Cavs Seem Out Of “Play In” Tourney. Did They Really Want To Be In?

The Cleveland Cavaliers keep saying they would like to qualify for one of the spots in the “Play In” tournament for the 7th through 10th seeds in each conference (a ridiculous concept, by the way), but are they really interested in getting in?

They currently sit at 21-40 with 11 games remaining in the truncated 72 game schedule this year, and are now 6 games behind suddenly red hot Washington, who sit in 10th place.

So, it doesn’t really look promising, does it?

We never really thought the Cavs, as an organization, were really gung-ho about going after the spot, because of recent coaching and personnel moves.

For example, after beating another contender, Charlotte, on the road on April 14th, the wine and gold lost at home to Golden State. That shouldn’t seem to be weird, as the Warriors are over .500 on the year.

When watching this game, what stood out was the lack of playing time for backup big man Isaiah Hartenstein, who played just three and a half minutes. Why was that strange? Well, Jarrett Allen, the Cavaliers’ starting center, was having a great game.

Allen made six of his seven shots, scoring 17 points and corralling 14 rebounds in almost 35 minutes. So, J.B. Bickerstaff wanted to play small ball when Allen was resting? Also, Allen was a minus one while on the floor, and it wasn’t as though the Warriors took huge advantage of Hartenstein being on the floor. He was a minus two.

The next game for Cleveland was at Chicago, with the Bulls not having their leading scorer, Zach LaVine, due to COVID protocols. The Cavs led at the half, but got blitzed in the third quarter and lost by ten. Oh, and by the way, the wine and gold were very much in the playoff chase at that time, a half game behind Toronto.

The strange thing about this game (and the Golden State game too) was a cut in minutes for Matthew Dellavedova. After missing most of the season with a concussion, when he returned, he was playing about 16 minutes per game, and the Cavaliers were 3-4 in the seven games he played.

Against the Warriors, Delly played just 13 minutes and versus the Bulls, just 10 minutes. Given he is usually a stabilizing factor for the young Cavs, don’t you think he could have helped when Cleveland was getting run off the court in the third quarter?

Now, he was a -16 and a -14 in the two contests, but he was a +9 in the win over Charlotte. Again, in viewing the game, we thought his absence was a little odd.

You also have the case of Taurean Prince opting for season ending ankle surgery following the April 21st win over the Bulls at home. Prince averaged over 20 minutes per game over the previous five games, averaging 12 points a game in those contests.

He had two 20 point games and a 19 point outing since returning from injury on March 29th. It doesn’t seem like Prince’s ankle was hampering him that much, as he was playing well, and there were only 14 games remaining.

If the Cavs were going for the play-in tournament, they could have used Prince’s outside shooting. He’s made 41.5% of his threes since coming to the Cavs, who shoot 34% as a club from distance.

To us, it sends another bad message throughout the organization. While we think the play-in tournament is a dumb idea, if you get a chance to get into the “real” playoffs, why not go for it? To continue to play for a chance to get a high draft pick, when you’ve had three picks in the top eight the last three seasons seems a little like the definition of insanity.

Winning starts when everyone is pulling in the same direction. Hopefully, that direction starts next season. There has been some progress this season, but a playoff berth, something this franchise hasn’t accomplished without LeBron James in almost 20 years, should be the goal and should be attainable.

But it starts at the top.

The Sexton Dilemma

When discussion regarding the Cleveland Cavaliers’ future comes up, a talk about Collin Sexton is sure to follow. He is a polarizing figure to be sure.

Sexton was the 8th overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, taken with the choice secured from Boston, originally that of the Brooklyn Nets, in the Kyrie Irving. There is a lot to like about the former Alabama standout, who just turned 22 years old earlier this season.

He is a gym rat to be sure. He is a tireless worker. There are stories during his rookie season that he had to be thrown out of the Cavs’ practice facility because he was consumed by basketball.

He can score the ball too. He is averaging a career high 24.0 points per game this season, a step up from 20.8 a year ago.

But the question for many, including ourselves, is this: Can he be the best player on a contending team?

Our answer is no, but could he be a contributor on a good team? We think so.

Watching him play, he doesn’t seem to have good basketball instincts. And what we mean by that is he doesn’t have a good feel in getting the ball to his teammates where they can succeed. However, again, he can flat out put the ball in the basket.

