Predicting how the Cleveland Cavaliers will do against the Atlantic Division

How the Cavs stack up against the 76ers in 2019-20

The Philadelphia 76ers are loaded, and not surprisingly, should be able to have their way with the Cleveland Cavaliers in coming years.

The Sixers no longer have Jimmy Butler, who is now on the Miami Heat via reported sign-and-trade (as was initially reported by Wojnarowski) but did get a good two-way contributor in Josh Richardson from the Heat in a four-way deal ultimately involving the Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Clippers, too.

Along with that, the Sixers also now having Al Horford in the frontcourt at the 4/5 spots will make defending Joel Embiid even tougher for the Cavs and others. With Embiid’s post-up prowess, and the passing vision and feel of Horford likely playing together often for the Sixers, the combination of Love, Nance, Henson/Thompson and Zizic will have their hands full.

Horford (4.2 assists per game last year with the Boston Celtics) should help generate quality looks for the likes of Ben Simmons as a cutter, a player Cleveland likely doesn’t have a good matchup for with his strength and handle, and Horford could get plenty of open perimeter looks for Richardson, Tobias Harris, Mike Scott and even occasionally Zhaire Smith and rookie Matisse Thybulle.

Moreover, Philadelphia’s plethora of size across the board, really, will cause the Cavs to have to help on Simmons and Richardson (a better on-ball creator than the departed J.J. Redick) drives, and the three-level scoring ability of Harris, particularly when he’s playing the 3, I’d think is a terrible matchup for Osman and maybe Dylan Windler.

On the offensive end, penetration against Philly’s length could cause a rude awakening for the likes of Garland, Sexton, Osman, Matthew Dellavedova and/or Porter.

Throw in the switchability and IQ of Horford, who had 1.3 blocks per game last year and is a tremendous communicator off-ball, and Embiid, who was sixth in the league in blocks per game with 1.9, and the points in the paint will likely be at a minimum for Cleveland.

I’d think in feasilby the first three matchups against Philadelphia, we’ll see the Cavs often relying on late-clock plays from Jordan Clarkson, who led qualified players on Cleveland in scoring in 2018-19 with 16.8 points per game (per NBA.com).

Spacing, though, even for the reserves, shouldn’t be much for the Cavaliers.

Smith is a perimeter defender with a high ceiling that can sit and slide step-for-step, Thybulle has amazing play recognition skills, as evidenced by him having 3.5 steals and an insane 2.3 blocks per game last season at Washington (per Sports Reference) and that’s not simply because he was playing as a zone defender, and with the all-around defensive coverage ability of Simmons, I’m not sure where the penetration for spot-ups for Windler and Love comes from.

Predicting the Cavs’ record against Philadelphia in 2019-20: 0-4

The Sixers will have matchup advantages all over the floor against the Cavaliers, and I just don’t see these games being competitive, unless Philly has a bunch of injuries or sits players, which I don’t see happening with many with all the games taking place before March.

Plus, though he’s not Jimmy Butler on the wing, Josh Richardson is a good defender in his own right with sound technique and active hands that will likely give Cleveland problems, and he had 16.6 points and 4.1 assists for the Heat in 2018-19, and is a nice mid-range option and has a career three-point shooting clip of 36.8% on 4.4 attempts per game (per Basketball Reference).

Beilein and the Cavaliers have a rough go of it against legitimate title contenders in Philly in 2019-20, and go 0-4.