Cavs 2022-23 Season Preview: 4 stars, 3 awards, 1 playoff berth

Cavs 2022-23 Season Preview: The Offense

Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland look like very similar players on the surface, and perhaps they are, but the melding of the two players will certainly take some time. Both are used to handling the ball and directing the offense, and both did so in different ways last season.

The Utah Jazz ran the most pick-and-rolls in the league last season, doing so on 22.9 percent of their possessions. This makes sense when you have a lethal pull-up shooter like Mitchell and an elite screen-setter and roll man in Rudy Gobert. The Cavs? They ran pick-and-rolls on just 15 percent of their possessions, 22nd in the league.

Having bigs who can handle and pass from the elbow diversified the Cavs’ offense, but it also probably pulled them away from a play type that would have maximized their core talents. Who else has a shooter at guard and an elite roll man? The Cavs, and both Garland and Mitchell will run a lot of pick-and-roll actions with Jarrett Allen. Expect the offense to shift in that direction.

Both guards will get the run of the court when the other sits, but when both are on the court it seems like Garland will be in more of the “point guard” role of bringing the ball up and initiating the offense. He and Mitchell already showed chemistry this preseason, from that epic lob to this give-and-go:

How Even Mobley develops as an offensive player will also be key. Is he a true pick-and-pop threat able to scare defenses on above-the-break 3-pointers? How much freedom does the coaching staff give him to create on his own?

Caris LeVert will be best-served coming off the bench and working as a secondary creator alongside Garland or Mitchell, but not both. Isaac Okoro has been working on his 3-point shot and looked great in the final two preseason games. Dean Wade is steady, Robin Lopez is ready to unleash his floor-scraping hook shot and Jarrett Allen is going after the dunk title.