When the Cavs are struggling offensively, he can keep them in a game. We think about the recent contest against the Lakers where Cleveland led at the half because Darius Garland and Larry Nance Jr. were playing great. Sexton was out with an injury.

In the second half, the Lakers’ defense determined someone other than Garland and Nance were going to have to score. No one else could. That’s exactly the kind of game where Sexton could have been a huge factor. That’s when you need to have the “scorer’s mentality”.

The other thing is can a backcourt of Garland and Sexton be successful defensively. Perhaps, but that’s where Jarrett Allen and another big (Isaiah Hartenstein?) are needed.

Toronto won a title with small guards, but they had Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka, elite defenders behind them. And Utah has the best record in the league this season, and have shot blocker extraordinaire Rudy Gobert protecting the rim.

Can Sexton be a part of Cleveland’s success going forward? Yes, he can, but to do so, it might have to involved taking a step back. Getting his teammates involved more, and then scoring when needed or just let Garland run the offense and be the finisher.

And take the open shots when they are there. We have seen Sexton have a good look, and dribble his way into the defense, thus causing a more difficult shot.

Maybe more direction is needed from the bench too. Being a young team, sometimes you have to tell the players where they want the shot to come from and who they would they want shooting.

Perhaps some of that comes from having veterans Kevin Love and Matthew Dellavedova back on the floor.

Many NBA players, including Michael Jordan, have had to learn to do this. So, Sexton can definitely learn this skill. Our question is anyone in the organization telling him this? For the Cavs to start playing consistent winning basketball, we think that’s what is needed.

Sexton’s Hard Work Pays Off

When Collin Sexton was drafted eighth overall in 2018, he was just 19 years old. As fans, we probably don’t remember things like that enough.

Think about when you were 19, we, like you, probably did a lot of dumb stuff. Fortunately, most people don’t do those things in front of thousands of people who are paying to watch you, nor do you do them as part of a group where the other members are folks who have been doing it longer than you.

We were critical of Sexton when he first came into the NBA. He seemed to dribble incessantly. Fans used to keep track of the possessions the Cavaliers had where Sexton and only Sexton touched the ball.

His veteran teammates didn’t like playing with him for that reason.

Still, there were things that should have been looked at as positive signs. Sexton is a basketball junkie, working on his game endlessly. There were stories about how Cavs’ management had to order him to leave the practice facility.

He also never had any issues off the court.

Scouts said his outside shooting was his weakness at Alabama, where he played for former NBA player Avery Johnson. But he shot 43% from three point range in his rookie year, averaging 16.7 points, three assists and three rebounds playing in all 82 games.

He was hailed as one of the most inefficient players in the game. The Cavs went 19-63 in the first year after LeBron James departed for Los Angeles. Since he was drafted with the choice obtained in the Kyrie Irving deal, which the front office clung to with all their might, Sexton became the symbol for all that was wrong with the wine and gold.

In his second year, Sexton was paired with the fifth overall pick the following year, another smaller guard in Darius Garland, who played all of four games at Vanderbilt. More losing followed and at the All Star break in his second season, the second year pro averaged 19.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.7 assists, and his three point shooting dropped to 36.5%.

Something changed for Sexton when play resumed after the break. Not initially, though. In February, Sexton averaged 21.9 points, and his assists started to go up, from under three in every month, to 4.1 in February.

At the end of the month, Garland was injured, and Matthew Dellavedova started getting playing time, getting at least 18 minutes in the last eight games of the shortened season.

How does that figure into Sexton’s blossoming into a very good player? When Delly was on the floor, the ball started to move better, the Australian averaged seven assists per game in these contests.

We believe Sexton saw how the team was better when the ball moved and his assist total increased by a half of one per game.

We noticed a difference watching the game. The ball didn’t stick when he had it. His shot selection improved, he was growing as a player right in front of our eyes.

This season, Sexton has taken it to yet another level. He’s scoring 26.8 points per game on 52% shooting, 46.8% from three. His assists have improved by one, going from 3.0 to 4.2. His turnovers are down as well.

Suddenly, he is the best player on a team with a realistic shot at making the playoffs.

