The Cavs should be more potent in transition in 2022-23

Last season, the Cleveland Cavaliers had a resurgent year and looking onward, appear to be a club that is driven by their defense.

Cleveland tailed off post-All-Star break last season, somewhat because of inconsistencies with them not having been there before, some due to injury and some with guys not being on the same page then.

Taking everything into account, though, the Cavaliers had a much better season than we could’ve foreseen. There’s plenty to look forward to in the upcoming 2022-23 campaign, too.

Granted, the Cavaliers are again more so a defensive-oriented squad at their core, but next year, they have the makings of a more dangerous offensive club.

The Wine and Gold traded Collin Sexton (via sign-and-trade), Lauri Markkanen and Ochai Agbaji to the Utah Jazz, among other future assets, in the Donovan Mitchell deal early this month. Mitchell himself is a hell of a player, either way, and him and Darius Garland should be a dangerous duo for opposing defenses to try to contain, and their skill sets should help open up others.

The likes of Evan Mobley, who seems due for a second-year leap, to go with Kevin Love and Caris LeVert should make their presences felt a bunch as well throughout games.

But one area I do think the Cavaliers could be better-suited, in terms of having more options in said circumstances even more so, is the transition game. Cleveland was pretty solid there last season, although at times, particularly when they were fairly injury-riddled, the opportunities were not there or weren’t as fruitful quite as much.

The Cavs should be more potent in transition in the 2022-23 campaign.

For clarification, the Cavaliers did a nice job in capitalizing on their transition opportunities last year.

Now, Cleveland is not generally going to be as much of a free-wheeling team in terms of pace, as evidenced by them ranking 25th in pace last year. That being said, I could see some them look to push some more this coming season, with Mitchell in the fold, and at least when it comes to situations in spurts with LeVert and/or Lamar Stevens actually, given the driving abilities of both.

Granted, I’m not suggesting the Cavs want Garland and/or LeVert, for example, pushing unnecessarily, and both can be prone to getting caught with tunnel vision in those scenarios, but both can make plays in secondary break situations.

Those can be fruitful for LeVert, albeit with some shot inconsistencies in an overall sense. And as for the prize offseason trade acquisition, Mitchell’s three-level scoring, of which he’s displayed in the playoffs, too, in those scenarios should give the Cavaliers a different dynamic.

From there beyond those guys as key drivers for the Wine and Gold in transition plays, and with Isaac Okoro factoring in somewhat, Garland’s deep range and overall shooting, to go with his playmaking, always make him dangerous, too.

We saw him take further strides last season with his transition decision-making as well, and Ricky Rubio probably helped him with his timing in hitting hit-ahead looks to cutters and then with skip feeds to Lauri Markkanen, whose transition shooting is underrated. Not having Markkanen’s shooting presence will hurt a bit, but if he’s around, Cedi Osman could benefit from those passes in stretches, if the chances arise, and as a trailer for bench stretches, Kevin Love should have some of those quality looks.

Overall, Cleveland was solid in their converting on their transition chances, whether it was from their defensive playmaking, defensive rebounds and/or heady odd-man plays. The Cavs placed in the 93rd percentile in transition scoring last season, per Synergy Sports.

However, the Cavs were essentially in the middle of the pack in transition frequency, and given their style, that’s probably still realistic.

But in a general sense, I would expect the Cavaliers to have more transition options and be more potent there, provided they can be on the healthier side of things, in 2022-23 as compared to last year. I wouldn’t anticipate them having only 11.2 points per game in fastbreak scoring, which ranked 20th last season.

And the guys we mentioned here, and feasibly better chemistry for others, should play into that for the Wine and Gold.