Cavaliers’ B- offseason grade by Bleacher Report seems fair

As we’ve often emphasized at KJG, the Cleveland Cavaliers having a pretty uneventful offseason to this point shouldn’t have fans surprised, but either way, the Cavaliers receiving a B- offseason grade by Bleacher Report seems fair.

The Cleveland Cavaliers weren’t going to be having a really eventful 2019 offseason/summer, and as we’ve consistently stressed here at KJG, that was due to Cleveland being financially limited and them eventually not wanting to be faced with a huge luxury tax situation to climb out of as the 2019-20 season progresses.

As it currently stands, the Cavaliers are under $2.9 million away from being at the near $132.6 million luxury tax threshold (per Spotrac) for next season, and the roster currently stands at 14 players after the team reportedly signed two guard J.P. Macura via Exhibit 10 deal last week.

Despite the Cavaliers reportedly seeking trades for J.R. Smith throughout the 2018-19 season and then in the offseason as well, he was reportedly just waived earlier this month, too, and that was because Cleveland didn’t receive an asset they deemed was attactive enough to take on especially bad contract money that would lead to being a “tax team” in 2019-20, per a report from Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.

The highlight of the offseason for the Cavs was their selections of Darius Garland, Dylan Windler and then via reported trade (of which our own Robbie DiPaola detailed) Kevin Porter Jr. (all in the first round), of the 2019 NBA Draft.

Given those draft selections by general manager Koby Altman and the organization, along with how Smith was waived, and Cleveland lost out on keeping David Nwaba (who reportedly signed via unrestricted free agency with the Brooklyn Nets), I would say an offseason grade of B- by Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale is a fair one.

While ideally, the backcourt pairing of Garland and Collin Sexton turns into the Cleveland version of the Portland Trail Blazers’ star backcourt of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum (an undersized one by NBA standards), it’s very uncertain whether or not that will eventually be the case over time.

Though Garland is a very gifted shooter off-the-bounce from the perimeter (a 47.8% three-point hit rate in a brief college sample size at Vanderbilt in five games, per Sports Reference) and in the mid-range area, the expectation seemingly being Lillard and McCollum (I would assume in Sexton’s case) is very difficult to live up to, and Favale saying the pairing is an “awkward” fit is hitting the nail on the head.

The amount of defensive issues that will likely arise in coming seasons, where the two should be playing together a considerable minutes-share, anyhow), with the Cavs needing to see how the two mostly ball-dominant listed at 6-foot-2 guards (per NBA.com) coexist on the floor, will be hard to scheme around for head coach John Beilein and the coaching staff.

I don’t deny that both Garland and Sexton should be able to fill it up as scorers, and Kevin Love should be able to open up more perimeter shooting and driving opportunities for both, and others, such as Cedi Osman, Porter and Windler, too, but again, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ defense is likely to be at a big disadvantage in coming seasons.

Along with that, I agree with Favale, who hit on how not bringing back Nwaba will hurt the Cavs, because he was the team’s best defender, and with Cleveland not maybe not projecting to have any plus defenders next year outside of possibly Larry Nance Jr. (and one could argue Porter could potentially be one, but most rookies aren’t, anyway), that loss of Nwaba hurts even more.

Nwaba is a player that can defend 1-3’s at a high level consistently with his ability to sit and slide to mirror primary playmakers, can wall up in post defense well that allows him to actually guard some 4’s inside (he placed in the 80th percentile last year against post-up scorers, on a frequency of 9.8%, per Synergy Sports), and had probably the best off-ball defensive feel of Cleveland’s regular rotation players last season.

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He also had respectable per-36 minute averages of 12.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 2018-19 (per Basketball Reference).

So factoring in that Cleveland hired a coach with a proven track record of developing young players at other levels in Beilein but he, even at 66, has no experience coaching at the NBA level, even as an assistant, I could see that factoring in to a score showing uncertainty, too.

I’m more than fine with prior NBA head coaching experience not factoring into the Cleveland Cavaliers’ hire, and I’m a fan of the assistants around Beilein, and it’s good that the Cavaliers are well aware that they need a rebuilding/player development focus for the near future.

Again, the drafting of Garland brings plenty of uncertainty, and even though I’m high on the scoring potential of Porter, who can create his own offense off-the-bounce in settled offense, he still does need to develop off the ball and as a passer more.

Windler, as Favale noted, seems to have the makings of a solid contributor, too, and Windler’s career three-point shooting clip of 40.6% over seasons at Belmont should translate well in Beilein’s offense which is largely predicted on perimeter shooting and man/ball movement.

Nonetheless, the Cavs didn’t greatly improve with their cap limitations this offseason, and the 2019-20 season is not going to bring a whole bunch of wins, either, based on the roster construction and lack of wing depth.

Will Cleveland be more fun to watch, however? That, I’d say, is a resounding yes.