saying this for months, but if Mitchell signs an extension, the Cavs need to move on from Garland. They simply do not play well together. This is a problem for those who view basketball as a fantasy game, where statistics are just plugged in.

It isn’t. It doesn’t mean Garland is a terrible player and it doesn’t mean he won’t go somewhere else and be better. He just isn’t effective playing with Mitchell.

Also, we heard this debate: You’d be selling low on Garland. This cannot be a consideration. If you want the team to be better in 2024-25, you can’t run back the two under 6’3″ ball dominant guard starting backcourt.

The Cavaliers may move Garland for a normal sized (not 6’5″) small forward who fits better but doesn’t have the “numbers” of the player they are trading. That’s alright.

As for the Allen and Evan Mobley frontcourt, we would like to give the new coach a chance to make it work, especially since Cleveland needs size.

Mobley had a great series vs. Boston, but remember the Celtics were without Kristaps Porzingis, and were playing Al Horford and Luke Kornet at center, players Mobley is clearly more skilled than.

We also disagree Mobley needs to be a three-point shooter for the combo to work. We think a reliable 15-to-18-foot jumper shot would do the trick and allow both of the bigs to thrive.

Allen was the Cavs’ best player in the playoffs when he was injured and for the season, their second best behind Mitchell. Does anyone else think trading the squad’s second-best player in an effort to get better is a bad idea?

The difference is it is clear that the Mitchell/Garland pairing doesn’t bring out the best in either player, while we understand the NBA folks all think bigs have to shoot threes now, we don’t buy into that.

We think a different coach can make Allen and Mobley an effective center/power forward combination. Besides, if Mobley plays center, his biggest value of being able to defend away from the basket is taken away from him.

There is no question the Cavs need to get bigger. They need more size in the backcourt, on the wings, and can’t have only two effective players in the middle. Size matters.

We would like to see the organization give Luke Travers a spot next season. Remember him? He was a second-round pick in 2022 and is a 6’6″ do it all kind of player. In the Australian League, he scored 12 points, grabbed 7.6 boards and dished out two assists.

We know Summer League isn’t a true judge of anything, but he played well there the last two years. We think he could help next year.

And remember, the Cavs do have a first round pick this year. Hopefully, they take someone who can help right away.

Summer League Isn’t Real Ball, But We Did Like A Couple Of Things

The Cleveland Cavaliers have emerged as the champions of the 2023 NBA Summer League!

Seriously, good for the players and coaches, it is better to win than lose anytime they are keeping score, but the Summer League is a glorified pick up game in our eyes, and we don’t take much of it seriously.

For example, we have seen the Cavs’ media influencers getting excited about the performance of Sam Merrill, who averaged 20.4 points in Las Vegas, knocking down 44.6% of his three-point shots.

We get it, Cleveland is starved for three point shooters, but let’s remind everyone that Merrill played five years in college and is actually older than the wine and gold’s best player, Donovan Mitchell, and since the 2020-21 season, he’s played a grand total of 11 NBA games, making 12 of 41 shots from behind the arc.

You see, the real NBA and the summer league are miles apart in terms of quality of play.

We said after the draft not to get excited about second round pick Emoni Bates because he will likely spend much of the season playing for the Charge in the G-League. Our mind has not changed.

Bates shot 40% from long distance, but we didn’t see someone who can defend on an NBA level right now, and let’s just say he needs to learn how to find teammates when they are open. He averaged 1.2 assists in the six games.

We aren’t writing him off, but he has a lot to learn before he can be a rotational player in the NBA.

That doesn’t mean we didn’t see anything good.

Again, knowing it is summer league, we thought Isaiah Mobley looked like he might be ready to contribute on a nightly basis. The Cavs need some big men who don’t look like they’ve seen better days, and they added veteran Damian Jones (6’11”) in a trade after the draft.

Mobley is 6’10” and averaged 17.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per contest. We love players who can do a little bit of everything, a complete player if you will. He also approached the games like he was a veteran in our eyes, taking a leadership role with this group of young players.

And the coaching staff put the ball in his hands at times to initiate the offense. We were skeptical when the Cavs drafted him last year in the second round, but we now think he can contribute on the big team, or at least be given the opportunity to get a standard contract.

We also continue to be impressed by Luke Travers, another second round pick from 2022.

He is committed to play in his native Australia this year, but we think he could help the big club if given the opportunity. He’s not a scorer, but he is a basketball player.

He scored 7.5 points, grabbed 6.3 boards, and dished out two assists per game, but when he was on the floor, the young Cavs played better. And he’s listed somewhere between 6’6″ and 6’8″, which is exactly the kind of size the wine and gold need.

We aren’t saying +/- is the best statistic, but he led the Vegas Cavs in that department.

The players on the roster should be proud of their accomplishment, no one else went undefeated in Vegas. But fans shouldn’t read too much into it.

Let’s see how much playing time any of these guys get in Cleveland when the regular season starts.

Watching Summer League Through A Real Lens

The NBA decided this year to award championship rings for the winner of their Summer League, which is akin to giving out a trophy for winning the Cactus League for Major League Baseball.

On one hand, for some of these players, this is the closest they will get to playing in the NBA. And if they win the title, we guess there is a sense of accomplishment and as we always say, winning is better than losing.

But is it really a competition when several teams aren’t even trying to win? The Orlando Magic had the top player taken in this past draft, Paolo Banchero, play two games in Las Vegas, and then decided they had seen enough of the player they hope will be the backbone of their squad the next time they advance to the post-season.

In terms of the Cavaliers, it is great that Ochai Agbaji has played well in the three games the wine and gold’s entry in the league has played. The first-round pick from Kansas scored 24 points last night, hitting 4 of 8 three-point shots.

However, he is likely the only player on this team that will make a meaningful contribution to the 2022-23 edition of the Cavs.

Cleveland’s highest second round pick, Khalifa Diop isn’t playing in the league and supposedly will not be reporting to training camp in the fall. Isaiah Mobley was signed as a two-way player, so he will likely be toiling a lot for the Cleveland Charge, and the last pick, Luke Travers, will be playing in Australia.

We have read some ardent Cavs’ fans touting another two-way player, R.J. Nembhard Jr., who is playing in Vegas, as someone who may be able to contribute to the club this season.

A few weeks ago, we wrote about how the Cavs needed to upgrade the bottom of their roster so they weren’t reliant on guys like Lamar Stevens, Dylan Windler, and Dean Wade to succeed. If we feel that way about those three players, you can understand why we are skeptical about Nembhard Jr.’s prospects of making an impact.

The best players in the league are the first round picks this year coming into the league and the second-year guys who were in the NBA last season, and most of the top rookies from last season aren’t playing in summer.

So, if a player like Agbaji isn’t playing well against this competition, it’s more of a red flag than a great feeling if he plays well. He should be doing good things. He was heralded as someone who could shoot the ball, particularly from distance, and he’s done that.

We haven’t seen anything that wasn’t expected. And that’s a good thing.

In watching the games, we haven’t seen anyone else who can make an impact for a team who should be in a position to make the playoffs next season. In fact, the next best player we’ve seen is Travers, and he’s a developmental player.

While it’s fun to watch and gives hoops junkies actual games to see, the NBA Summer League is a bunch of glorified exhibition games with most of the players being guys you will never hear from again.

Look at it that way, and you won’t fool yourself into overhyping someone.