It’s Still Early For Cavaliers, But…

The Cleveland Cavaliers are only eight games into their season, but from our point of view, we are seeing things we aren’t particularly fond of with the wine and gold. Granted, injuries to Peyton Watson and Jaylon Tyson haven’t helped the situation.

It looks as though the same things that plagued the squad in the playoffs a year ago haven’t been corrected. It’s still early, we keep telling ourselves.

In a league that is getting longer every year, coach Kenny Atkinson and his staff continue to use small ball lineups, frequently it is either Evan Mobley or Jarrett Allen with four other players who are 6’6″ and smaller. The usual result is the wine and gold getting hurt on the boards.

The last two losses for the Cavs, against Atlanta and Oklahoma City, they were outrebounded, particularly giving up second chance opportunities to both opponents. It’s fundamental basketball to say defense isn’t done until you rebound the ball. Sometimes it’s as simple as they don’t box out, other times, it’s just because they are too small.

What’s weird is the Cavaliers are 4th in the league in rebounds, but it seems when they need a key stop, they force a miss, but don’t get the ball.

It’s still early, we keep telling ourselves.

They don’t seem to have an identity, particularly offensively. They blew out the Bucks, who aren’t a good team, by feeding Mobley and Allen, getting them a combined 32 shots out of the 100 they took. The next game, a loss to the Thunder, the two big men took a total of 21 shots out of 90 in total.

We agree with analyst Brad Daugherty, who says many times that the Cavs would be better off playing insde out, meaning establishing the two big men inside and forcing the opposition to defend them, using with double teams, thus leaving shooters open on the perimeter.

It’s still early, we keep telling ourselves.

So far, the season has been about either having a big lead and blowing it or being down by a lot early and coming back. We believe this is because there is no “Cavalier way” of playing. To us, Atkinson’s crew seems to morph into whatever style their opponent plays. If they are shooting threes, so will Cleveland. Again, it would help to establish the inside game early.

It’s still early, we keep telling ourselves.

We liked bringing in size on the wings in Watson and Mario Hezonja this summer, but we wanted another big to play inside, and that wasn’t accomplished. Instead, the front office brought back Thomas Bryant, who has played in just two games thus far, and in his last appearance, fired up four shots in five minutes.

The Cavs need some bulk inside. Hezonja helps a bit, but he’s just 6’8″. A larger problem might be the bottom of the roster, particularly with Nae’Qwan Tomlin out. There isn’t much help there.

It’s still early, we keep telling ourselves

The roster construction is still sketchy though. The team brought back Craig Porter Jr. and it has only taken a few games for him to fall out of the rotation. We had doubts about his ballhandling and shooting after last season. And again, why did they rush to resign Bryant?

It’s still early, we keep telling ourselves.

We will give them credit for Maleek Thomas, who has earned minutes early, but as we said after the draft, it’s not that the rookie can’t play, it’s that he’s 6’5″, and the roster is filled with players of that profile.

It is early and perhaps this group is just trying to find it’s style of play. We repeat what we said prior to the season, the real measure of success is how they do in the playoffs.

It’s just frustrating to watch right now (if you can watch)

It’s Basketball Time For The Wine And Gold

The Cleveland Cavaliers open the 2026-27 NBA season tonight and the expectations on the team are much like the last two seasons. What they do in the regular season will doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, how successful their season is will be determined by how far they go in the playoffs.

Last season, Kenny Atkinson’s squad got to the Eastern Conference finals, a step further than the year before. However, they blew a big fourth quarter lead in the first game and then were pretty much outclassed during the rest of the series.

It was the third straight season they were pretty much non-competitive in the series in which they were eliminated, and that means the good feeling about taking the next step are erased in the view of most basketball people.

Koby Altman did add some height to the roster, especially on the wings by trading for 6’8″ Peyton Watson, and he added 6’8″ Mario Hezonja, who will likely spend time at both forward spots. We also expect another 6’8″ player, Nae’Qwan Tomlin to have a bigger role this season once he returns to the court following a lower back injury.

We would have liked (and still would like) Altman to add another big man to back up Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. Currently the main back up is veteran Thomas Bryant, but more likely than not, Atkinson will probably go smaller when Allen or Mobley are not on the floor. (Ugh!)

Altman swung big at the trade deadline a year ago, bringing in James Harden for Darius Garland. Harden brings a lot, both good and bad. He averaged 20.5 points and 7.7 assists in 26 games after coming over from the Clippers. He shot 43.5% from three and 46.6% from the floor overall.

He’s great at finding big men in the pick and roll too. Jarrett Allen averaged almost 20 points per game from February until the end of the season.

However, the ball is in his hands a lot, so ball movement suffers. Also, Harden isn’t exactly quick, which presents a problem defensively. And the Cavs likely will not be getting a ton of transition baskets with Harden on the floor. That eliminates easy baskets.

The veteran averaged almost 35 minutes per game last season, and we know Harden takes pride in being on the floor. We wonder if he would play at a higher level getting fewer minutes, especially in the regular season. We will see how Atkinson divvies up the minutes.

With Harden and Donovan Mitchell or at least one of them on the court most of the time, there isn’t a huge need for a backup point guard, and we are curious about using Craig Porter Jr. there. In our opinion, his ball handling is questionable.

He’s a high energy player for us, but not really a lead guard. We wonder how long before second year player Tyrese Proctor gets minutes at that spot.

We will start getting answers in regard to how the Cavs will play and how the rotations work starting tonight. It’s probably not fair, but barring some bad injury luck, the Cavaliers are building toward starting their real season in April.

The goal should be winning the NBA title, especially this season. The “one step forward” nonsense is just that.

