Cleveland Cavaliers: With long future on the horizon, patience is key

Many expected the Cleveland Cavaliers to take a step back this season, but few expected the Cavaliers to take this drastic of a fall down the NBA ladder so quick.

In just 11 games, the Cleveland Cavaliers find themselves at the bottom of the league, with just a sole victory on their record. Oh, and they also fired their head coach just six games into the season. That’s not the ideal start for a team looking for some sort of life beyond LeBron James.

Cleveland was close to their second win of the season this past Monday, as the Wine & Gold led by five points with under a minute to play. However, a couple of untimely turnovers gave the Orlando Magic a chance to win the game late, and they did just that. They sunk a buzzer-beater to stun the Cavaliers.

The fact of the matter is that the Magic loss will not be the only loss of that fashion. With a young team that has less experience, they will have to work out their kinks and go through tough times in order to learn how to win.

One thing is for sure: Cedi Osman will know not to force a pass in a fastbreak situation when his team is up five points with just 24 seconds remaining.

Also, injuries have derailed any hope of a successful start for the Cavaliers. The new centerpiece of the franchise, Kevin Love, is reportedly out for several weeks with a toe injury. With Love in the lineup, an argument could be made the Cavaliers would be competitive, but with a lineup filled with guys used to being simply role players, they can only do so well.

But do not be mistaken, the Cavaliers who will be on the floor will not simply give up. The one thing about this team is that they are going to work their tails off on a nightly basis.

With young players such as Jordan Clarkson, Rodney Hood and even Osman on the court, Cavalier fans will be treated to an offensive display some nights.

Those who follow the Cavaliers have not been shy about their criticism of Clarkson, who at times tries to do too much. But this season he has taken back that role he had while with the Los Angeles Lakers. Clarkson would be that guy to come off the bench and provide the second unit with an offensive spark.

This season for the Cavaliers, Clarkson is scoring 15.2 points a game and is hitting of 47.3 percent of his shots, but is just making three-point shots at a 29.2 percent clip. This is clearly the best role for Clarkson, who can be a guy this team uses as part of their future plans.

Patience is also the key word when the subject of Collin Sexton comes up. The rookie point guard has had his moments early on and is averaging 10.9 points, but with just 2.1 assists and is hitting only 42.0 percent of his shots.

The talk about Sexton has gone to a different topic over the past few days. It was reported that some within the Cavaliers organization do not feel that Sexton is the man to help rebuild this franchise, and that there’s “disillusionment with Collin Sexton,” per The Athletic’s Joe Vardon.

In that piece, (subscription required) Vardon highlighted how “the line on Sexton is that he does not ‘know how to play.'” 

Hearing rumblings like this within the organization less than a quarter of the way through Sexton’s rookie season is a bit alarming, but does not mean this is the case. Sexton is only 19 years old and has a lot of room to learn and grow into a franchise cornerstone.

These are all issues that are not going to be fixed overnight. Everyone from the owner to the fans is going to have to be patient with where the franchise currently stands.

It is important to not rush, nor give up on any of this team’s young core. While they may endure quite a few losses on the scoreboard this season, the growing pains experienced this year could lead to greener pastures in the coming years.

Just be patient, Cleveland. There’s always next year (or the year after that), eh?