Predicting how the Cleveland Cavaliers will do against the Atlantic Division

How the Cavs stack up against the Knicks in 2019-20

The New York Knicks were able to finally land their free agent megastar in the summer of 2019! Okay I was just kidding, but the Knicks did reportedly land a key piece in Julius Randle, two sharpshooters in Wayne Ellington and Reggie Bullock and a player that could maybe be a nice rotational piece in Bobby Portis.

They also added Elfrid Payton and Marcus Morris as well via free agency. In total, though, the Knicks are set to be paying out $57 million (per Spotrac) on Randle, Morris, Portis and Gibson for the 2019-20 season. They are power forwards, so alright then?

Anyhow, when it comes to this matchup, the Cavaliers should fair pretty well I would think.

Though the Knicks have a good primary defensive matchup for Collin Sexton and Darius Garland in Frank Ntilikina, Cleveland should still be able to get production from those two off of ball-swings.

I’d think Sexton and Garland should find plenty of opportunity to take advantage of the likes Randle and Portis in switchouts, too, and Jordan Clarkson (if he’s on the roster) and Cedi Osman should have their opportunities with pull-ups in similar scenarios curling around Love, Nance, Thompson and John Henson (if the last two are on the Cavs) and Ante Zizic screens.

Cleveland’s spacing involving Windler, Love, Porter Matthew Dellavedova/Brandon Knight (if active) and maybe even two-way Dean Wade should lead to plenty of drive-and-kicks, and other than Mitchell Robinson (a ridiculous 10.0% block rate last year, per Basketball Reference), New York doesn’t have much as far as deterrance to drivers.

Plus, Robinson is prone to foul trouble (5.7 per-36 as a rookie), and I would think Love in the post and as an excellent ball fake man on spot-ups could warrant some whistles, which would give the Cavs even more free reign for movement and drives offensively.

Given that, the Cavaliers’ ball movement should be very good, and though Knicks rookie RJ Barrett has the tools to be a good defender on the wing I believe on the ball, off-ball he was prone to lapses at Duke, as is Dennis Smith Jr. and Allonzo Trier, and with that, the Cavs I could see taking advantage from less-than-stellar rotations to shooters by those players.

In addition, I’d think Zizic should have some chances for rotational post-up minutes, because he should be able to have his way on the low block against Portis and should have chances for short-roll mid-range looks against Randle, who primarily a dropper in the pick-and-roll.

On the defensive end, though the Knicks should be able to get some quality off-screen and spot-up shooting from Ellington, Morris, rookie Ignas Brazdeikis, Damyean Dotson and Bullock, other than Payton and Smith, who likely can’t play together due to both not having much shooting range, they don’t have much as far as primary playmaking for others.

Barrett has good vision for a youngster (he had 4.3 assists per game at Duke, per Sports Reference), but he’s definitely a player that will look to score when the ball is in his hands more often than make a play for others, and as a rookie wing, I’d think he’ll have a while before he is really all that comfortable creating consistently for his teammates.

Trier proved to be a solid isolation scorer for New York last season with 10.9 points in 22.8 minutes per game, but he’s as predictable as it gets. When he has the ball in his hands, he’s looking to shoot, and not much else.

Moreover, with the Knicks’ plethora of power forwards they shelled out big cash to, I’m not sure how they are going to maximize spacing. Randle shot a career high 34.4% from three-point land last season with the New Orleans Pelicans, but he’s not been a floor spacer in other years, and regression is realistic, and realistically, I’d think Nance should be able to sluff off him still, and overplay his dominant left hand on drives/take away short left hooks.

Randle is a good passer for a big and is more well-rounded than former Knick Enes Kanter in that way, but chemistry I’d think will take time for him to be used often in that realm, and can he and Mitchell Robinson really play much together?

Robinson is essentially only a lob threat at this point and spacing for Barrett, DSJ, potentially Kevin Knox and others would be little to none if Robinson and Randle were on the floor.

The Knicks’ perimeter players are anything but consistent from deep outside of Ellington and Bullock and how many minutes those veterans get is unclear, anyhow.

Predicting the Cavs’ record against New York in 2019-20: 3-1

New York had the league’s lowest effective field goal percentage in 2018-19 (of course, the Cavs had the second-lowest), and with their spacing not improving a whole lot with their roster construction and thinking of realistic lineups, I don’t see their offense being much more productive in 2019-20.

New York doesn’t have players outside of really Robinson and Ntilikina that project as plus defenders, either, and I’d think the Cavs should be able to find plenty of open three-point looks in these matchups. Cleveland should have more spacing in 2019-20, and I believe they go 3-1 against New York in 2019-20 and the young players gain more confidence.