Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 players that have something to prove next season

The Cleveland Cavaliers are rebuilding, so plenty of growing pains are to be expected. Even with that being the case, a few names come to mind that have something to prove next season.

At this point, we’re unsure if the 2019-20 NBA season will eventually resume, at least in some capacity, down the road. Currently, at this time of the league’s season suspension regarding the novel coronavirus pandemic, the Cleveland Cavaliers have a record of just 19-46, which is the second-worst in the Association.

On the plus side, the group did appear re-energized post-All-Star break leading into the COVID-19/social distancing-induced hiatus.

The Wine and Gold had a somewhat respectable post-All-Star break record of 5-6, and it was evident that the Cavs players were seemingly big fans of J.B. Bickerstaff taking the head coaching reigns.

In that stretch, Cleveland had been moving the ball very effectively, as they had the league’s sixth-best assist rate in those 11 contests, as noted by NBA.com, and it led to quality shots consistently. The Cavs were 10th in effective field goal shooting rate, and as you’re probably thinking, it was 11 games, what’s the big deal?

I’m with you on that, but the Cavs as a group were coming together.

It was also unfortunate for players such as Collin Sexton, who had 25.5 points and 4.2 assists per outing in that span, and while Darius Garland missing five games leading into the hiatus had something to do with that, Sexton and Matthew Dellavedova (5.5 assists per game post-All-Star) and other key pieces were in a good rhythm.

Again, it is uncertain whether or not we’ll see the Cavs and even other teams potentially down the road in a possible 2019-20 resumption.

What is certain, though, is that a few players on the Wine and Gold stand out, in particular, as having something to prove next season, whenever that ultimately begins.