And after GM Koby Altman acquired Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince in the James Harden deal, a transaction which right now borders on robbery, the Cavaliers are young, long, and deep. As long as Andre Drummond is still wearing a Cleveland uniform, J.B. Bickerstaff has three rim protectors in Drummond, Allen, and Larry Nance Jr.

The players have also bought in to Bickerstaff’s defensive system, Cleveland ranks 4th in the league in defensive efficiency, a tremendous improvement from the past several years.

The roster is filled with hard workers, improving their games every off-season. Altman should be given credit for that, and Bickerstaff should get a ton of credit for giving these players direction, seemingly for the first time since James left.

It’s fun to watch the Cavs again, and it’s fun to watch Collin Sexton grow as a player. He’s a reminder that perhaps fans and experts shouldn’t put a label on players just one year out of high school.

However, Sexton should get all kinds of credit for changing his game, growing as a basketball player. He’s proof that sometimes hard work does pay off.

Is A Revamped Cavs’ Roster On The Horizon?

It will be interesting to see what the Cleveland Cavaliers’ roster will look like when training camp opens December 1st.

First, the trading period opened up yesterday, and with the draft coming up tomorrow, will the Cavs be involved in any of the transactions which take place.

Also, Tristan Thompson and Matthew Dellavedova, heroes of the title team in 2016 are eligible for free agency, and we would place better odds on Delly returning to the organization than Thompson, who would seem to attract a lot of attention from contending teams.

Then, you have the fates of big man Andre Drummond, who will pick up his player option for 2020-21, but it is doubtful he will be looking to sign long term with Cleveland, and Kevin Love, who has a huge contract, but has seemingly been on the market since his first season with the team in 2014-15.

Another player who has been involved in the trade speculation is Larry Nance Jr., which we think makes sense because Nance is a real good player, and will turn 28 years old on New Years Day. Nance’s game is perfect for a playoff contender because he does everything well, and he’s coming off a career high in scoring (10.1), adding a three point shot to his repertoire.

It would seem to us that he is also the kind of player GM Koby Altman and coach JB Bickerstaff would want around to help a very young basketball team.

Cleveland was said to be interested in some free agents as well, players like Memphis’ Josh Jackson, who is 24 years old, and can play either wing spot at 6’8″, and Miami’s Derrick Jones Jr., also 24 years old, and is more of a small forward, and averaged a career high 8.5 points per game last season.

You would have to think since Jones played for Erik Spoelstra in south Florida that he has some idea about defense, which should appeal to the Cavs.

We know we are a broken record (dated reference, we know), but if Thompson leaves, and with Ante Zizic already going back to Europe, the Cavaliers need big people. We wouldn’t mind taking a shot at Nerlens Noel, another free agent who averaged 7.4 points, five rebounds, and 1.5 blocked shots with the Thunder last season.

Finally, Altman needs to sort out his backcourt, which is cluttered with the drafting of two smallish guards in Collin Sexton and Darius Garland in the top ten the past two seasons. Add in last year’s 30th overall pick in Kevin Porter and another top five overall pick in Dante Exum, and it will be a struggle to get them all decent playing time.

Will one or more of them be moved before camp starts?

Altman is in a tough spot. The Cavs have won less than 20 games in each of the last two seasons, albeit one of them in a 65 game season, and they need to start showing improvement in the win total area.

Trading for more potential lottery picks doesn’t seem like a good idea, getting young players with experience would seem to be a better option.

The biggest thing, though, is finding players who fit together, who complement each other’s game, and can contribute on both ends of the floor. And that’s where Bickerstaff’s influence should come in. It’s his deal, and he should have players he feels comfortable with.

What will the roster look like at the end of the month? Our first clues should reveal themselves this week.

Looking At Cavs’ Free Agents

Now that the Cleveland Cavaliers’ season is officially over, the speculation and planning for the 2020-21 season can officially begin.

The first order of business is decided which, if any of the pending free agents will return to wear the wine and gold (or whatever jerseys they will be wearing on a given night) when the league starts up again in December.

First there is the Andre Drummond situation. Drummond has a player option worth over $28 million for the ’20-’21 campaign, and it is widely thought the big man will exercise that option and remain a Cavalier.

No matter how the game is played today, with the emphasis on smaller players and shooting, there is a place for a 6’10” player who averages 17.7 points and 15.2 rebounds per night.

