Predicting how the Cavaliers will do against the Southeast Division

In the next set of divisional breakdowns, we predict how the Cleveland Cavaliers will do against the Southeast Division in 2019-20.

At this point, fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers seem to be well aware that the team is going to be primarily focused on their full-rebuild.

We’ve harped on that here at KJG, and though it will not mean the Cavaliers will be postseason contenders for multiple seasons I believe, there’s still plenty of reason to tune into games in the 2019-20 season and in coming years.

The Cavs have a mostly-new coaching staff this season, and that’ll be led by new head coach John Beilein, who should have plenty of pieces offensively to deploy this year.

Yes, Cleveland had a rough season in terms of wins and losses in 2018-19, where they finished just 19-63, and were tied for the NBA’s second-worst record with the Phoenix Suns (per NBA.com).

Again, as has been stressed by KJG contributors, guard Collin Sexton and wing Cedi Osman emerged as two key young players for the Cavaliers last year, though, and with Cleveland hopefully having star big Kevin Love healthier in 2019-20, I’d think that should also help Sexton and Osman further progress in their development.

What should be the big plus for Beilein next year is that Cleveland’s three 2019 draft picks all project to be meaningful contributors and can feasibly create offense for themselves and others.

Guard Darius Garland, and the two wing selections in Dylan Windler and Kevin Porter Jr. (acquired via reported trade with the Detroit Pistons, via the Milwaukee Bucks as has been hit on), can all space the floor, as all shot at least 41.2% from three-point range in collegiate play last season (per Sports Reference), and that should only help other Cleveland pieces.

For now, for the record, Windler could miss significant time, though, with him reportedly feeling lower leg discomfort in a team workout, which could mean him missing likely a big portion of training camp and feasibly into the preseason, as he’ll miss potentially four to six weeks, the team announced on Friday, which could mean missing regular season time.

That has to be a big bummer for Cavs fans.

Hopefully it’s nothing too serious for the rookie, though.

So, anyhow, who is next up in the KJG divisional predictions breakdown?

The Southeast Division, which consists of the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic and Washington Wizards.

First up, we’ll examine how Cleveland matches up with the Hawks, and for reference, here is the 2019-20 schedule for the Cavs, per the team/NBA.com.