Cleveland Cavaliers: Expectations for before the 2019-20 All-Star break
December
By the time December rolls around, the hope would be that the Cavaliers have their rotations mostly locked in. Although it’s less than 20 games into the season, the hope for first-year head coach John Beilein is that his young backcourt duo of Collin Sexton and Darius Garland is growing more comfortable together.
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As for their schedule, the Cavaliers open the month at home with two games (the Detroit Pistons and Orlando) before going on the road for four of the next five games.
Those four road games are against Philadelphia, the Boston Celtics, San Antonio Spurs, and Milwaukee, who all made the playoffs in 2018 and are all set up for success again this year, even with some notable players no longer in their rotations.
Al Horford is now on the Sixers and not on Boston, and Malcolm Brogdon is no longer on the Bucks and is on the Pacers (Horford’s addition via unrestricted free agency and Brogdon’s via reported sign-and-trade), and again Irving is out of Boston, and in is Kemba Walker.
All in all, it doesn’t seem unreasonable that all four of those teams (Philly, Boston, San Antonio and Milwaukee) can all finish with a top-12 net rating again as they did last year, per NBA.com (and first when it comes to the Bucks), and the Cavs will be with their hands full clearly.
Cleveland then will make their way back to snowy Northeast Ohio for a trio of what could be winnable games against the Charlotte Hornets, Memphis Grizzlies, and Atlanta Hawks, as all three teams missed the playoffs last year and were in the lottery.
The Cavaliers close out 2019 with trips to Boston again, and the Minnesota Timberwolves before ringing in the New Year north of the border against the defending NBA champions in the Toronto Raptors (though they did lose Kawhi Leonard, of course).
Again, the wins may be few and far between, but as the Cleveland Cavaliers creep toward the halfway point of the season, it is all about progress, especially for the trio of rookies (Garland, Dylan Windler and Kevin Porter Jr.) who will be all counted on by Beilein and his staff.