And he will be 27 years old.

He has a career 54.2% shooting percentage from the floor, and has improved his free throw percentage which was once dismal (38.6% in 2016-17) to 57.5% this past season.

He’s not a big shot blocker, but he gets a lot of steals, which is weird, but nevertheless, he’s creating turnovers.

Will he ever get another $28 million per year multi-year deal again? That’s up for debate, but the Cavaliers don’t have to worry about that for next season.

Tristan Thompson is another big man who will be a free agent this fall, but he is unrestricted, and we doubt he will be back in Cleveland when next season begins.

It is hard to believe Thompson will be 30 years old when next season ends, having spent nine years in Cleveland, and was a key member of the 2016 NBA Champions.

He had a very good season too, averaging a career high 12.0 points per game, grabbing 10.1 rebounds, and is a very good post defender.

Our guess though, is having experienced the winning seasons here, Thompson would like to be part of that once again, and his skill set should make him a much coveted piece for teams with title aspirations.

He’s also received his big pay day, so he will look for the best situation for him to advance deep in the playoffs, and perhaps get back to The Finals.

If Thompson wanted to stay and the dollars made sense, he’d be someone we’d be interested in keeping, but we just feel he thinks it’s time to move on.

Which brings us to Matthew Dellavedova. Delly will be 30 when next season starts, and his shooting declined last season to the dreadful level. However, it would be interesting to bring him back as an end of the bench guy because of his experience and feel for the game.

Don’t forget the Aussie was tied for second on the Cavs in assists in ’19-’20 despite playing an average of only 14 minutes per night. When he got extra time due to injuries at the end of the season, he averaged seven helpers per game over an eight game span.

If he’s willing to be the “old head” on a very young team, and the price is right, why not bring him back. Plus, he’s a crowd favorite and a link to the great teams over the last decade.

Yet a third big man, Ante Zizic picked the wrong time to have injury issues, and his numbers regressed from a year ago. It has been reported he would like to return to Europe to continue his career.

Quite frankly, we like his offensive game, but doubt if he has the lateral quickness to be an effective defender in today’s NBA.

Matt Mooney and Dean Wade are also free agents, and if the Cavs want them to compete for a roster spot in training camp, whenever that starts, we are sure they will be welcome. Wade is a stretch four, so he may be able to help if he can show he can defend a bit.

Apparently, we will know what happens with these players around Halloween. As we have said before though, the wine and gold still need to get bigger, and if Thompson and Zizic leaves, that just means the need is even greater.

Will Cavs Roster Be Reshaped This Week?

With the NBA trading deadline coming up on Thursday, this figures to be a pivotal week for the future of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

After a 4-5 start that had many people optimistic about the young roster, the last month to six weeks have been tough to watch. The Cavs have lost 11 home games in a row, and in the past few weeks, have been blown out at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse by three of the league’s worst teams: The Knicks, Wizards, and Warriors.

Clearly, there is a problem. While no one expected the wine and gold to make a playoff run this season, winning only nine games out of the last 42 (a half season) wasn’t what the organization was hoping for either.

Things looked a little promising after the “slug/thug” comment right before the Disney On Ice trip with road wins at Detroit and Denver, but since then, they’ve lost 11 of 12, with only four of the losses by less than 10 points.

We know the Cavs have five free agents to be at the end of this season: Tristan Thompson, John Henson, Matthew Dellavedova, Brandon Knight, and Ante Zizic, plus Kevin Love would like to be moved elsewhere.

Will GM Koby Altman be able to move any of these players before Thursday’s deadline? Or will be move one, if not more, of this group with another piece in an effort to revamp the entire roster.

Let’s face it, playing two small guards (Collin Sexton and Darius Garland) isn’t working, particularly on the defensive end, although really, that should have been expected.

Cleveland’s roster compounds this situation by having just one shot blocking threat, Henson, around the basket. It is very noticeable that the defense is better when Henson is in the game, he has the best defensive rating on the team.

Really, this franchise has ignored height for much of the last five seasons. The last move to get a true center (and yes, he know the game is different now) was when David Griffin brought in Timofey Mozgov in 2015.

Even the Steph Curry/Klay Thompson Warriors had big guys like Andrew Bogut, JeVale McGee, and Festus Ezeli to protect the basket. The Cavaliers need to get an inside presence, and we feel doing so would see an instant improvement.

