In the next set of divisional breakdowns, we predict how the Cleveland Cavaliers will do against the Southwest Division in the 2019-20 season.
At this point, the NBA season is almost on the horizon, and for fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers, this season should be a fun one where hopefully a bunch of young talent gets valuable playing time.
The Cavs’ 2019-20 season begins on Oct. 23 at the Orlando Magic (and you can view Cleveland’s schedule here, per the team/NBA.com), and at least for now, the team has shown some good signs in their first two preseason games.
One of those was a win but only against Argentinean club San Lorenzo de Almagro (though they did win the Argentinean championship in their last season, as Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor noted), but the Cavaliers’ ball and man movement was encouraging in that one, as were two of the team’s three 2019 rookie draft picks in guard Darius Garland and wing Kevin Porter Jr.
Cleveland would play well in their second preseason game against the Detroit Pistons on Friday, even if that was not against Blake Griffin, who was inactive (it was a preseason game, anyhow), but overall, the Cavs did again, play well, and though they narrowly lost 109-105, Cleveland was leading the vast majority of the contest, and the offense flowed pretty nicely. Detroit’s 22 points off turnovers hurt Cleveland, though, along with the 58 points in the paint the Pistons had (both per ESPN).
As a side note, Garland, who again came of the bench in the second preseason game, twisted his ankle, but is reportedly just fine, per Fedor, and I wouldn’t think it’s really anything to worry about, considering he ended up coming right back in and playing. He had only two points in his second preseason game, but when he was in, played at a good pace I thought, got the ball swinging well (he had two assists), but couldn’t get it going as much.
He finished with two points in his 11 minutes, but also was a plus-13 when in there (per ESPN), somewhat indicating that when he’s on the floor, he makes others around him better with his vision, and with his deep shooting, he helps space the floor.
Anyway, this Cavaliers’ 2019-20 season is again, going to be primarily focused on getting players such as Garland, Porter, fellow rookie wing Dylan Windler (when he’s back from his reported left tibial stress reaction), and other young pieces such as guard Collin Sexton and wing Cedi Osman, meaningful minutes.
Hopefully Cleveland can have star big Kevin Love healthier this year, too, though; he only was active in 22 games in 2018-19, mostly due to reported toe surgery, and his presence should hopefully help the young players on the floor, and likely off it.
So, anyhow, we’ve previously broken down how the Cavaliers stack up against their own division in the Central, how they stack up against the Atlantic Division, the Southeast Division and most recently, the Northwest Division this season.
Next up in KJG’s divisional breakdowns for 2019-20?
The Southwest Division, which contains the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans and San Antonio Spurs.
So first up, we’ll examine how the Cavs stack up against the Mavericks.