Cavs’ Start To Season? Weird.

As we hit the quarter pole in the NBA season, and the much awaited in-season tournament championship game (sarcasm intended), we find the Cleveland Cavaliers a bit of a weird team.

Part of it is the injuries that have plagued J.B. Bickerstaff’s squad all season. Cleveland has just two players, newcomers Max Strus and Georges Niang, who have played all 22 games thus far and only Strus has started all of them.

The Cavs currently sit at 13-9 on the year, good enough to be 6th in the Eastern Conference standings, but they have also won 9 of their last 12 games, so they are trending in a positive direction.

The have already lost six home games in 2023-24, more than any other team in the East that is above .500, and their 7-3 road record is tied with Minnesota and Oklahoma City for the best in the NBA.

Among those seven wins are quality victories at New York (6-3 at home), Philadelphia (8-3), and Miami, always a tough place to win for Cleveland.

That mark will be put to the test starting Monday when the Cavaliers travel to Orlando and then Boston for a pair of contests Tuesday and Thursday. Those teams currently have the best records in the East.

Cleveland started the season trying to push the pace, as most teams say they want to do, but have slowed things down a bit, and this has allowed them to play better on the defensive end of the floor, which has been their calling card.

They are playing faster than last season, when they ranked last in pace, as they are currently 18th. Defensively, they have dropped from first last year, to 8th right now, probably due to the faster pace, but really, anything in the top ten is very respectable.

Koby Altman tried to improve the wine and gold’s long distance shooting from a year ago by bringing in Strus and Niang, but Cleveland has actually dropped in three-point shooting percentage from 36.7% to 34.8%. They have taken about the same number per game, right around 32 per contest.

Niang, in particular, was off to a dreadful start from long distance, but over his last 10 games has knocked down 21 of 48 from beyond the arc, a 43.8% clip more in line with his career mark of 40%.

Darius Garland’s numbers in this area are way below his norm, making just 32.5% from three, and his lifetime mark is over 38%.

Donovan Mitchell is also down from a year ago at 35.7% compared to a 38.6% mark in his first year in Cleveland. We would like to see Mitchell attack more, particularly late in games.

You have to figure both of them will get it going from outside and then we can see the offensive potential of this group.

We would still like to see Altman find another solid big man at or before the trading deadline. Tristan Thompson has been better than expected when he’s played, but we don’t know if he can perform that well on a nightly basis.

He has provided solid to very good defense and rebounding when he has played but has played more than 10 minutes in just nine games so far.

We would also like to see Bickerstaff find more minutes for Craig Porter Jr. The rookie usually does well when called upon, but at times, he seems to be forgotten by the coaching staff. If he can be a solid backup at guard, that will help the depth greatly.

There is an adage that the NBA season doesn’t start until Christmas, which is only two weeks away. Quite frankly, we felt this current stretch would be tough for the Cavs, but they won the first two.

The Eastern Conference is tougher this year with the emergence of Orlando and Indiana, so the season will be a challenge for the Cavaliers. Let’s hope their best basketball is ahead of them.

Garland’s Play Is Becoming Cavs Problem

The Cleveland Cavaliers are going through a bit of a malaise to start the NBA season, highlighted by a terrible loss at home against Portland on Thursday night.

In that contest, they had a 16-point lead in the first half and wound up losing by 12 points to a team that has lost 12 of their first 18 games.

Coach J.B. Bickerstaff was upset after the game and rightly so, leading to conversation that his job could be in jeopardy. We have been critical of the coach, who has done a great job turning around a team that went 19-46 in the pandemic shortened season of 2019-20 (Bickerstaff was 5-6) and 22-50 in his first full season.

Bickerstaff set a defensive mindset with the wine and gold, but his substitution pattern has been questioned and his offensive sets seem to be very simplistic. The former could be a result of the roster construction which we will address later.

No one wants to have a hard conversation about this, but it is fair to ask if the backcourt of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland is working. Mitchell got the brunt of the criticism for the playoff loss because he is the team’s star and an all-NBA selection a year ago, but to us, Garland played worse in the first round series loss to New York.

Outside of the game two win and the third quarter in game four, Garland was pedestrian. Mitchell was still the leading scorer in the series at 23.2 points (down from 28.6 in the regular season), and shot 43.3% from the floor. He was way off from distance, making just 28.9% compared to his regular season number of 38.6%.

However, it was Mitchell who led the Cavs in assists in that series with 36 and had 19 turnovers. On the other hand, Garland shot 43.8% and had just 25 helpers with 18 turnovers. That type of carelessness with the basketball has carried over to this season.