And this isn’t to denigrate Tristan Thompson who works as hard as any player on the floor, but in reality, he’s a defensive minded power forward. At 6’9″, it’s tough for him to handle guys like Andre Drummond and Joel Embiid. He gives up a lot of size and bulk to those players.

So, we would not be surprised if Sexton isn’t included in a deal before the week ends. It wouldn’t be about the second year guard’s effort, he puts a lot of time in working on his game, but it would have to do with the mix with Garland, and can the franchise move forward with the pair getting big minutes.

We look at teams like Oklahoma City, who traded stars Russell Westbrook and Paul George after a 49-33 season, and now they sit at 30-20.

We look at teams like Toronto (who lost Kawhi Leonard) and Utah, who have a system for success at this point. The Cavs need to develop an identity as a franchise that doesn’t include LeBron James.

Bill Fitch did this when he took over the expansion Cavs in 1970. Lenny Wilkens did it in the 80’s, and Mike Fratello the same after the Mark Price/Brad Daugherty era ended. Right now, there is nothing for the organization to hang their hats on.

The rebuild may have started after James left for free agency in 2018, but the first retooling could take place this week. It seems to be badly needed.

It Doesn’t Hurt If Cavs Win Some Games.

The Cleveland Cavaliers won their fifth game of the season the other night, and as is the case with most wins for the wine and gold (or whatever color they are wearing), a certain part of the fan base gets disenchanted.

They are interested in getting better odds for the NBA Draft Lottery, so they are the tanking crowd. Their idea is the only way to get better is to get the best player available in the draft, meaning get the first pick.

This flies in the face of reality though. It assumes that teams which are in the lottery eventually become playoff contenders, and it also assumes the best player in the draft each year is the first overall pick.

You have to learn to play winning basketball. And you learn it by winning. You can accumulate a bunch of talent and throw it together and until the group starts winning, they won’t know how to win.

And that means getting some veterans who do know and having that information passed along to the younger players. It’s why the Cavs still have players like Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, and Matthew Dellavedova. Part of their job is teaching the young guys.

Look at the Atlanta Hawks, a very young team that won 29 games a year ago. To be fair, they lost John Collins to suspension, but they still have Trae Young and a good rookie in De’Andre Hunter and they sit at 4-12.

You also have annual lottery participants in Sacramento, a franchise that hasn’t been over the .500 mark since 2005-06. They did get to 39 wins last season, and currently sit at 7-8 this year.

As for the best player being the first overall pick? That’s becoming a myth too. While it is too early to evaluate the players picked this summer, the best player picked a year ago was not Deandre Ayton, the first pick, but rather the third choice in Luka Doncic, who is probably one of the top five players in the league right now.

If you measure by VORP (Value Over Replacement Player), here are the results from the past three drafts.

In the 2017 draft, you can make a strong case that the three best players are Donovan Mitchell (13th), Bam Adebayo (14th), and Jayson Tatum (3rd). Markelle Fultz and Lonzo Ball went first and second that season.

Ben Simmons might be the best player from the 2016 draft, belying his first overall selection, but the next best players from that year are Pascal Siakam, picked 27th overall by Toronto. Malcolm Brogdan is next, and he was a second round pick (36th) and won Rookie of the Year honors.

Karl-Anthony Towns was the prize of the ’15 selection process, and is the best player, but the next three best are Myles Turner (11th), Montrezl Harrell (32nd) and Larry Nance Jr. (27th).

Look, we don’t want the Cavs to lose their first round pick in 2020, which they will if they aren’t in the top 10 of next year’s draft. However, it’s a good sign for the franchise if this already pretty young team can put together some victories.

By the trading deadline, one of the veterans will likely be moved so the team won’t be as good as the season winds down, so they can keep the draft pick organically.

But you don’t want Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, Kevin Porter Jr. and eventually Dylan Windler to have the only lesson they learn with this team is losing. They need to experience some victories and how you earn them.

John Beilein talks a lot about culture. Gaining victories is part of reaffirming a good culture within a team.

New-Old Coach, Veteran Players Guiding The Young Cavs

We have said many times over the past year or so that the one thing you have to give credit to the Cleveland Cavaliers’ front office is the character of the players they have on the roster.

