The Cleveland Cavaliers continue to impress this season. This new confident group stands at 9-5 on the young season. They have moved up to fourth in the NBA Eastern Conference standings and are certainly giving off the vibe that they are amid a run to make the playoffs for the first time in several years. The Cavs haven’t started this well in a season since their championship season of 2015-16 and the following year when they got to nine wins a bit sooner.
The new rookie sensation for the Wine and Gold, Evan Mobley is one of the main reasons for this new resurgence of the franchise and he has been as good as advertised and quite honestly I don’t think anyone would have predicted such a great start for the 20-year-old.
Other players for Cleveland, like Ricky Rubio and Jarrett Allen have stepped up big time this season, too. Rubio has been on fire this year averaging nearly 14 points and dishing out seven assists a game. Allen has been much more consistent too of late. He’s now averaging a double-double with 14 points a game and nearly 11 rebounds.
The Cavaliers played three games this past week and went 2-1. That should have been 3-0, if Cleveland’s head coach J.B. Bickerstaff hadn’t made a late-game substitution in the Washington Wizards game that the team lost. The Cavs recovered not only after that game against the Detroit Pistons, but they came back in the follow-up game, being down 19 points in the third quarter to storm back and win late over the Boston Celtics.
So with that, let’s dive into the details a bit more and give the Cavs players a grade for the week that was.
Evan Mobley Grade: A
On the year, Mobley is now up to a 15.6 points and 7.9 rebounds a game average. The kid just gets better with every game. His shot selection is so impressive. He’s hitting baseline jumpers from inside and outside. He has been backing his opponents down in the lane and then knocking down a nifty turnaround. He can take the ball off the dribble, cross over and finish at the rim with either hand as well. He never seems rushed with his shots either.
The defense he’s shown has continued to be stellar. His ability to alter shots near the rim is impressive. In the win against the Celtics he had a tremendous block on a transition attempt by the Jayson Tatum as well.
Jarrett Allen Grade: B+
Allen had a great week as well. He scored in double digits in all three games. His best production came in the game that the team lost where he had 13 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals. His minutes have been cut a bit this week as well, also. In the last two games the coaches have kept his minutes under thirty. He was pushing 38 minutes a few times this season and that seems to be tough on Allen.
Darius Garland Grade: A
In the big, lopsided win against the Pistons, Darius Garland went for 21 points with seven assists and was a plus-29 when he was on the floor. He too was very steady from the three-point line going four-for-nine on the evening.
Garland has been very consistent in almost all categories this year. His scoring average is approaching 17 points a game, and he scored above that this past week. He’s shooting more three-pointers as well and keeping his average north of 40 percent. His overall shooting percentage is climbing this season as well at 48.7 percent. And he has also been rock solid from the free throw line. In the big comeback win, he went six for six from the line to help the Cavs gain the victory.
Isaac Okoro Grade: C
Isaac Okoro is coming back from an injury so I’ll give him a bit of a break this week, but his production needs to be much better moving forward if he wants to stay a starter. His minutes shrunk as the week went on and I wonder how long he’ll stay in as the starter?
He had two games in the last three where he only scored two points. He did have a nine-point game in the win against the Pistons and also pulled down nine boards.
For the season, Okoro hasn’t had a double digit scoring game. As a starter you’d expect to see some better scoring from him but that hasn’t happened yet. Considering too that Okoro has gone off for 32 points in a career-best game in a contest against the Phoenix Suns last season, scoring two points isn’t enough now.
Dean Wade Grade: B
Considering Dean Wade has been the emergency substitute with the absence of both Kevin Love and Lauri Markkanen, he has stepped in and done very well. Wade’s a great defender and has really helped the Cavaliers get to this point this season. When he was taken out late in the loss to the Wizards, I believe that was the difference in the outcome of the game. The Cavs were up by six points at that moment and lost the lead after Wade went out of the game.
Wade has never, in his career, blown up the stat sheet but his contributions on defense is his claim to fame. It’s the little things this past week that keep bringing me back to why he’s so important to the team. He understands the ins and outs of the game. He had two great assists this past week in games that show his understanding of the offense too.
He hit Jarrett Allen twice with assists; one was a beautifully placed lob pass that Allen flushed home. He followed that up with a nifty bounce pass to Allen that he finished with a layup.
The Cavs Bench Grade: A
Another week and another A for the Cavalier group. The team is certainly getting great support from its world travelers.
Ricky Rubio was again solid and has taken over late in games and been the manager of the team. His sense of the game and knowing when to pass or take that step back three has been a delight to watch. He seems to really love playing the game this year. And as an older vet in the league, he seems to have found a new home in Cleveland, where the fans and city tend to gravitate to a good, hearty story and Rubio flips the bill this year.
His scoring average of 13.7 points is the highest in his 11-year career, to that point. His assists are near seven a game too. It’s really a resurgence for the Spaniard in Rubio.
Turkish-born Cedi Osman was terrific as well this last week as he seems to have really become a more reliable go-to for the team off the bench. He’s not overdoing it in the scoring department but still doing enough.
He had nine points in the win against the Celtics. That’s not a lot of points but all his points came in the fourth quarter when Cleveland was needing someone to step up. He had two steals and a block late in that game as well.
Plus, even when Osman’s not scoring he’s helped add a layer of confidence and grit to this team that seems to have been missing the last three years.