This season, Garland has 88 assists and a whopping 64 turnovers in 15 games. The latter total is tied for the 7th highest total in the league, although all the players with more have played less games than the 14 Garland has participated in.

Also, all but Jayson Tatum, Stephen Curry, and rookie Victor Wembanyama have more assists.

Garland is too sloppy with the basketball, getting stripped a lot when he drives to the basket, and too often putting getting in positions where he has left his feet and has to make a difficult pass in a tight spot.

Add that to the defensive issues that come with having two starting guards who are both 6’1″, and you have to wonder if Cleveland can have long term success with Mitchell and Garland going forward.

There are several mitigating circumstances though. Our preference would be to put the ball in Mitchell’s hands and let him be the scorer/distributor, but you would have to get a long-term commitment from him, which would allow you to make a move with Garland.

Garland’s shooting has also dropped with season, dropping from 41% from beyond the arc last season to 33.3% this season. Along with several other Cavaliers, he has battled injury issues all season, but even his free throw shooting is down from his norms.

Koby Altman made a bold move getting Mitchell a year ago to give the team some star power, but that created the roster construction problem we discussed earlier, the smallish backcourt.

We wonder if Cleveland would be better off with a more traditional guard tandem with a #2 guard that is around 6’4″ or 6’5″, perhaps like Max Strus.

And Mitchell would have to change his game from being a scorer to a playmaker who can also score. It would make him a more well-rounded player.

Because Garland was drafted by the Cavs and has developed here, it seems like many fans are reluctant to be critical of him. On the other hand, Mitchell is the hired gun, and so it is okay to blame him when the team doesn’t play well.

Our Likes And Dislikes So Far For The Cavs

After a bit of a slow start, the Cleveland Cavaliers have reeled off four victories in their last five games and in five of the last seven. They have now played 15 games and we feel that’s enough contests to see some trends, both good and bad.

First, the good.

Winning Despite Injuries. As we said, we are only 15 games into the 2023-24 season and only three Cavaliers have played every game: Evan Mobley, Max Strus, and Georges Niang. Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, and Jarrett Allen each missed five games, and Caris LeVert and missed three.

Those guys are four of the top six players on the roster, and the Cavs are 8-7 anyway. That is absolutely a good thing.

Max Strus. We weren’t as enthused as many about the signing of Strus because of his size and his defense, but he’s provided another playmaker, which wasn’t thought to be a big part of his game.

He is averaging a career high 3.9 assists per contest, almost two more than his previous season high. The same for his rebounding, where he is at 5.6 per game, his career high set last year was 3.2. Add in 37.7% shooting from three-point land, and he’s been better than expected so far.

The Rookie. We know many people thought the Cavs got a steal in second round pick Emoni Bates, but we thought he was very raw. The real story so far is undrafted free agent Craig Porter Jr.

Because of injuries, Porter has played in 10 games, averaging 8.0 points and 2.9 assists per night. He’s fearless driving to the basket and looks like he can be a contributor this season. It will be interesting to see how defenses approach him as he gets more playing time.

Now, the not so good

Turnovers. This isn’t a team wide problem; the wine and gold are 17th in the league in this department. It has been an issue for Darius Garland though. Garland cut down last year going from 3.6 per contest in his third year to 2.9 last season.

This year, he’s up to 4.5 compared to six assists, also down from 8.6 and 7.8 in the previous two seasons. He penetrates and is either stripped by a defender or throws a difficult pass to connect on far too often. A possession without a shot attempt is lost opportunity to score.

Make the basic play, and not the one that gets you on highlight reels.

Criticism of Mobley. We know everyone wants the third-year pro to develop into Kevin Garnett in his prime, but really, Mobley isn’t going to score more unless he gets more shots, and that is a challenge with two scoring guards in Mitchell and Garland.

The big man from USC has increased his shooting percentage (55.4% to 56.7%), rebounding (9.0 to 10.5), assists (2.8 to 3.1), and blocks (1.5 to 1.6) from a year ago.

So, he can’t shoot threes. Big deal, at least he knows he’s not a good three-point shooter hoisting them anyway. He’s only 22 and still getting better. Maybe get him more touches.

Free Agent Disappointments. After the big splashes of signing Strus and Niang, who is slowly hitting his shooting stride, Koby Altman signed two players we thought could help in Ty Jerome and Damian Jones.

The duo has combined to play 54 minutes to date. Jerome has had a severe ankle sprain, which is unfortunate, but on the other hand, the most games he’s appeared in a season is 48. Hopefully, he can contribute soon.

Jones has appeared in just nine games, making all three of his shots and grabbing seven rebounds. Obviously, J. B. Bickerstaff has no confidence in him, because the Cavs could use another serviceable big man in the rotation.

