On Monday, it was media day for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and it’s even more clear that this team is going to be primarily focused on their rebuild in the 2019-20 season, which will mean plenty of losses, but also warrant an optimistic mindset about the near future.
On Monday, it was the 2019-20 addition of media day for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and unlike media day last year, it seems evident that the team is going to be primarily focused on their rebuild from the get-go.
Initially going into last season, when the Cavaliers and star big Kevin Love had reportedly agreed to a four-year, over $120.4 million contract extension (numbers per Spotrac) before in the offseason, and the Cavs still had head coach Tyronn Lue, the team seemed to have the intention of competing for a postseason berth in the Eastern Conference.
Unfortunately, though, Love would be sidelined for the vast majority of the 2018-19 season (only playing in 22 games, per NBA.com), mostly due to reported toe surgery, and Cleveland also only had the likes of big Tristan Thompson for 43 games mostly due to a reported foot injury, which didn’t help them from a competitive standpoint for much of the season.
Lue would eventually be fired after going 0-6 to start the year, and for much of the season with the team being banged up, it was about getting young pieces meaningful minutes, which didn’t make the game-to-game situation any easier for then-head coach (after Lue’s firing) Larry Drew, who I believe did a commendable job last season, though the team did only finish with a 19-63 record (per NBA.com).
Cleveland and Drew would reportedly mutually part ways after the season concluded, though.
At media day, the Cavaliers and new head coach John Beilein (who is 66) seemed eager to get this team moving in the right direction, and based on Beilein’s ability to get his teams turned around pretty quickly at the college ranks at places such as West Virginia and most recently, Michigan, it’s understandable that the Cavs are optimistic that their new head coach can ignite the team’s rebuild.
As KJG contributors have often noted, Cleveland’s three 2019 draft picks of guard Darius Garland and wings Dylan Windler and Kevin Porter Jr. would all appear to have meaningful roles as rookies for Beilein and the mostly-new coaching staff.
Playing off that, t’ll be fun to see how 20-year-old guard Collin Sexton and 24-year-old wing Cedi Osman progress in their development now under Beilein, too.
Sexton was second among qualified scorers on the Cleveland Cavaliers last season, as he had 16.7 points per game, which played into him earning Second-Team NBA All-Rookie honors, and Osman (13.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game, per Basketball Reference) appears to be a key piece moving forward, too.
That was echoed at media day, too.
So on to the first takeaway from media day ahead of the 2019-20 season for the Cleveland Cavaliers.