Predicting how the Cleveland Cavaliers will do against the Atlantic Division

The Cleveland Cavaliers will have their work cut out for them in general in 2019-20, and for the most part, there will be of the same with that against the Atlantic Division.

As KJG contributors have mentioned for quite some time, the Cleveland Cavaliers will be primarily focused on their full-rebuild in coming seasons.

In the 2019-20 season, again, as we’ve hit on, the end results of games won’t have a ton of meaning with the team likely years away from really competing for an Eastern Conference postseason berth.

Playing off that, they’ll want to make sure they preserve their top-10 protected first-rounder in the 2020 NBA Draft, and to be clear, they shouldn’t have any issue doing so.

It’s a plus, at least I would think at this point, that new Cavaliers head coach John Beilein and the mostly-new coaching staff that the team’s best player, Kevin Love, seems to be ready to go to return as being the number one option in the coming season.

Love was only active in 22 games in 2018-19 (per Basketball Reference), with reported toe surgery being the main culprit of his extended absence, and his presence as an inside-out big would help the progression of likely key young pieces Collin Sexton and Cedi Osman, and the team’s 2019 rookie draft class of Darius Garland, Dylan Windler and Kevin Porter Jr. 

So at this point, we’ve broken down how the Cavaliers will likely stack up against their division, the Central, which has the Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks.

Next up in KJG’s predictions for the Cavs against each NBA division in 2019-20?

The Atlantic, which has the Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors.

For the record, you can view the 2019-20 schedule here, per the Cleveland Cavaliers/the NBA.

The Celtics.