The biggest issue for the Cavaliers has been the injuries. That said, it’s more important to have everyone healthy in April and May.

Helping Mobley And Questioning The Cavs’ Pace

It’s still early in the NBA season for sure. Common wisdom says the season doesn’t really begin until the Christmas Day games are played. We aren’t worried about the Cleveland Cavaliers at this point, but we do wonder about some things.

As pretty much every coach does, J.B. Bickerstaff said he wanted the Cavs to play with more pace this season. They were last in that category a year ago and they have moved up to 11th in 2023-24.

However, that increased pace has come with a price. The wine and gold led the NBA in defensive efficiency last season and have dropped to 11th this season. To be fair, the Cavaliers have played the league’s best offense in Indiana twice and have also played high octane Oklahoma City twice.

We understand Koby Altman wanted to improve the three point shooting this season, signing Max Strus and Georges Niang. However, can the Cavs play a style that spreads the floor while still playing their defensive anchors, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley.

Many teams have shifted to an offense with one man inside and the other four players spread out around the perimeter. With Allen and Mobley, the Cavs cannot do that.

That’s okay. It’s not necessary to play like everyone else. There are many ways to win in the NBA.

The key in our opinion is Mobley. We have heard fans and media alike complain the third-year player has not taken “the leap”. To date, he is averaging 16.1 points per game, down a bit from the 16.2 a year ago. His rebounding, assists, and blocks are all up.

Our response when we are asked about the big man is usually what are the Cavs doing to help him put up better numbers. We feel a more productive Mobley makes the wine and gold a better team.

Bickerstaff and his staff have to make it a point to get Mobley involved in the offense more, and the easiest way to do that is to get him the ball at the high post, where with his height and court vision, he can be effective. Think about him as sort of a Nikola Jokic type, without the dribbling up the court.

From there, he could play the high/low game that has been effective with Jarrett Allen on the blocks, attack the basket, or if a double team comes, he can find the open man. The underrated part of Mobley’s game is his passing in our opinion.

What is needed though is some sacrifice from Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell to get Mobley some touches at the elbow. For Mitchell, he can pass the ball and then get it back off a cut.

That would require more of a half court approach, and that would mean slowing the pace a bit, which is turn probably helps the defense. Again, it’s early and with the injuries that cost Allen and Garland time in the season’s first two weeks, perhaps Cleveland just needs to find a rhythm.

On the other hand, maybe it’s just a matter of getting done with this trip and having a stretch of seven of eight games at home. However, it does appear quickening the pace has hurt the Cavs’ defense.

It’s a season of adjustments, and maybe Bickerstaff has to pull back on the throttle a bit to find the team’s comfort zone.

Is The Cavs’ Weakness What They Think It Is?

There is a lot of optimism about the Cleveland Cavaliers heading into the 2023-24 NBA season. After all, in the last three seasons, the Cavs have gone from 22 wins to 44 and then 51 in the last three seasons.

They are coming off a playoff season but were manhandled by the Knicks in the first round losing in five games. The organization said all year that was the goal and they reached it.

However, we don’t like that messaging. In our experience, when you set a modest goal and reach it, there is a tendency to let up. President of basketball operations Koby Altman seems to embrace the “one step at a time” mentality that permeates throughout the league.

Instead, we think the franchise should keep pushing the envelope.

The Cavs added a lot of shooting in the off-season, probably overpaying for it. Right now, they are making Max Strus a starter, despite him starting just 49 games over the last two seasons with Miami. And Strus’ three-point shooting percentage dropped from 41% in 2021-22 to 35% in 2022-23.

Shooting is why the Cavs believe they lost to the Knicks. We believe they are wrong, they lost because they were not physical enough. The wine and gold shot 45% from the floor in the series, New York shot 42%.

From long distance, Cleveland shot 32.7% while the Knicks made 28.2%.

Altman seems to be like the new NBA fans who look at only one thing in watching games these days: Shooting. The reality is there is so much more to basketball, like defense, passing, rebounding.

The one sport where size matters is basketball and the Cavs’ organization has seemed to go away from that since they jumped from 22 victories to 44 in 2021-22 using a front line of three guys over 6’11”: Lauri Markkanen, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen.

And that doesn’t mean we didn’t like the trade for Donovan Mitchell.

This is something to watch as the season goes on, is there a difference of opinion in how to win between the front office and J.B. Bickerstaff?

Bickerstaff likes size and since he took over as head coach has emphasized defense. Besides Allen and Mobley, there is little size on the Cavaliers. They signed Damian Jones to be a backup at center and power forward, so hopefully he can provide quality minutes.

