It was difficult to see the Cleveland Cavaliers stumble toward the finish line of the regular season, as they went just 9-15 after the All-Star break. That was disappointing to see, as the team was 35-23 before the All-Star break, which had them in fourth in the Eastern Conference at the time.
But injuries did admittedly put some of a damper on the close to the season for the Cavaliers, such as those involving Jarrett Allen, Dean Wade, and Caris LeVert’s prior to that didn’t allow him to get into a consistent rhythm with the team after the break.
It wasn’t all on injuries, in fairness; those just throughout the season, in general, let to inconsistencies for the team in last two-and-a-half months. The squad is still a young team, too, and Cleveland’s inexperience showed in their two play-in losses to the Brooklyn Nets and Atlanta Hawks last week, which ended up being their last two contests of this season.
Even still, it was a very encouraging season for the Wine and Gold, as they improved their win total by 22 from last season to get to 44 wins, and as KJG’s Quinn Minnich detailed, the team had three players finish as finalists for NBA season awards. That was nothing to sneeze at for this club, as they turned a corner, and look to be well on their way to being an Eastern Conference contender in coming years.
With that, let’s touch on some Cavaliers players that surprised us this season.
Four Cavs players really jump out to me, in that category.
We’ll get into the biggest surprise for the Cavaliers next then.