What are the weaknesses of the Cleveland Cavaliers roster this season?
The Cleveland Cavaliers will have a better team than many seem to expect. However, there are some real weaknesses to the roster.
The Cavs will have to overcome these weaknesses to earn a playoff-berth and, of course, make a playoff run.
No pure passers
With LeBron James gone, the Cleveland Cavaliers have to replace his playmaking with a collective effort.
However, Cavs may actually be better off for adopting a system heavy on ball-movement and one that doesn’t result in one player handling the vast majority of playmaking responsibilities.
Their lack of a pure passer certainly limits their roster but with an offensive system that takes advantage of the playmaking capabilities of the current Cavs it won’t be as detrimental to their success as it could be. Between rookie Collin Sexton, point-forward Cedi Osman and All-Star Kevin Love, the Cavs have at least three players in their rotation he will be dedicated to finding their teammates for easy shots.
However, lacking at least one player that you can trust to be an elite facilitator isn’t ideal.
That player doesn’t even have to be in the rotation.
Jose Calderon, who holds a career-average pf 5.9 assists per game, came in handy last season.
In large part because of his passing ability and basketball IQ, he made it hard to keep him off-the-court even when there was no place for him in the rotation; the Cavs were +3.6 points per 100 possessions better with him on the court, the 7th-highest total among players who played at least 20 games.