Cavs: Tied-for-worst title odds for 2020 should be added motivation

The Cleveland Cavaliers are tied for having the worst title odds for next season of NBA teams, according to the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, and that should be added motivation for them.

The Cleveland Cavaliers finished the 2018-19 season with a less-than-stellar record of 19-63, and they had the worst net rating of any team in the NBA (per NBA.com).

They played hard all year, and that was at least encouraging, and when All-Star Kevin Love was playing a significant minutes-share, the team was much more respectable, as we’ve noted countless times here at KJG.

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Last year, Cleveland had tons of injury problems, with their bigs in particular, as Love for example, only appeared in 22 games (per Basketball Reference), mostly due to him reportedly having toe surgery shortly after the start of the season.

That forced former head coach Larry Drew (who reportedly took over for former head coach Tyronn Lue who was fired after an 0-6 start to last year, as we’ve hit on) to play players such as Cedi Osman (who is more naturally a 3) to play the 4 position too often (55% of the time, per Basketball Reference), in addition to numerous other players having a similar predicament, as we previously detailed near season’s end.

Granted, every team had injuries, and the Cleveland Cavaliers looked lost often in games, even when they were relatively healthy.

With the Cavs’ uncertainty involving their next head coach (we do not know who that is at this point), and with Cleveland likely playing a ton of younger players big minutes next season (and probably in the next few years, anyway), it makes sense that few nationally project Cleveland having a much better 2019-20 season.

Cleveland is tied with the Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans, Phoenix Suns and Washington Wizards for having the worst odds of winning the 2020 NBA title, according to the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, with odds of +30000 (per Jeff Sherman of SuperBook and h/t Sports Illustrated’s Michael Shapiro).

That’s understandable, at least at this point, because we’re not sure what lottery pick the Cavaliers will get (the 2019 NBA Draft lottery happens on May 14), but regardless, in their specific case, it likely wouldn’t get them out of having cellar odds.

That’s fine, though, because for players such as Love, Collin Sexton (who seemed to prove many wrong with his shooting improvements, at least through one year to this point), Cedi Osman, Ante Zizic, Larry Nance Jr. and potentially a bench piece such as David Nwaba (who as we’ve touched on, Cleveland is reportedly likely to bring back next season via restricted free agency), these league-worst title odds should be more motivation for the team to improve in 2019-20.

Health will play a huge factor in how next year turns out, as the Cavaliers (who as we’ve previously noted, are reportedly likely to keep Love long-term, based on what Altman reportedly said in his end-of-season presser), need Love to be reasonably healthy to maximize their play next season, and really in the next few years.

It’s also difficult to see, even if a perspective team strikes out in 2019 free agency, another NBA team giving up a valuable young player and a projected relatively high first-round pick in the coming years, due to Love’s injury history.

Moreover, the next head coach, which it seems will be of the younger/analytics-embracing variety (due to a report from the New York Times’  Marc Stein in a recent newsletter and h/t Sam Amico of Amico Hoops), will likely see the Cavs’ lowest 2020 title odds and use that as a chip as well.

There’s plenty of question marks when it comes to the Cleveland Cavaliers next season (who could feasibly be making multiple trades due to their expiring pieces which we’ve hit on), and although they won’t be winning the title in 2020, some improvement with likely at least one key building block for the future with their first lottery pick (they are tied for having the best odds of winning the draft lottery with a 14.0% chance, per Tankathon) and hopefully better health doesn’t seem far-fetched.

Once again, these title odds are just another reason for Sexton and others to work extremely hard to improve next year.