After the Cleveland Cavaliers swung a deal in trading for Donovan Mitchell from the Utah Jazz in a blockbuster early this month, they’ll pair him with Darius Garland in the backcourt, and Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen will man the 4/5.
Those four are the Cavaliers’ core looking onward, and with Garland, Mitchell and Allen, that was three All-Stars from last season. Evan Mobley could very well have an All-Star future ahead of him based on his stellar rookie year, too.
It is not a certainty as to who is set to start at the 3 position, and guys such as Caris LeVert and Isaac Okoro could begin the season in that spot. From there, Dean Wade would be a logical choice, and to some extent, Lamar Stevens could seemingly be in the running; those two should both have some specialist minutes for defense, in my opinion, either way.
As for the bench, though, generally, there’s some questions that will have to be ironed out in training camp, feasibly, and in this sense, in the earlier portion of the upcoming season. The defensive specialist outlook is one of those things, along with the reserve primary playmaking question.
But one key thing to watch, from my perspective, is the Cavaliers bench scoring. The two crucial guys in that realm would appear to be Kevin Love, given his success in a move to that supersub role last season, and LeVert, if LeVert is primarily a bench contributor.
So, along those lines, who will lead the Cavs in bench scoring, for the most part, in 2022-23?
For now, I’d have to with Love, who we’ll take a closer look at first.
I’d go with Love here first
At first glance, I’d probably lean Love here. In his shift to a bench supersub role last season, he flourished, and how the Cavaliers managed his minutes/workload paid dividends in preserving him and giving the team a great lift.
On the season, Love had 13.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per contest, in what was 22.5 minutes per game of work on average. Most notably, he connected on a robust 39.2 percent of his three-point attempts, of which were 6.4 per contest in his minutes.
For his impact for a Cavs team that had a resurgent 2021-22 campaign and nearly made the postseason, Love actually finished second in voting for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award. It was a bounce-back year for him, which was awesome to see, and this upcoming season, it’s clear to me that the Cavaliers should have their blueprint for how to best utilize him as a go-to-type bench shooter.
I personally think that Love should be in great spots to mesh well with Mitchell, again off Garland, and for stretches, his chemistry with Mobley should be much better this coming season.
So, for now, I’d probably lean Love, regarding the question we mentioned on the previous slide.
LeVert, if he’s more so a bench contributor this coming season, is another guy in the running in that realm, one would assume. We’ll examine his outlook, among a couple of others, next up.
LeVert could factor in, among others
I would rather Cleveland end up going with either Wade or Stevens for defensive purposes, with some offensive abilities in mind as well, along with size based on Cleveland’s success last year, as an aside.
If LeVert is more often coming off the bench as a crucial offensive presence, he’ll likely have his share of opportunities on-ball and perhaps to facilitate off that, anyhow. He was more successful last season as the starting 2 in terms of overall efficiency but, in general, he had some trouble getting into a rhythm because of a foot injury post-All-Star break after his trade acquisition from the Indiana Pacers.
LeVert, who had 13.6 points with Cleveland last regular season in 19 games, could be better in a key bench role this coming season. That’s with more time to have gotten acclimated, and while he could be a potential trade candidate, with him currently in the last year of his deal, he could be a very useful offensive bench piece, and should be, post-Mitchell trade.
As far as other potential options in the running, if he’s around and/or receives opportunities for a rotational spark, Cedi Osman could be among the bench scoring leaders again.
If there’s ample playmaking around him, Osman, who had 10.7 points per game last season, can be effective in his role, provided there’s clarity in it. It’s tough to say on that, though, as Osman has seemingly long been a rumored possible trade candidate, and either way, his minutes could very well be spiratic, given his up-and-down play.
Lastly, it’ll feasibly be January as for when he’s back and seemingly in some of a rhythm at least, but Ricky Rubio, who was brought back via free agency, could maybe be a notable bench scoring presence also.
Last season, he had what tied for a career-best with 13.1 points per contest in a supersub role, to go with 6.6 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game. That was in 34 appearances prior to his ACL tear, for context.
I just personally wouldn’t imagine we’ll see that level of scoring production this upcoming season from Rubio, and that’s not what the Cavs now realistically need from him when he is back. His playmaking should again be invaluable, along with his leadership, though.
So, to wrap on this question, while we’ll have to see if LeVert and/or Osman are potentially moved at some point in the 2022-23 campaign, and/or how the starting lineup shakes out, I’d probably go with Love to lead Cleveland’s bench in scoring.
It’s difficult to forecast how often Love would project to be in closing lineups at this point, as he’s now 34, and there’s defensive concerns there, however, on nights he’s really rolling, he’ll have his case.
And for what it’s worth, despite Love possibly being an expiring trade candidate himself, theoretically, he’s so valuable to the Cavs. Perhaps him/his representation and the Cavaliers could look into a reasonable new deal this next offseason, if he can prove he can stay mostly healthy in this newer role.