Tristan Thompson was also signed, but based on what we saw in the preseason, we aren’t really optimistic he can be a rotation player. He is simply too limited on the offensive end.

And they need rim protectors because they really don’t have strong defenders on the perimeter, let alone not much size. Darius Garland and Mitchell are listed at 6’1″ and Strus is 6’5″.

Bickerstaff, like every other NBA coach, has said he wants to play faster this season. But if this causes the team to give up defense and thus lose games, we will bet the Cavs will go back to playing the way they were successful.

Again, being successful in a half-court game requires size, and that’s where the team is lacking.

It will be interesting to see how the beginning of the season plays out.

Cavs Start Camp. Did They Address What They Needed?

Training camp has started for the Cleveland Cavaliers and they will open their season in less than three weeks.

The Cavs finished 51-31 last season, good for 4th place in the Eastern Conference, but were eliminated and kind of bludgeoned by the New York Knicks in five games in the first round of the playoffs, their first appearance in the post-season since 2017-18.

Cleveland needed more outside shooting and more size and to our eyes they addressed one of those needs. They ranked 24th in the league in three-point attempts and were 12th in shooting percentage on those shots.

In the free agent market, they signed two players who can help in that regard, Max Strus and Georges Niang.

Strus is a career 37.1% shooter from distance but did drop from 41% in 2021-22 to 35% last season. Niang is a 40.3% three-point maker during his seven-year career in the NBA, and has knocked down that percentage in each of the last five seasons.

On the size issue, we still have questions. Strus is the likely starter at small forward, meaning the Cavs will again likely be smaller than their opponents at point guard, #2 guard and small forward.

And Strus is not regarded as a good defender, and that’s where Cleveland has hung their hat on under coach J. B. Bickerstaff.

In today’s NBA, guys who are 6’5″ like Strus are guards more often than not.

Niang is 6’7″ and can play both forward spots, so we really think he can make an impact, especially when he is playing the #3 spot.

Up front, Koby Altman added 6’11” free agent Damian Jones, who was with the Lakers and Jazz last season, but played just 41 games. In fact, he has only played more than 50 games in a season twice, ’21-’22 with Sacramento and in ’19-’20 with the Hawks.

Can he be the primary back up for Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley? That’s a major question.

Altman added his usual veteran big man before camp started, bringing in old friend Tristan Thompson, who played just 30 games in the NBA last season. He’s 6’9″ and was a solid interior defender and rebounder, but he’s not a rim protector.

Hopefully, Thompson can be more than the leader/mentor than the guys Altman brought in the past two seasons in Ed Davis and Robin Lopez, neither of whom could be on the court for meaningful minutes.

We also thought the Cavs’ bench was very short last season, not in size, but in capable players. Caris LeVert is back and will assume the sixth man role, but moving Isaac Okoro to the bench along with Niang and (fingers crossed), Jones, should make Cleveland deeper.

We hope Ty Jerome can be a useful combo guard, but he’s another player who has never appeared in more than 50 games in an NBA season. He has some size (6’5″) and can shoot and pass.

So for us, the Cavs still need to be bigger physically. They should be helped by the maturation of Evan Mobley and to a lesser extent, Darius Garland. We would like to see Mobley move up to be an 18 PPG/10 RPG/2 blocks player, and be more consistent from outside on his shot.

And he doesn’t need to make threes, having a reliable 15 foot jumper would suffice.

Let’s face it, if the Cavs don’t draw the Knicks in the first round, they probably get to the second round. It was that bad of a match up.

Still, we need to see further progress from the Cavs, both on the floor and on the bench, meaning Bickerstaff, this season. That would seem to insure another home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Cavs Revamping Their Bench? That’s Good

While we were not enamored by the sign and trade move made by the Cleveland Cavaliers over the weekend to get Max Strus, we didn’t have a problem with a couple of moves late Saturday.

The Cavs signed combo guard Ty Jerome and center Damian Jones to bolster the team’s bench, and after all, that was a weakness for the wine and gold a year ago.

Jerome is a 6’5″ backcourt player who can play the point and the #2 spot, and no doubt Cleveland can use some size at guard. The only issue for him is can he play 82 games. The most he has ever played is 48 with Oklahoma City in 2021-22.

The former Virginia standout can shoot, 38.9% from three and perhaps more importantly, 92.7% from the free throw line. He was also a starter on Virginia’s national championship team.

We think Ricky Rubio will be better the second year coming off knee surgery, but will Jerome get more minutes once the season starts? Or will Rubio be used in another trade.

