Cavs: 3 players that should get off to a good start in 2019-20

The Cleveland Cavaliers are probably going to struggle as a team initially in 2019-20, but three players come to mind that should start off well individually to begin the upcoming season.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are going to have a tough season ahead in 2019-20, and that seems to be a near-certainty at this point.

They ended the 2018-19 season with a record of 19-63 (per NBA.com), and as KJG contributors have often noted, injuries had plenty to do with that record, but the team’s defensive woes seem likely to continue this year, too, with young players likely getting a big chunk of the minutes-share, as the season progresses, in particular.

At any rate, with the injuries to important players such as Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson throughout much of last season, and with Cleveland playing young pieces a bunch of minutes, players such as Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman and Larry Nance Jr. had considerable growth as 2018-19 wore on, and those last three seem to all be key young players for the coming years.

Now, with the Cavaliers seemingly fully embracing a rebuild going into 2019-20 and looking into the near future, they should be featuring more younger players in bigger minutes, too.

The Cavs’ three 2019 NBA Draft selections in Darius Garland, Dylan Windler and Kevin Porter Jr. all have promise, and new Cleveland head coach John Beilein and the mostly-new coaching staff have extensive player development backgrounds, so I would think down the road, the Cavs should be a team in good shape.

Again, though, that’s down the road, which likely means it will take multiple seasons to become relevant again.

That being said, there are still some pieces that, if healthy, should be players the Cavaliers will be able to rely on from the 2019-20 outset, and three of those pieces jump out to me currently.