Time For A Little Hoops Talk.

With the Browns opening their season today and the Guardians in the midst of a race to play in the post-season, we thought we’d go against the grain a little bit and talk basketball. After all, the Cleveland Cavaliers did get to the Eastern Conference finals last season, and they open training camp in a few weeks under Kenny Atkinson.

Besides, both of those teams are very frustrating right now.

For years, we have said the wine and gold need to be bigger, and they have made some improvement along those lines. When they swung the big deal for James Harden in February was that if the Cavs were going to have a ball dominant guard who wasn’t a great defender, it is better for it to be the 6’5″ Harden, rather than 6’2″ Darius Garland.

Koby Altman has also acquired two 6’8″ wings in Mario Hezonja and Peyton Watson, who we would think will share time at the small forward spot with Jaylon Tyson. And don’t forget another 6’8″ player in Nae’Qwan Tomlin, who played in 64 games a year ago, getting most of his time before the trade deadline.

Remember that the deal for the 17-year veteran came late in the year. Harden only played in 26 games with the wine and gold, so the offensive became doing what Harden did best, using a lot of pick and roll. We are sure that will be the case again, with Harden getting the most out of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley in that way.

Cleveland still has Tyson, Sam Merrill, and second-year player Tyrese Proctor to share time in the backcourt with Harden, and of course, Donovan Mitchell. With those players on the roster, we would love to see Harden’s and Mitchell’s regular season minutes controlled, especially Harden, who is now 37.

We would still love to see Altman add a better big man to back up Mobley and Allen than veteran Thomas Bryant, no disrespect to him, but Cleveland should consider itself a contender to win the title, and particularly in the playoffs, you need another big man who can make an impact. The Cavs saw that need in both their series against the Pistons with Paul Reid and the Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson.

Because the Cavs like to play “small ball’, our guess is they think they can easily slide either Watson, Hezonja, or Tomlin over to the four, but we don’t like that from a rebounding standpoint. Defense isn’t over until you grab the rebound. Thus, the need for someone to play center/power forward and can give the Cavaliers about 18 solid minutes.

As it has been for the last few years, the biggest question for the Cavs is Evan Mobley. Can he take the next step into being a perennial all-star. His points, rebounds, and shooting all took a drop last season, and we have doubts as to whether or not he can do it. We just don’t think it’s in his personality to assert himself.

We have seen questions about the depth on the team and we will go back to the old adage of “if you don’t play your bench, you won’t have one”. We said it last year and we will say it again, Atkinson has to use and trust his second unit early in the year. It will pay dividends in the second half of the season.

Last season, he went away from Tyson and Tomlin after the trade and probably could’ve used both in the post-season. Hopefully, that’s a lesson learned.

Cavs Make Some Deals And Get More Size

The Cleveland Cavaliers made a move last week, trading veteran guard Dennis Schroder to Charlotte for another guard, Tre Mann. We will spare you our usual comment when looking at a deal made by president of basketball operations Koby Altman, but Mann is 6’4″, which is Altman’s type.

While on merit, dealing a 6’1″ guard in Schroder for a 6’4″ point guard in Mann is a good thing, we are all about the Cavs getting bigger, particularly in the backcourt, but the move seemed likely a precursor to another move, probably for a bigger wing the wine and gold desperately need.

And it was. Last night, the Cavs sent Max Strus and Mann along with a 2031 first round pick away in a five-team deal in which the primary return for Cleveland was soon to be 24-year-old 6’8″ wing Peyton Watson. Watson had his best year with Denver last season, playing in 54 games, 40 of them starts, and averaged 14.6 points and 4.9 rebounds.

He shot 48% from the floor and 36% from beyond the arc and is regarded as a good defender. He was a restricted free agent and as part of the deal, he is signing a four-year deal with the wine and gold.

We hate to see Strus go, as in our opinion he added toughness to the Cavs as well as a decent shooter from outside. But at 6’5″, he was small to play the #3 and is really more like an off guard.

Mann was also part of the transaction and goes to Washington and Cleveland also gets 6’6″ Cam Whitmore in the deal, and he makes less than Mann, giving the Cavaliers’ additional salary relief. Whitmore was considered a sleeper when he was taken with the 20th pick in the ’23 Draft, and averaged 12.3 points in 47 games with the Rockets.

Last year, he played in just 21 games for the Wizards missing most of the season with a venous condition in his shoulder.

Obviously, the key is Watson. Cleveland needed more size on the wing, which they lost when Dean Wade signed with Philadelphia, and the newcomer is a much better offensive player than the departed Wade. And with 6’8″ Mario Hezonja and holdover Nae’Qwan Tomlin, it gives Kenny Atkinson three bigger options on the wing.

The coach could still use more depth at the big man spots, because if Evan Mobley and/or Jarrett Allen can’t play for whatever reason, they really only have Thomas Bryant, and that’s not good enough for a team trying to get to the Finals.

And they could also use another ball handler, although that may not be a huge need with Donovan Mitchell and James Harden probably being on the floor much of the time.

We have seen Craig Porter Jr. mentioned, but although he’s an energy guy and a terrific rebounder for his size, 6’1″, his handle needs work. A better option might be last year’s second round pick, Tyrese Proctor, who played point at Duke in college.

Proctor has a good outside shot and should be improved in his second NBA season.

We have wanted the Cavs to get longer for a few years and by getting Watson and Hezonja, they have accomplished that. The question is how they will fit in with the ball dominant backcourt of Mitchell and Harden.

Remember, in basketball, it’s not just accumulating talent, it’s how do the pieces fit together.