It was surely a season of ups and downs for the Cleveland Cavaliers. At times, playoffs via the play-in tournament seemed like a surefire possibility, and at other times, the opposite.
One of the benefits of the season was the progression of some of the young guys. This season and all of the adversity faced will be valuable experience for players like Collin Sexton, Darius Garland and Isaac Okoro.
Another positive for Cleveland was the trade acquisition of big man Jarrett Allen. The 23-year-old immediately made an impact on the Cavs and became the full-time starter after the Andre Drummond experience ended in a buyout.
The Cavs also surpassed their previous two years’ win totals, with this season them having had three more wins in what amounted to five more opportunities.
Negatives from the season included the lost value in trading away young guard Kevin Porter Jr., who has shown star potential; albeit there were a number of reported off-floor incidents leading to that point. This feud as well as the drama with Drummond and Kevin Love became the storylines of the Cavaliers’ season, though.
The Cavs battled injuries all season, as well, and that didn’t help.
In the last week of the season, the Cavaliers played uninspiring basketball in basically every game. A win over the Boston Celtics was the highlight of the week in a game where Love had 30 points and 14 rebounds. Sexton poured in 28 points, too, although the Celtics were especially banged up themselves.
Some fans questioned Kevin Love’s performance in a game where most fans wanted a loss in an effort to tank for a chance at a better draft pick. But it was nice to see a vintage Love performance late into a disappointing season.
Other losses came against the Indiana Pacers, Washington Wizards and the Brooklyn Nets.
Cleveland battled injuries all week and was injury-riddled throughout each game involving available guys. This provided experience for young players like Brodric Thomas, Dean Wade and Mfiondu Kabengele.
With all of that being said, your Cavaliers Player of the Week is Anderson Varejao! Just kidding, of course.
For the Cavs Player of the Week for their last week ending out, I’m going with Isaac Okoro.
My decision was to go with the rookie, Okoro. This is a positive sign to see how well the rook progressed throughout the season. This honor is a nod from me to him for that.
Okoro, towards the end of the season, had become a more aggressive player on offense and improved his all-around game. He was a rock solid defender throughout the year and guarded the league’s best perimeter players every game.
This week, he scored a respectable 22 points against Indiana, and then 15, 17 and 18 points in those other three games this past week, surpassing his season average of 9.6 points per outing. He also had 25 total rebounds and 15 assists through the week’s games.
Okoro has been one of the best Cavaliers on the roster in the late stretch of the season and in the absence of Garland. To see his stellar progression in only the span of a shortened season is great to see.
Sexton and Garland both took big leaps in their sophomore seasons, and now the Cavs will hope that Ice does the same thing.