It’s been a bumpy ride for the Cleveland Cavaliers so far in this 2019-20 season, but three key positive takeaways have jumped out, even with that being the case.
This season for the Cleveland Cavaliers has been rocky and drama-filled, to say for the most part. After last season’s injury-riddled and forgettable season, fans came into this year with an open mind. In this past offseason, the Cavaliers made little moves as they were strapped with cap space but, they added an intriguing prospect in Darius Garland and were able to keep their core intact.
Then, they made an interesting move when they signed a 66-year-old coach in John Beilein to be their coach for the next few years, at the least. He was reportedly thought of to be a “culture-driver” for the team’s rebuild, as our own Dan Gilinsky touched on.
Fast forward to the season and the Cavs would get off to a 4-5 start that surprised many, many people. This start gave fans a sliver of hope but, this hope was short-lived. The Cavaliers that we know would come crashing down and with it came unneeded drama. First, it started with players becoming “unhappy” with Beilein’s questionable coaching methods, per a December report by The Athletic‘s Joe Vardon and Shams Charania, who is also of Stadium (and the piece was subscription required).
Then, the dilemma with Kevin Love came as he would voice/show his frustrations with the team both on and off the court, according to Vardon and Charania (subscription required). Following this, Beilein would reference his players as “thugs” in a film session in January, as ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported, and later stated that he meant to say “slugs,” referencing their sluggish, or slow-paced, play.
Not too long after, Wojnarowski reported that Beilein stepped down as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers before the All-Star break concluded, as Gilinsky hit on, and thus the Beilein era would end just as it was getting started.
Despite this, in a season filled with despair, came a lot to be optimistic about. Here, I will look at and discuss three positive takeaways from this season so far, which is may or may not play out, at least in some capacity, down the road. The season is still on a novel coronavirus-induced hiatus.
Collin Sexton is turning into a star right before our eyes
For the post-Big Three era, in reference to previously LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love together, the biggest goal for the Cavaliers has been finding a player that could both lead this franchise and help to fill seats.
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Only two years removed from LeBron’s departure after his second stint with Cleveland, and we may have that guy in Collin Sexton. Sexton’s start to his career was a rocky one, to say for the most part, though.
Sexton hasn’t shown great playmaking abilities and in his rookie season, a report came out from Vardon (subscription required) that veterans on the team at the time and/or there were members of the organization then that thought Sexton “doesn’t know how to play.”
After George Hill was traded last season, Sexton was given full reigns to a starting guard position and took full advantage of it.
Sexton became just the third player in NBA history, after Larry Bird and Stephen Curry, to average at least 16 points per game on at least 40.0 percent shooting from three-point land and 80.0 percent from the free-throw line as a rookie, according to Basketball Reference.
The craziest part about him is that there seems to be another level that he can get to and we may have caught a glimpse of it during the Cavs’ post-All-Star break run. After an up-and-down start to the season for Sexton, he seemed to put it all together after the New Year.
Since January 1, Sexton has been averaging 23.6 points and 3.6 assists per game on 49.2 percent from the field, 44.9 percent from three-point land and 86.8 percent from the free-throw line, according to Basketball Reference. Clearly, Sexton has taken it up a notch in most of the time after Jordan Clarkson was traded to the Utah Jazz in late December, it seems.
Sexton’s play has taken an even higher leap since the promotion of J.B. Bickerstaff to head coach, as in the last 11 games, he has been averaging 25.5 points and 4.2 assists per game on 52.8 percent from the field and 43.1 percent from the three-point line. Could Garland missing five games leading into the season’s hiatus because of a left groin strain have played into that some?
Sure, but with Sexton’s legendary work ethic, the sky is the limit for the Young Bull. At just 21 years old, Sexton has shown the ability to drop 20 points a game with ease and his impact should help the Cavs for many years to come.
Kevin Porter Jr. has made quite a showing for himself
Kevin Porter Jr. has quickly become a fan favorite and his play has made a forgettable season enjoyable. Towards the end of the first round of the 2019 NBA Draft, the Cavaliers made a big move. They traded four second-round picks along with five million dollars in cash to the Detroit Pistons, who had previously made a trade with the Milwaukee Bucks for that 30th overall selection before the draft, for the rights to Porter Jr.
Everyone, including his fellow draftees, viewed him as the steal of the draft in the annual NBA rookie survey, as was tied with the Denver Nuggets’ Bol Bol, per NBA.com’s John Schuhmann, and so far, it is looking like it.
Similarly to Sexton, Kevin Porter Jr., or KPJ for short, improved his play after the New Year and it was from then on where we saw his best games. KPJ’s first big stretch of games came during the end of January and went into early February. In a seven-game stretch from January 28 to February 12, KPJ averaged 16.1 points per game on 51.9 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from the three-point line, per Basketball Reference.
His next big stretch came on February 24 and went until March 2nd. During this five-game stretch, he averaged 16.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.4 steals per game, again as was indicated by Basketball Reference.
This span included the best game of his young career, scoring 30 points, grabbing eight rebounds and notching three steals in a comeback win against the Miami Heat, of which our own Corey Casey provided further detail.
Another game to highlight during this stretch was the game against the Philadelphia 76ers. In this game, KPJ only scored five points but grabbed five rebounds and dished out six assists, the second-most he has dished out in a game.
All in all, throughout his rookie season, KPJ has shown off his spectacular leaping abilities and a scoring ability that the Cavs will need. He is oozing with potential but, like many others on the team, KPJ still has things to work out and improve on. The future is bright for the rookie and he should be a vital part of the Cavaliers’ success in the future.
The Cleveland Cavaliers’ post-All-Star break stretch
This past offseason, the Cavaliers made a bold move of signing Beilein to be their head coach. The thing with this move was that Beilein would become the oldest first-time non-interim head coach in the league’s history, per Dan Feldman of NBC Sports’ Pro Basketball Talk. This move wouldn’t last long and Beilein would step down as head coach during the All-Star break, as was mentioned.
Enter Bickerstaff. Bickerstaff would be named head coach and the Cavaliers would play much better under him. In the 11 games that he has been head coach, the Cavs went 5-6 with impressive wins over the Denver Nuggets, Miami Heat and the 76ers.
The Heat did not have Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro, and the Sixers were sans Ben Simmons and mostly without Joel Embiid, but those and the Denver game still stood out as surprising victories, and the Cavs controlled the Philly game nearly the whole way.
Over this stretch, the Cavs have also seen massive improvements to their offense. During this stretch, the Cavs have been averaging 110.6 points per game, a near four-point improvement from their overall average. Also, during this stretch, they have shot 48.1 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from deep, good for fifth and 13th-best around the league, respectively.
The offensive improvements don’t stop there as they also rank seventh in assists with 26.6 per game and ninth in offensive rebounding with 10.7 per game, and were hitting their stride leading up the season’s hiatus.
Now, this is a small sample size and should be taken with a grain of salt but, it seems as if the Cavs may have found something in Bickerstaff. With an entire offseason in front of them, the Cavaliers could address some needs in the draft and in free agency. Although free agency they won’t be making splashes but might look into something with maybe the mid-level exception, which could be potentially of the $9 million variety, according to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.
Bickerstaff’s creativity, as evidenced by even using Larry Nance Jr. some at the 3, could make for some fun/intriguing lineups and hopefully this leads to more wins next season. All in all, despite the craziness caused in this season, the Cavs have come away with some bright spots.
If they can make the right moves for the future, it could be looking up very soon for the Wine and Gold.