As for Jones, this may sound a bit snarky, but we like this because he’s a legitimate NBA big man and he’s not over 30 years old. In the last couple of years, Cleveland has tried veterans like Ed Davis and Robin Lopez to back up Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, and neither has anything left.

Jones (6’11”) is 28 and played 41 games with the Lakers and Jazz last season. He scored 3.5 points and grabbed 3.0 boards in 11 minutes per game. He’s decent and serviceable, but we would still like to see Altman grab yet another backup at power forward and center.

We seriously doubt Koby Altman and Mike Gansey are done putting together this roster, but we do have to laugh at those including rookie Emoni Bates in the team’s depth chart. Bates is going to play in the G-League this season, working to get stronger and his overall game.

He may get a shot here and there if injuries hit the Cavs, but he was the 49th pick, not the 9th pick. We would say neither Altman, Gansey, nor coach J.B. Bickerstaff is counting on anything from Bates this season.

One player we are not seeing on depth charts is a draft pick from 2022, 6’7″ Luke Travers, who played in the Australian National League the past four years. Travers averaged 9.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, and three assists last season. He might be the kind of complete, all-around player (with some size) that Cleveland needs.

He will play in the NBA Summer League along with another ’22 draft pick, 7’1″ Khalifa Diop. who played in Liga Endesa last season, averaging 8 points and 5 boards per contest. We want to see how he will fare against the draft picks and second year guys in Las Vegas.

We have said the Cavs needed to add size and scoring for this season, but they also needed to redo their bench, which they received little production from, especially after they benched Kevin Love.

Getting Georges Niang, Jerome, and Jones should help, but we have a suspicion they some of the players who made up the reserve unit a year ago, won’t be back. And we have no issue with that.

Cavs Make Moves, Did They Get Better? We Say “Meh”

The NBA free agent season started and the Cleveland Cavaliers started it with a bang, signing Georges Niang from Philadelphia as a free agent, and then executing a sign and trade for Max Strus from Miami, giving up Cedi Osman and Lamar Stevens in the process.

Our initial thought is not overwhelming.

The Niang signing is fine. He’s a 6’7″ wing who over the last five years has knocked down 40% of his three-point shots each season. And he’s a bench player, probably someone who will be in the 8-10 range on the Cavs’ roster.

As for Strus, we look at him as a one-dimensional shooter, and the Cleveland front office seems to be collecting these types of players instead of getting all around players. We understand there are many NBA teams doing the same thing, but that doesn’t mean it will be successful.

The Cavs needed shooting, but they also need players who can create their own shot, as they only have three of those players on the roster in Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, and Caris LeVert, who re-upped with the team on Friday.

They also needed size and another big man to back up Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, but they haven’t addressed those spots. If Strus is going to be a starter, J.B. Bickerstaff still will have a pair of small guards and a smaller player at the #3 spot.

LeVert gives you a bigger guard off the bench if he is used there, but he’s also another small player at the #3.

And later on Saturday, they added another 6’5″ player in Ty Jerome, who was with Golden State last year, playing in 48 games. He shot 48% from the floor and 39% from three last season.

They finally added some size in 6’11” Damian Jones, whose best year was in 2021-22 with Sacramento when he averaged 8 points and 4 boards per game. He’s only 28 years old, so he may be able to contribute.

Again, it’s still early in the off-season, so there is time, but while many basketball fans are excited by these moves, we would say we are not.

Earlier this week, Fox Sports basketball analyst (and Cleveland native) John Fanta said he could see a scenario where the Cavaliers moved Garland in a trade. Social media went crazy. Again, Fanta didn’t say it was a rumor.

His logic is sound. If Koby Altman wanted to overhaul the roster, he would have to move one of what has become known as the “Core 4”, Mitchell, Garland, Mobley, and Allen.

No doubt the Cavs don’t want to move Mobley, who has the potential to be a major star in the league if he develops. Mitchell’s contract has only two more years, and Allen, albeit a very good big man, those type of players aren’t coveted in today’s NBA.

So, to us, the player who brings the most in return is most definitely Garland. Add in that the reason Altman would probably want to revamp the roster is because he realized the smallish backcourt doesn’t work, and it becomes logical.

We understand fans love Garland. He was drafted here and has developed into an all star. But we don’t see long term success with two smaller guards who dominate the offense. And the Cavaliers need to understand Mobley must become more of an offensive threat if the wine and gold want to advance in the playoffs.

We understand most of the buzz around the Cavs’ moves has been positive and we know fans like to see moves.

We don’t see how the Cavaliers have improved with these moves. It’s still a long time before training camp starts at the end of September, but right now, color us unimpressed.