Predicting how the Cleveland Cavaliers will do against the Central Division

The Cleveland Cavaliers are not likely going to win a ton of games in the 2019-20 season with their primary focus on player development. Here’s how they’ll stack up against their division this year.

In a stark contrast to the narrative surrounding the team initially going into the 2018-19 season, the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ primary focus in 2019-20 is going to be player development.

After starting horribly and with a ton of reported injuries to players such as Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson, though, and many more that followed, Cleveland did seem to shift toward initiating a full-rebuild early on in 2018-19, and unlike going into last season when the team wanting to compete for the postseason, 2019-20 will be predicated on getting a bunch of young players big minutes.

The Cavs have a new head coach in John Beilein with a good track record of turning programs around, such as in his last gig at Michigan, but Beilein as KJG contributors have referenced often, does not have any coaching experience at the NBA level, and not even in an assistant role (though he’s never actually been an assistant coach, anyhow, and has been a winner at all other levels).

After how they performed last season, it appears that Collin Sexton (second on Cleveland in scoring among qualified players with 16.7 points per game, per NBA.com) and Cedi Osman (a steady 13.0 points and 4.7 assists per game) project as key young pieces in the coming years for the Cavaliers.

Larry Nance Jr. also cemented himself as one of the team’s best contributors, too, as he had career-bests in points (9.4), rebounds (8.2), assists (3.2) and steals (1.5) in his largest workload of his tenure in the NBA to that point with 26.8 minutes per game (per Basketball Reference).

At this point, he projects as a likely starter now in the 2019-20 season, too, according to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, and with Nance’s playmaking ability (he led qualified players on Cleveland last year in assists per game, per NBA.com), and improved three-point shooting (33.7% from deep), his production I’d think could go up again.

Cleveland’s three 2019 NBA Draft selections in Darius Garland, Dylan Windler and Kevin Porter Jr. should have plenty of minutes-share in their rookie seasons, too, and I’d think they should all make their presence felt as factors in the Central Division as next year progresses.

Cleveland’s division has some very tough matchups for the young Cavs in the Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons, and a team that could be on the rise if they can put it together in the Chicago Bulls.

We’ll start with how the Cavaliers stack up against Chicago in 2019-20 first.