Exploring whether the Cleveland Cavaliers are headed in the right direction
One of my most favorite NBA moments I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing in my life was Game 1 of the first round in the 2018 NBA Playoffs. My friend Christian Delzoppo and I traveled from Bloomington, Indiana all the way to Cleveland, Ohio to watch our favorite teams duke it out (Christian is a die-hard Cavs fan).
It’s just two years later and this Cleveland Cavaliers roster looks a lot different. A lot of the players from that team have now departed most notably LeBron James. In year two of a complete rebuild, I’m going to give my thoughts if the Cavs are heading in the next direction.
Last year the Cavs posted a 19-63 which was tied for second-worst in the NBA last season. In a season with little hope, the obvious bright spots were Cedi Osman and rookie Colin Sexton. Collin Sexton played well enough to earn himself All-Rookie Second Team honors. He posted a 16, 3, and 3 stat line with his field goal percentages being 43 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3-point land, and posting an effective field goal percentage of 48 percent.
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Cedi Osman took a step in the right direction last season increasing his scoring total by almost 10 points going from 3.9 the year before to 13 points per contest this past season, per basketball-reference.com. The only player last season that had a bigger point increase was Pascal Siakam.
This past summer had changeover for the Cavs. The Cavs decided to get rid of Tyronn Lue and hire former University of Michigan head coach John Beilein. As one of the top college coaches in the nation Beilein get his first shot at being an NBA head coach.
The Cavs added some really intriguing young talent to their roster through this year’s draft. The Cavs took Darius Garland with the 5th pick in the draft. Garland is point guard out of Vanderbilt who possesses silky smooth ball handling and exceptional scoring ability. The Cavs also had the 26th pick in the draft and took Dylan Windler out of Belmont. Windler is a 6-foot-8 shooting guard who can shoot the ball well as well as finishing at the rim.
A draft-night trade with the Pistons landed the Cavs with another first-round selection as the picked up Kevin Porter Jr with the 30th pick. Kevin Porter Jr. is a shooting guard out of USC who ended up falling to the bottom of the first round due to injury concerns. Porter Jr is an athletic 2 guard who can get to the rim and has a good outside jump shot as well. Porter Jr. was one of my favorite prospects coming into this year and I believe has a chance to be a great piece in the future for this Cavs franchise.
The Cavs also acquired center Marques Bolden as an undrafted free agent. I liked Bolden at Duke for his shot-blocking and rim running game. He is definitely a project for the Cavs but I see him as having solid rotation potential.
John Beilein had stated after the draft that he wants to play positionless basketball as part of the Cavs new system (with how the league is going, this system should benefit the Cavs the most giving them many different looks for other teams). I would imagine their starting lineup opening night would be Collin Sexton, Jordan Clarkson, Cedi Osman, Kevin Love, and Larry Nance Jr. This lineup may not look spectacular on paper but it’s a well balanced scoring lineup.
Sexton, Clarkson, and Cedi all provide threats as perimeter scorers, Kevin Love adds outside range for a big man and Nance is the mauling rebounder in the middle that also can hammer down dunks. Now ideally they are going to want to plug and play Garland, Porter Jr., and Wilder in those 1-3 slots. This style is going to work very well on the offensive side of the ball as each of the above mentioned 3 are all really good scoring threats.
What I’m concerned about is on the defensive side of the ball how they will match up. Not every night will be able to run all three guards at one time because teams will give them too much of a problem with size. Teams like Orlando, Toronto, Indiana, and Chicago, for instance, will give them problems due to their lack of size. On nights like these, they will most likely go with a more traditional lineup.
A new coach, new system, and some new core young players it’s looking like a developmental year at Rockage Mortgage Fieldhouse. I project them at the bottom third of the league and last in the central division. Throughout all the growing pains this Cavs team will go through this season, I believe a base is going to be built for the future here in Cleveland this season. It’s probably not what Cavs fans are hoping to hear but this year should give hope to the future being built in Cleveland.