Cleveland Cavaliers: Issues with starting production are tough to fix

The Cleveland Cavaliers are banged up right now, and getting consistent production from their starters with their injuries is going to be a tough problem to fix.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are getting quality minutes for their young pieces, which is really all that matters for the rest of this season. Guys are progressing, and as we’ve noted here at KJG, it may not always look like that’s the case, but the ups and downs of the season are crucial for players such as Cedi Osman, Collin Sexton and Larry Nance Jr. to grow. The problem for Cleveland often is that given their injuries and inconsistency, it’s difficult for the starting unit to be effective enough to win games. Against the Philadelphia 76ers, a far superior team, the issues with the Cavs’ starters were the clear difference in a blowout loss.

Now, I’ll give the Cavs and head coach Larry Drew a good amount of slack, here. Cleveland has barely had Kevin Love in the lineup, who is their best player, and with the Cavs’ not having Tristan Thompson‘s current double-double production and leadership on the floor, it’s understandable for the starters to have problems against players as talented as Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid from Philly.

The Cavaliers have had a revolving door of a starting five all season long, so that’s made chemistry difficult, but either way, the players getting starting minutes have to put the team in a better situation throughout games. On the season, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ starting units have had the lowest amount of points and assists per game in the league, and their plus-minus is the second-worst, per NBA.com.

As Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor hit on in regards to the Sixers game, “the Cavs’ starters were outscored 92-55.”

Cleveland is hurting without Thompson, who is reportedly out for a few weeks due to a foot sprain, and that’s caused Cleveland to start Channing Frye at times and Ante Zizic in the last game, who had a tough time in his 17 minutes on the floor defensively (and only had two rebounds and was a minus-16, per ESPN).

With TT on the sideline, though, it’s important to get Zizic valuable starting experience against top talent such as Embiid. With the Cavs needing to embrace the player development approach the rest of this season (as they have), it makes getting quality production out of starters difficult.

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That being said, if the Cleveland Cavaliers want to be more competitive, their bench can’t be asked to make up deficit after deficit. Jordan Clarkson, Matthew Dellavedova, Nance and David Nwaba (along with Jaron Blossomgame when he’s played) will probably be plus players in bench units.

Clarkson, though he can be a ball-stopping player at times, has proven his worth all season long as Cleveland’s leading scorer with 16.7 points per game, and is the Cavs’ scoring leader aside from the first four games. Dellavedova is a key contributor on both ends as a second-unit initiator and hustler, and Nance brings value every night as a secondary playmaker, very good team defender and solid roller.

Nwaba is reportedly battling knee soreness right now, but when he’s in, he brings energy, always seems to do the little things and is probably the Cavaliers’ best defender. In the last game, he was a plus-14, per ESPN.

The problem is, for the rest of the season, which will probably involve even more trades of veteran players, such as Rodney Hood and Alec Burks (per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst), the Cavaliers’ starters will be at even more of a loss. The rest of the way, with Cleveland wanting to secure high draft position, though, I wouldn’t expect the starting point differentials to get any better for Drew.

The Cavs know they’ll be getting constant attacking from Sexton (who is fourth among NBA rookies in scoring, per Basketball Reference), and he should be playing 30-plus minutes every night for proper growth under Drew. Sexton will make mistakes on both ends, however, and that’s perfectly fine.

Nonetheless, the rest is probably going to be a relative unknown with constant lineup changes due to injuries and matchups variance. Specifically in relation to the injury bug for Drew, Fedor was on it in saying this.

"“Drew recognizes he needs more from his team at the start of games. But figuring out how that’s going to happen with two — maybe three — starters missing or limited is a much harder question, one that may not even have an answer.Sometimes you’re dealt a bad hand.”"

The Cavaliers are going to be at a loss when it comes to playing against most starting-caliber talent.

We’ll see if Drew can find a solution in a tough time with Cleveland having key injuries.