The Cavaliers look like a Top 3 team in the Eastern Conference
By Gage Morgan
With the Cleveland Cavaliers having a strong start to the 2022-23 season, they have shown flashes of being a top tier team. With the memory of failing in the Play-In Tournament last year, they are showing us this year that they don’t want that to happen again.
They made a blockbuster trade to receive Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell without giving up any of their young core of Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen. In fact, besides the Golden State Warriors, the Cavs are the only team to have three 2022 All-Star Game players. That has to show for something, and they’re a squad primed to level up this season.
The Cavs also have two clear dynamic duos in the starting lineup. Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland are the Cavs’ duo for offense, and Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen are the Cavs’ duo for defense. Most other teams only have one star duo or big three.
Along those lines, a couple examples of the star duos are Kawhi Leonard and Paul George (LA Clippers), Joel Embiid and James Harden (Philadelphia 76ers), and Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram (New Orleans Pelicans). Some of the big threes are Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, and Jrue Holiday (Milwaukee Bucks), and Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green (Warriors). The Cavaliers have four players that can be cohesive on the court together.
This article is based on my opinion. This is what I believe they can be, not what they actually will become. I will give reasons why I believe they are above certain teams.
I believe that the Cleveland Cavaliers can be a Top 3 Seed in the Eastern Conference.
By the looks of it, the Cavaliers can finish in the East’s Top 3 this season.
From my perspective, the only teams that are above them are the Bucks and the Celtics. I do not believe the Cavaliers have an answer right now for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Evan Mobley will have to continue to make major strides to try to become a stopper for Giannis. The Boston Celtics have a top defense and they also just got to the NBA Finals last season. With these things in mind, I believe the Cavs are right behind them.
With that said, the Wine and Gold appear to be better than teams such as the Sixers and Miami Heat, and other older clubs, comparatively, in the Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls are unknowns.