In a sport filled with players with big egos, the Cavs have accumulated people who work hard at their craft, and in the case of Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson, guys who are willing to take the young players under their wings and teach them the ways of the NBA.

Those young players are willing to take the instruction, which again has been something many teams cannot claim.

To sum it up, the Cavaliers have a lot of unselfish players.

They have even embraced and taken to a college coach, John Beilein, an NBA outsider, who has come in at 66 years old, who has emphasized teaching and growing players’ games. At this point in the year, and granted it’s only nine games in, it appears there is a mutual respect between the new coach and the veteran players.

The front office helped Beilein by bringing in two longtime NBA assistant coaches, J.B. Bickerstaff (in the league since 2004-05) and Antonio Lang (coaching since 2014-15) to facilitate the process.

Praise should be given to both sides. We saw what happened a few years ago when David Blatt, by any measure an accomplished basketball mind, came in like he knew everything about the pro game, and didn’t establish a connection with his players, which included a superstar in LeBron James.

And, a lot of veteran players, particularly ones who have played on a championship team or made four straight trips to the NBA Finals, wouldn’t have an interest in mentoring a bunch of 19 and 20 year olds.

We believe the type of people that Beilein, Love, and Thompson are is a huge reason this is working so far.

Cleveland is the 10th youngest team in the league with an average age of 25.2, because they have that rank despite the presence of Love (31), Matthew Dellavedova (another teaching veteran at 29), John Henson (29), and Thompson (28).

There are 240 minutes of playing time in a non-overtime NBA game. Right now, the Cavs are giving 78 of those minutes (almost one-third) to Collin Sexton (31.0/game), Darius Garland (28.3) and Kevin Porter Jr. (19), two rookies and a second year player who is just 21 years old.

The only younger team than the Cavaliers that has a winning record is Minnesota at an average age of 25.1, and with a 5-4 record.

Yes, we know three of Cleveland’s four wins have come against the Bulls, Wizards, and Knicks, and it is unlikely any of those teams will be in the post-season.

But, under Beilein, Thompson has become more offense oriented, averaging over five points more per game than his career high of 11.7. Obviously, he’s taking more shots, but not really forcing them, just getting more in the flow of the offense.

As for Love, he’s shooting at the highest percentage of two point shots (48.1%) of his career. Remember, Love became more of a stretch four with James here, so getting more shots near the basket appears to agree with him.

So, not only is the new coach helping the young players develop, he’s also putting the veterans in good spots.

So far, it’s working. While we don’t think the playoffs are a possibility this season, it is refreshing to see a formula and a guiding hand for the young players.

Will it continue? Who knows for sure, but it won’t be due to a lack of character for this Cavalier team.

First Impressions On The Wine And Gold

We understand the NBA schedule is just two games in, so it is very early to make definitive proclamations about any team, and that includes the Cleveland Cavaliers.

However, we have seen some things we have liked in the first two contests, and we hope they will continue as the season goes on.

The first is defensive improvement. It would be hard to be worse that last year’s complete crap show, organized by “defensive” assistant Mike Longabardi, so there’s that.

However, the first thing we have noticed is no longer are we seeing opponent coasting down the lane for dunks without any resistance from people wearing a Cleveland uniform.

The Cavs have not allowed 100 points in either game, a vast improvement. Last season, for the entire 82 games, the wine and gold allowed less than 100 points just nine times. Nine games out of 82!

There was only one time all of last year where the Cavaliers allowed less than 100 points in consecutive games, November 7-13, when they held Oklahoma City, Chicago, and Charlotte under the century mark in three straight.

The last time they did this period, was March 3rd when they held Orlando, this year’s opener opponent to 93 points.

The Cavs’ defensive rating was a league worst 117.6 in 2018-19, and after two games, they sit at 97.1.

Now no one thinks that will continue all season, but it is a good start.

Last night, there was a stretch in the third quarter where new coach John Beilein had John Henson, Larry Nance Jr., and Matthew Dellavedova on the floor together and the defense was suffocating.

When was the last time you could say about the Cavs?

Also, the offense is working more inside out.

Last season, Collin Sexton and Jordan Clarkson led the Cavs in shots per game, combining for 29.3 per night, about 1/3rd of the team’s total.

