Cleveland Cavaliers 2024-25 season preview: Can this core 4 grasp with East elite?
The 2024-25 NBA season is right here! We’re breaking down the largest questions, best- and worst-case eventualities, and fantasy outlooks for all 30 groups. Get pleasure from!
CLEVELAND CAVALIERS
2023-24 end
Offseason strikes
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Additions: Head coach Kenny Atkinson, Jaylon Tyson, JT Thor, Luke Travers
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Subtractions: Head coach JB Bickerstaff, Marcus Morris, Damian Jones, Isaiah Mobley
The Massive Query: Can theylastly develop into greater than the sum of their components?
Zoom out, and the Cavs’ latest résumé appears to be like downright spectacular. Consecutive playoff berths for the primary time since LeBron James left; the franchise’s first playoff sequence victory with out James since 1993; the formation of a core with three All-Star cornerstones, plus a fourth who completed third in Defensive Participant of the Yr voting earlier than turning 22.
However you don’t hearth the coach who produced that relative success since you’re glad by it. You do it since you anticipate extra — extra offensive synergy, extra pathways to Ws, greater than the fourth seed, and multiple sequence win wherein you barely scratched out some extent per possession towards postseason newbies. That, clearly, is what the Cavs brass expects from Atkinson, contemporary off stints aiding Tyronn Lue and Steve Kerr after rebuilding the Nets — and from a core that normal supervisor Koby Altman simply paid by means of the nostril to lock into place.
“We need to align ourselves with one of the best groups within the NBA, and in the end compete for championships,” Altman stated in a crew launch asserting Donovan Mitchell’s extension.
There’s an inexpensive case for anticipating extra. Final yr’s Cavs completed fourth regardless of Mitchell, Darius Garland and Evan Mobley lacking 84 video games, and regardless of that trio and Jarrett Allen enjoying simply 392 minutes collectively. Higher well being might assist foster a return to the rhythm that group present in 2022-23, when Cleveland blitzed opponents by 8.9 factors per 100 possessions of their minutes.
A bounce-back can be significantly welcome for Garland, who suffered early hamstring and neck accidents earlier than getting completely derailed by a fractured jaw that rendered him unable to eat stable meals for greater than a month. Getting him again to All-Star type would go a great distance towards serving to Atkinson clean out a number of the wrinkles within the Cavs’ offense.
The glass-half-empty take would recommend that these wrinkles signify a naturally occurring byproduct of the material of Cleveland’s development: {that a} crew constructed round two smaller guards at their finest on the ball, and two large males at their finest working contained in the elbows, will in the end show insufficiently versatile to topple one of the best opponents they’ll face. To wit: Over the previous two seasons, the Cavs have been 57-12 towards groups under-.500, and 41-53 towards opponents with information at or above .500, and went 48-11 towards groups with a bottom-10 effectivity differential, and 20-31 towards groups within the prime 10, in line with Cleansing the Glass.
By extending Mitchell, Mobley and Allen, and holding agency on not shifting Garland, Altman and Co. have taken a extra optimistic view. Perhaps development comes within the type of Mobley stretching his sport out to the perimeter to decongest the offense (or, for that matter, Allen resuming the challenge of taking 3-pointers that he started underneath Atkinson in Brooklyn). Perhaps it’s Mitchell and Garland discovering extra worthwhile methods to coexist (extra small-small screening actions, please).
Perhaps it’s much more aggressive staggering of the core 4 to subject extra lineups that includes one guard, one large and three wings — some mixture of Max Strus, Caris LeVert, Georges Niang, Dean Wade, Sam Merrill, Isaac Okoro or rookie Jaylon Tyson — to extra steadily maximize Cleveland’s spacing, taking pictures and playmaking juice. Perhaps, with Atkinson providing a contemporary set of eyes and concepts, it’s all the above, leading to a model of the Cavs that pairs an elite protection with lastly realized offensive potential — a crew that might legitimately make the convention finals.
If it’s not, although? Then perhaps it’s time to alter a few of these components, looking for a larger sum.
Finest-case situation
Higher well being, Atkinson’s creativity and a fringe leap from Mobley give Cleveland the basics of a top-10 offense. Three Cavs make the Japanese All-Star crew as they surge to a top-two seed and the possibility to face a play-in crew reasonably than slug it out within the 4-vs.-5 matchup. Mitchell turns in an excellent postseason to push the Cavs into the Japanese Convention finals and offers all events concerned a purpose to maintain on believing.
If every thing falls aside
The core 4 continues to really feel janky, Atkinson’s tweaks be damned, and the crew continues to carry out higher when it’s Mitchell-and-Allen or Garland-and-Mobley. For a 3rd straight yr, not one of the would-be fifth starters proves dependable in a postseason context. Mobley nonetheless doesn’t appear to be an offensive focus. The Cavs battle simply to remain above the play-in combine and get bullied into one other early exit, resulting in renewed calls to interrupt up the core, ending a well-intentioned however in the end disappointing period.
Fantasy spin
Mobley’s utilization and output have been constant all through his first three seasons within the league — nothing loopy, however simply sufficient to see the potential. Effectively, the 23-year-old is about to go off.
Atkinson says he’ll be that includes Mobley extra as a playmaker, and he is been working to prolong his vary all offseason. A breakout is incoming, and Mobley will likely be effectively well worth the worth of admission as an early fourth-rounder.
Essentially the most important query mark is Garland. Accidents restricted Garland to simply 57 video games final season and his manufacturing was down in practically each class. Assuming final yr was an outlier, his sixth-round ADP reached a low sufficient level the place I might purchase again in. — Dan Titus
2024-25 schedule
Over. One fewer main harm from final yr’s squad will get you there; yet one more important enchancment from Garland, Mobley or one other youthful piece most likely does, too. I’m unsure Cleveland will be capable to stand toe-to-toe with the massive boys come Could, however I feel they’ll roll up a whole lot of W’s on their approach to springtime.
