Predicting how the Cavaliers will do against the Northwest Division

How the Cavs stack up against Portland in 2019-20

The Trail Blazers are a team that has arguably the best backcourt tandem in the NBA, of course, CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard are going to be a handful to guard for the Cavaliers.

The Blazers have a different look going into the 2019-20 season, given that they decided to trade for former Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside, in what was a four-team deal involving the Miami Heat, where Miami engaged in a sign-and-trade with the Philadelphia 76ers for Jimmy Butler, and in that deal from a Portland perspective, they dealt away forwards Maurice Harkless (to the Los Angeles Clippers) and Meyers Leonard (to the Heat), as was initially reported by Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe (also of ESPN).

I would think that though Whiteside is fairly limited on the offensive end, he’ll still a good lob threat, and as he’s always been able to do, he should find plenty of putbacks after penetration from Lillard, McCollum, offseason re-signing Rodney Hood, and I’d imagine Anfernee Simons on occasion opening up offensive rebound opportunities.

Portland bruising big Jusuf Nurkic suffered compound fractures in his left leg toward the end of last season, and at media day (per The Oregonian‘s Joe Freeman), Blazers general manager Neil Olshey noted how Portland will be “purposefully vague,” in regards to how Nurkic is coming along (h/t CBS Sports’ Alex Rikleen), and per Rikleen, that likely means around the All-Star break. So Nurkic not on the floor in the Cavs’ first meeting against the Blazers in late November helps Cleveland’s frontcourt.

Nurkic, while not quite the rim protector Whiteside is, would be more of a handful because he’s a better post scorer, and is a quality secondary playmaker, as evidenced by his 3.2 assists per game last season, so the key will be containing the Lillard-McCollum duo, which is a near impossible task for the likes of Sexton and Garland, and really is a matchup Cleveland is going to lose on the defensive end, anyhow.

Throw in Portland reported trade addition Kent Bazemore, (formerly of the Atlanta Hawks) who is much more of a floor spacing threat (a respectable 35.2% career three-point clip, per Basketball Reference) than the wing Portland dealt away for him in Evan Turner, per Wojnarowski, and Hood, who is a formidable scorer at all three levels, along with Simons, who should get more run in the backcourt this year, and Cleveland will have few answers defensively, in my opinion, even without Nurkic.

4/5 Zach Collins has shown some pick-and-pop prowess, though he hasn’t been consistent yet, but he’s more than capable, and he’s a lob threat as well, which could present problems for the likes of Kevin Love, John Henson or Ante Zizic in stretches. Along with that, veteran frontcourt pickup Paul Gasol could be a player that might do a splash of damage as a roller and in the mid-range, too.

On the offensive end, the Cavs will likely be reliant on the backcourt of Sexton and Garland to carry the load, and they’ll have their chances against suspect on-ball defenders in Lillard and McCollum, but rim protection behind them won’t make it simple to be efficient.

Also, the Cavs will likely need heavy contributions from Dellavedova in terms of playmaking for others, too.

Hopefully Cedi Osman and Kevin Love can get some quality looks from ball-swings, and Porter and Windler can take advantage of Portland rookie Nassir Little off the ball, as though Little projects to have the makings of a potential lockdown on-ball defender, he was prone to off-ball defensive lapses at North Carolina, and the Cavs should be able to capitalize on that with crisp screens.

I’d think the best hope for Cleveland on the offensive end against Portland, which was 16th in defensive rating last season (per NBA.com), for reference, is getting Whiteside, and later on in the second matchup in April Nurkic, in foul trouble early on.

That would make Collins, who though he is a good young shot blocker (a healthy block rate of 3.9% last year), has a ways to go as far as post defense, and if he’s the primary 5 on the floor, Cleveland could target him there, where Collins himself has struggled with hunting blocks and accumulating fouls too often (4.6 for his two-year career per-36, per Basketball Reference).

Predicting how the Cavs will do against Portland in 2019-20: 0-2

The Blazers will probably be a bit more limited without Nurkic for a while, but they still have the makings of a formidable postseason team out West anyway, and made it to the Western Conference Finals last season.

The Cavs, especially, will have no answers for the Blazers’ star-studded backcourt duo, and I’d think the attention those two will draw will generate so many other easy looks.

I wouldn’t expect either of these contests to be four-quarter games.