If you had said the Cleveland Cavaliers would have finished this past regular season at a record of 44-38, almost all of us would consider that a great improvement and a successful season after the three previous seasons of struggling to win 20 games. While it was a great success on many levels, this season left many of us wondering what could have been as the season came to a close.
The team added a few nice players into the mix this season, including rookie big man Evan Mobley and veteran pickup Lauri Markkanen via sign-and-trade, and they also picked up savvy veteran guard Ricky Rubio via trade. These players all contributed right away to help get the season off to a fast start.
The team also struggled with the injury bug and lost a couple of players along the way early and late in the season which affected the outcome of this season.
In addition, the Cavs gave their head coach J.B. Bickerstaff an extension this season, which is nice for him but has left some, like me, concerned that the decision to sign him to the long-term deal might have been premature because of some of his decision-making skills and lack of understanding player strengths and his discomfort with in-game situations.
In the end, the team succeeded and much of the “Land” discovered they had a new team to get excited about. If nothing else this team played hard every game and gave fans a lot to cheer about.
Let’s take a look at some of these promising takeaways and another takeaway that still has me scratching my head because of the decision-making of one head coach.