NBA Trade Rumors: 8 Fatally flawed playoff teams that need roster upgrade at deadline

Cleveland Cavaliers

On paper, the Cleveland Cavaliers should be much better than ranked 7th in the Eastern Conference standings. However, that's where the Cavs currently find themselves even after making the big splash addition of Max Strus during the offseason. With an improved roster, the Cavs have found a way to take a step back through the first half of this year.

Sure you can use the excuse (or explanation) that the Cavs are injured and are not 100 percent. I suppose that holds water. However, even when this team was healthy, Cleveland didn't show many signs of being a contender in the East. And heading into this season, that was the natural next step for a team that added Mitchell last offseason and one that lost in the first round of the postseason last year.

I get it; the hope is that when the Cavs are completely healthy again, hopefully, sooner rather than later, they're going to be able to make a strong push in the second half of the season. Even then, with how they looked in the early portion of this year when healthy, there's evidence to suggest that they still need to make a move at the NBA Trade Deadline to help jump-start a move up the standings.