After two games, Cleveland is averaging 84 shots per game, with Sexton and Tristan Thompson leading the way. Yes, we know Thompson hit a three last night, but most of his shots are in the paint.

And Beilein said after the opening game that Kevin Love should be getting more shots, which we were happy to hear. Love is the team’s best player, and he should be getting the most shots.

The offense should run through Love, Sexton, and Darius Garland, and Love getting nine assists last night is another example of the coaching staff stressing points to the players.

We have complained over the years about Tristan Thompson’s lack of development on the offensive end, so we are happy to see some improvement. No, we don’t need Thompson firing too often from beyond the arc, but when he gets the ball inside now, he is putting the ball in the basket.

And, Darius Garland has some range. Sexton has made more three after the first two games, but the rookie can knock it down. As he gains experience, we can see him being the type of player who other teams will have to guard from five feet beyond the three point line.

Whether or not these trends can continue, who knows, but we were a little concerned during the exhibition season about the offensive structure, and that could still rear its ugly head.

However, it looks like the coaching staff isn’t going to let any thing slide thus far. And that’s a good thing with a young team.

Identifying Cavs Of The Future

There is no question this has been a lost season for the Cleveland Cavaliers. While you can question whether or not they could’ve been a playoff contender when the regular season started, you can’t debate having Kevin Love miss 50 games has put the wine and gold in contention for the worst team in the NBA.

Now that Love has returned, there has been progress, much to the dismay of draft lottery fans everywhere.

Yes, the most of the recent wins by the Cavs have come over fellow dreck squads in New York, Phoenix, and Memphis, remember the wine and gold lost three of four to the team immediately above them in the standings, the Chicago Bulls.

Even in the midst of a terrible season, has the organization found some players who could be a help to the team when it makes its next playoff run?

Certainly, Love has shown he not only can still be a productive player, but he seems to have embraced the leadership role he has now. He took a backseat in that regard when LeBron James was here, but he is relishing being the Cavs’ go to guy.

And you can hear other players talk about Love and fellow veteran (and a member of the ’16 title team) Matthew Dellavedova speak about ball movement and playing the right way. Both of them are praising rookie Collin Sexton publicly when he makes the correct decisions on the floor.

In fact, we would keep Love to start next season to provide leadership, and if he wants to move on, the trading deadline might be where you get the most for him.

The most improved player from day one of this season has been Cedi Osman, who we thought could be a player last year. Since January 1st, Osman has hit 50% of his shots from the floor, 43% from three point land, and is scoring 15.1 points per night.

Plus, he has an enthusiasm for the game. He wants to get better, and we feel he will continue to do so.

We have also long lauded the intangibles of Larry Nance Jr. and he hasn’t disappointed. Nance is averaging 9.1 points and 8 rebounds per game, and he and Love are unquestionably the best passers on the team.

Plus, on a bad defensive squad, he is probably the best defender, even though he plays out of position a lot, because he’s not a center.

And he’s adding range to his shooting, and we feel he will be a much better shooter in 2019-20.

An unsung player we like, although he’s missed a lot of time is David Nwaba. We understand Nwaba isn’t a starter, but we believe he can be a solid bench player for the foreseeable future.

He’s a wing defender by trade, but Larry Drew has used him to guard power forwards because of the lack of players with a defensive attitude on the team.

We wish he would shoot less threes (there’s a reason he’s open), but we would like to have him back next season. He and Dellavedova have the toughness good teams desire to have.

What may stand out is who is not on this list. Many would include Jordan Clarkson, but to us, all he’s demonstrated is he can score on a bad team. His performance during the playoffs last season causes us to doubt him.

We would like to see more of Ante Zizic, and would lean toward bringing him back, but his defensive shortcomings are a concern.

And we didn’t mention rookie Collin Sexton, who we haven’t given up on, like many of the so-called basketball people in Cleveland, but if you draft Murray State’s Ja Morant, and you think he’s better than Sexton, why wouldn’t you move him.

We would like to take a second look at guys like Marquese Chriss, and we haven’t seen John Henson at all.

It is important to have veteran leadership for young players, and we would like to see Dellavedova stay around too.

There are building blocks for the Cavs. The four we mentioned, plus a high draft pick could be part of the group that starts the climb back up the standings for the wine and gold.