Cleveland Cavaliers: Three takeaways from the preseason

The Cavs are a work in progress

It’s not exactly breaking news that the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to have their struggles in the 2019-20 season.

They’ll be playing so many young players big minutes, and with Beilein and the team likely having to play a bunch of different lineups, the Cavs are clearly going to take a while to figure things out on both ends of the floor, and are a work in progress.

Cleveland had foul trouble in the preseason, and even with the Celtics massively short-handed in the last preseason game, Cleveland was particularly handsy on the defensive end, and as play-by-play announcer Austin Carr alluded to on Tuesday, it’s difficult for young players, such as Porter, to minimize fouls and be disciplined in their on-ball defense.

In addition, the Cavaliers, who conceded 26 points in the third quarter and eight three-pointers alone to Boston rookie guard Carsen Edwards, who finished with 30 points on Tuesday (per ESPN), had breakdowns off-ball on the defensive end often throughout games, and Garland and Sexton did especially during Edwards’ tear, as Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor emphasized, and though part of that is the preseason rust for the team in general, that sort of thing could very well carry over into the regular season, too.

It also probably will, considering that Cleveland is going to concede penetration and have players likely ball-watching a sizable amount of the time in response to needing to help.

The Cavs had the league’s worst defensive rating last season, and with jumbling of lineups and not having plus defenders on the perimeter (at least in large part), and again, with likely plenty of youth on the floor, the defensive end is not going to be their strength.

Given that, it’d make sense for 24-year-old training camp invitee Sindarius Thornwell, who was sound on that end the vast majority of the time and did quality work with the L.A. Clippers defensively in his two-year stint with them, to be a lead candidate for the team’s 14th roster spot, or just as was mentioned involving Bolden, be one of the other two-way players at the outset of the season.

That won’t be the case, though, for Thornwell, as general manager Koby Altman announced, per a Cavs press release, that Cleveland released Thornwell, along with camp roster wings in Hamilton, J.P. Macura and Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot on Tuesday night, and the aforementioned Fedor also noted that on Saturday, it’s the “last day to release a player and not incur a per-day cap hit.”

For reference, Fedor, who hit on how Cleveland has released neither Martin nor Bolden, though they aren’t on the Cavs at this time, either, also touched on Cleveland will look around to see who becomes available from players being released for potential two-way/end of roster roles, and lastly, Fedor noted how given that Macura and Hamilton had “Exhibit 10 clauses in their camp deals,” the Cavs are hopeful that those two will join Cleveland’s G League affiliate, the Canton Charge, this year.

Anyway, on the offensive end, it is encouraging to have seen the Cleveland Cavaliers, for the most part, make a conscious effort to move the ball in preseason, as that clearly is the primary focus with Beilein’s offense, and hopefully their work in practice is fostering the right habits, because when the Cavaliers got stagnant in the four-game preseason slate, it didn’t bode well and led to really inefficient looks.

The Cavs offensively had way too many turnovers in preseason, and again, youth, along with a new system and a lack of continuity, played right into that, but maximum effort at all times can help alleviate some issues, Love thinks, per Basketball Insiders’ Spencer Davies.

It was a major plus to see Cleveland often trying to make the extra pass, though, as that will pay dividends for them right away and lead to more open looks from the perimeter and/or near the rim.

Going into the season, does that necessarily mean Jarell Martin three-point shots?

Well let’s just say, I’d hope not.

He didn’t help his case for being a stretch big on the team via potential two-way or a roster spot, as Martin shot just 18.8% on 4.0 three-point attempts in 19.0 minutes per outing in four games (per NBA.com).

That was far from ideal from his standpoint.

At any rate, these are the three biggest takeaways for me from the preseason for the Cavs. Now let’s get the real season under way already.