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3 takeaways from the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 2021-22 season

By John Suchan

Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen of Team Cavs celebrate during the Taco Bell Skills Challenge. (Photo by Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports)
Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen of Team Cavs celebrate during the Taco Bell Skills Challenge. (Photo by Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports) /
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Darius Garland (left) and Jarrett Allen of Team LeBron interact with the Cleveland Cavaliers mascot during the 2022 NBA All-Star Game. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images) /

Takeaway No. 1: Cavs are a good team

Before the season, no one was giving the Cavs any type of chance. However, they drafted a young stud in Evan Mobley to play alongside Jarrett Allen. The team also went out and got Lauri Markkanen, the big man from the Chicago Bulls, that can shoot a deadly three-pointer. The unorthodox lineup of three bigs and two perimeter guys gave many opposing teams fits when they’d try and guard the lineup or when they were trying to score on them.

The Cavaliers also started with the two guards Collin Sexton and Darius Garland. When Sexton went down with a season-ending injury very early in the season there were concerns about how the team would respond with Garland taking the lead. We quickly figured out that Garland was an All-Star and he helped guide the team forward.

It obviously helped to have veteran guard Ricky Rubio mentoring the young Garland and teaching him some extra tricks of the trade.

The Cavs bench initially evolved and helped the squad too as players like Kevin Love, Cedi Osman and Dean Wade made the second unit just as tough in those middle portions of games.

In the end, the team got close to a playoff spot but couldn’t get over the hump this season. After storming out and getting as high as the third seed in the Eastern Conference standings even, the team struggled horribly down the stretch.

Injuries plagued this team, but it shouldn’t have resulted in such a nosedive in the latter part of the season. They had two additional play-in games to reach the playoffs and still couldn’t get it done.

Lots of learning hopefully will come from the experience and we won’t be talking about the team not making the playoffs. All in all, though, this season will be remembered as a new team learning to win and hopefully, it’s the beginning of a long stretch of seasons with the Cavaliers vying for a championship.