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.
4 Cavs that surprised in 2021-22 – #1: Darius Garland
I don’t have anyone as necessarily the most surprising, flatout that is, for the Cavs from this season. The team was better than seemingly anybody would’ve anticipated thinking back to before the season, but first, I’ll mention Darius Garland, who was outstanding.
After an underwhelming rookie season, although it was after he was only able to play five games in college at Vanderbilt, Garland had a bounce-back Year 2. Then he had 17.4 points and 6.1 assists per outing, and leading into this season, many were optimistic he could take a third-year leap.
The leap definitely came, but I’m not sure people anticipated he’d have an All-Star season, and would play like one of the league’s best point guards, realistically that soon. That’s what occurred, as Garland repped the host team Cavs in his first All-Star Game, along with Jarrett Allen, and on the season, Garland had 21.7 points and 8.6 assists per contest.
He truly put it all together this season for the Wine and Gold, and while the team had its share of inconsistencies post-All-Star break, especially, Garland, along with Lauri Markkanen/Evan Mobley and say, Lamar Stevens, was a key bright spot.
Regardless of circumstances, Garland in post-All-Star play had 24.8 points and 10.0 assists per outing. And in the month of March, broke the Cavs record for point-assist double-doubles with 11, as pointed out by Cavs Notes.
Now, again, the season didn’t end how the team would’ve wanted, nor Cavaliers fans, and Garland had a rough shooting performance going 9-of-27 in the loss to the Hawks in the play-in last week. He was instrumental in the Cavaliers navigating their way back in the contest at the Nets in the play-in loss earlier in the past week, though, as he had 34 points on 13-of-24 shooting, and I do believe there’s still plenty to take from those experiences for Garland and other Cavs.
Anyhow, to me, even with there being plenty of hype surrounding Garland coming into his third season, I can’t say anybody would’ve outright predicted this sort of leap from him. Predicting outright he’d be an All-Star would’ve been tough to say.
Based on how he played this go-round, however, I could foresee this season being the first of many All-Star appearances for DG, conversely. His range, handle, playmaking abilities and vision were big-time this year, and he also took legit strides defensively, and his driving production and finishing took a big step forward, too.
The 22-year-old is a special player, and is the engine of this team’s offense looking onward.
4 Cavs that surprised in 2021-22 – #2: Kevin Love
The second Cavs player that comes to mind as far as surprises was Kevin Love. I’d imagine that’s the case for most, if not all, Cavaliers fans, and this isn’t necessarily ranking by biggest surprise first, for context.
Anyway, it wasn’t simple to have clear expectations with Love before the season started. It seemed that he would be moving to a bench role, based on rumors/what was reportedly likely to happen coming into the year, but with a minutes-share reduction, would Love be bought-in fully, and would he make a considerable impact there?
Those were fair questions to ask. I was optimistic that it could lead to him being efficient and potentially a crucial bench spark; I just couldn’t say that for certain. That’s with other guys involved, and with how Love had struggled with injury the year prior, as he was only active in 25 games in 2020-21.
Fortunately for Love and the Wine and Gold, he was seemingly fully bought-in pretty early on, and all things considered, Love was excellent in a shift to a bench role. He had 13.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per contest this season, in only 22.5 minutes per game, and he knocked in 39.2 percent of his three-point attempts, of which were 6.4 per outing.
Love’s play off the bench consistently gave the Cavaliers a spark when he was brought in, as he was often a go-to catch-and-shoot target, and saw him have a resurgent season as a finisher, and he was still able to take advantage at times in the mid-post. That was with cross-matching, too, and Love’s passing was a bonus in his bench minutes on a number of occasions.
His defensive rebounding again helped as well, and for much of the season, I thought Love’s defensive effort gave the team a lift. That wasn’t the case all the time, but his team defense was much better in recent years past, and him being tied for first in the NBA in charges drawn with 26, per NBA.com’s hustle data, was something else, truly.
All in all, while he’s getting up there, if Love can remain mostly healthy, maybe he could excel again in this bench role for feasibly next season, and perhaps on a relatively team-friendly deal for another season or two, even. He was a finalist for the Sixth Man of the Year this season, and his impact this season in a shift to a bench role was a pleasant surprise.
4 Cavs that surprised in 2021-22 – #3: Jarrett Allen
Regarding other Cavs that surprised this season, I have to then go with Jarrett Allen, first, and then I’ll highlight Lamar Stevens, with the two to me being combined as the third Cav that comes to mind, if you will.
With Allen, last offseason, many seemingly were giving the Cavaliers their share of flack for giving Allen a five-year, $100 million new contract, with others involved at the big spots and with the team recently drafting Evan Mobley. I did get that still, as Allen is not a stretch big, and is not an offensive hub, so-to-speak.
But he was undoubtedly a player that looked to be a crucial piece for the team moving forward, and after they acquired him via trade early on last season, he was among the club’s best players. Additionally, he proved this season to be more than worthy of his new deal, and is one of the teams’ leaders and most important players.
Allen and Mobley were outstanding for Cleveland this season, and in the majority of the time when they were both healthy, the Cavs had one of the league’s best defenses. When Allen went out in March up until the Atlanta play-in game, he was badly missed on both ends, for what it’s worth.
This season, overall, also factoring in his growth offensively, and as a post player, he had a career season, and again, made his first All-Star appearance. He had career-highs in points (16.1) and rebounds (10.8) per game, and was second among qualified players in field goal percentage at 67.7 percent.
He was a big reason, in tandem with Mobley, as to why the Cavaliers conceded the lowest field goal percentage to opponents in the restricted area this season at 60.5 percent, too, per NBA.com’s shot tracking data.
Needless to say, while Allen looked to be a quality young piece, his offensive growth and production uptick was a pleasant surprise, and he even showed some switchability progression on defense this year, and leaned into more of a leadership role. I can’t say I saw this from Allen before the season.
4 Cavs that surprised in 2021-22 – #4: Lamar Stevens
Last but not, least, I have to shoutout Lamar Stevens.
Stevens was not a rotational regular all of the time for the Cavaliers, with others involved, such as Isaac Okoro, Cedi Osman, Lauri Markkanen and Dean Wade, among others, but Stevens often made his presence felt when he was.
I’m not going to say there was a sizeable leap for him in terms of production, but he did have 6.1 points per contest, and his minutes per game went from 12.5 in his rookie year, when he was initially a two-way player, to 16.1 this season.
Whether or not it was due to injuries at times to Isaac Okoro or Dean Wade, for instance, Stevens did still have 13 starts as well, and had 63 appearances, as opposed to 40 with Cleveland in Year 1, shortened season or not.
There still are some warts with Stevens, who was previously again a two-way player, however, he showed the ability to defend multiple positions at a more than respectable level this season, and on offense, his cutting and off-ball feel improved.
He also demonstrated on a number of occasions that at times, he can create his own offense from drives, where he is a gifted finisher at the rim, and he flashed some of the mid-range play he displayed in four seasons at Penn State.
I can’t say definitively if Stevens will be back next season, but he assuredly made his case in Year 2 to be. He’s on a team-friendly deal for next season and the year following, albeit with those being non-guaranteed.
The 6-foot-6, 230-pound forward turns 25 in July, though, and with what Stevens was able to do with more opportunities this season, I’m bullish on him moving forward, and I’d imagine there’s a good possibility he could be back.