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.
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.
Takeaway No. 2: Evan Mobley made a huge difference
To begin with Evan Mobley, the Cavs rookie sensation, was robbed of the Rookie of the Year Award this season.
Mobley did far more for his team than Scottie Barnes of the Toronto Raptors did for his team. The turnaround that the Cavs had, was a much bigger shift than that of the Raptors, who yes had a good turnaround themselves but have been traditionally vying for championships at a more frequent clip than any Cavaliers teams of late.
Statistically, Mobley and Barnes were similar as I wrote about the ROY award recently, but the difference that Mobley made for the Cavs can’t be overlooked. Mobley’s defensive skills for a big man were outstanding. His presence to pop out to the top of the defense and fall back into the lane was unbelievably good.
Mobley finished the year with a 15-points game average and a little over eight rebounds a game. He scored in double figures in 57 of the 69 games he played. He had 22 games of double-digit rebounds as well. He also had 16 games of recording three blocks or more in a game. Not bad for a 20-year-old still learning the game. The upside to his game and his ability to lead this team to the playoffs is huge going forward.
The team was 40-29 with him in the lineup this season while they were 4-9 with him out of the lineup. The sample size isn’t even but you can see the difference. Hopefully, he can stay healthy next year.
Takeaway No. 3: Coach J. B. Bickerstaff has a lot to improve on
I’ll be the first to say I don’t believe the Cavs head coach is the right guy to lead this team to a championship. They may be able to get to the playoffs a year from now, but that will be more because of the talent that is out on the floor than because of Bickerstaff’s coaching genius.
I’ll give Bickerstaff his deserved credit on the improved season, but if it weren’t for some exceptional play by individuals throughout the season, like Darius Garland, Kevin Love, or Jarett Allen, this team would have likely had a sub .500 record in the end. There were far too many games when situations called for better use of the bench players or the rotation of players that kept me up late at night with nightmares.
I’ll begin and end with forward Dean Wade. Wade has played coming off the bench numerous times and has started many games this past season. The fact that Bickerstaff either ignored what was right in front of him on purpose or simply can’t appreciate what he actually has in a player regarding strengths and weaknesses and never quite figured that the entire season likely cost this team a playoff run.
Wade is one of the best defenders on the team. Anyone who sees anything different doesn’t recognize good basketball. I’ve always believed that defense wins championships. The fact that there were countless games where Wade was out of the game riding the bench for long stretches of games is inexcusable.
Now, some of you at this point will immediately go to the idea that Wade wasn’t a very good offensive weapon. Wade was a very accurate shooter and can score but he was reserved in being aggressive and that may have limited his minutes. But I also heard that Wade was instructed a time or two or three to stay out on the perimeter and not be more aggressive. If that strategy was the case, that was another example of not knowing your player’s basketball skill sets.
Not utilizing players, the right way or in key moments of games by Bickerstaff was all too apparent, even early on when the team was still learning to play together. The continuous excuse by some of the injuries that plagued the team wasn’t the reason the team lost games.
Basketball is a game of runs and streaks and putting out fires at key moments. This team improved over previous years but unless Bickerstaff can better utilize his players and understand in-game situations better than this, the team will not be much better a year from now.
Let’s hope my assessment on the head coach is wrong. Nonetheless, this team now has an offseason to get better and we can’t wait to cheer them on next season.