The Cleveland Cavaliers haven’t had the league’s toughest schedule thus far. They opened against an expected playoff team with the Toronto Raptors, then followed with two mid-tier Eastern squads and then the rebuilding Orlando Magic Wednesday.
Even so, many “good” teams have stumbled against teams they were supposed to beat. The Philadelphia 76ers lost to the San Antonio Spurs; the same Chicago Bulls team the Cavs beat has notched wins over the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics. Going 3-1 against that slate is solid even if they haven’t been truly tested yet.
That will come soon, with the Celtics on the schedule twice in the next week. Yet for now it’s time to reflect back on the first eight days of Cavaliers basketball, when the Cavs have looked like one of the best teams in the East. Some things have gone about as expected, from Donovan Mitchell scoring well to Dean Wade providing solid play whenever he is called upon.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are off to a strong start at 3-1 to begin the year. What have been the unexpected takeaways from the first week of Cavs basketball?
Other things have been very surprising; most are in the “good” category but some fall under the bad. Let’s look at five key and unexpected takeaways from the first week of Cavs basketball, starting with a player providing value in every area of the game.
Cavs’ first week: Donovan Mitchell’s all-around play
Everyone knew that Donovan Mitchell was a talented, even special scorer. He stepped in and led the Utah Jazz offense as a rookie, he has overcome playoff defenses to put up big scoring nights, and his combination of shot creation and shooting puts him in a small and special category of players in this league.
That’s why his scoring binge to start his Cavaliers tenure wasn’t surprising, even as it was exciting. Mitchell became just the third player in NBA history to score at least 30 points in his first three games with a team, and he blew through Austin Carr’s Cavaliers record for points to start a season. Impressive, certainly, but not surprising.
What has been surprising is how much Mitchell has contributed everywhere else. With Darius Garland injured much has been asked of him, and he has met the call. He is not only averaging a career-high 28.5 points per game, but he is also contributing career-best numbers in rebounds (5.0), assists (7.3), steals (2.0) and grins (unofficial stat, roughly 5 billion per game).
Mitchell’s playmaking has been excellent, as he has been a true point guard on the court for a team that needed one. What’s more, on defense he has been locked in. He has always possessed the physical gifts to be a positive defender, and at least through four games he is bringing the effort and intensity — on Sunday he won the team’s Junkyard Dog award! If the Cavs get this Mitchell all season long, they are going to do great things.
Cavs’ first week: Cedi Osman is on fire
Last season was rough for Cedi Osman. The longtime Cavalier wing, the only player other than Kevin Love to remember the LeBron James days, found himself on the outside of the rotation looking in after the acquisition of Caris LeVert. He shot a middling 35.7 percent from deep and struggled to give the Cavs what they needed on defense.
This season, with LeVert sticking around and Donovan Mitchell on board, the role for Osman looked slim once again. Yet the injury to Garland opened up minutes in the rotation, minutes that Osman snatched and used to absolutely detonate during this young season.
Osman’s career-high in scoring is 13 points per game, coming back in 2018-19 when he started nearly every game. This year he is coming off the bench but has been absolutely red hot, averaging 15.5 points per game on 52.4 percent shooting, including 47.4 percent from 3-point range. He’s on fire! In the Cavs’ win over Chicago he was a +41 in 26 minutes.
It’s not just one hot game buoying the results, either. Osman has played at least 25 minutes in every game and scored at least 14 points in each of them, a streaky shooter turned consistent. This level of shooting may not last, and he may turn into a pumpkin once October ends, but for now his shooting have been a much-needed boost to the Cavs’ offense.
Cavs’ first week: Okoro has been a disaster
Isaac Okoro is just 22 years old, was a top-5 pick just 2.5 years ago, and has the outline of a player who could be extremely useful for the Cavs as they look for defensive pieces to put around Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell on the wing. He looked well on his way to taking a step forward in the preseason, as he started and played extremely well over the final two games. He was confident and accurate, two things that have rarely described Okoro on offense in his NBA career and never together at the same time.
Alas, the whisp of hope in the preseason has been blown out by the winds of disappointment. Isaac Okoro has not just been bad to start the season; he’s been absolutely atrocious. When a player like Russell Westbrook has an abysmal game and then Okoro doubles him up with ineptitude, that’s the absolute pinnacle of disappointing.
Okoro has been nonexistent on offense, scoring just six points in four games. He has more turnovers and fouls (twelve) than he has points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks combined (eleven). What an insane stat!
The Cavs need a wing who can defend and space the floor, and no one is guarding Okoro out there. This version of Okoro doesn’t deserve a starting spot, and he probably doesn’t deserve a rotation spot. He needs to right the ship quickly or the Cavs might just leave him behind.
Cavs’ first week: Two-way team dominance
Last season the Cleveland Cavaliers were an incredibly strong defensive team, a top-3 squad before Jarrett Allen missed the last fifth of the season (they ended up slipping to seventh). The combination of Allen and Evan Mobley inside was the bedrock for a versatile and smothering defensive fortification.
It’s therefore no big surprise that the Cavs are once again a top-tier unit on that end of the court. They are currently second in defensive rating, behind only the impossibly dominant Milwaukee Bucks. Their 102.6 rating is two points better than the third-place Phoenix Suns. They have succeeded by running teams off of the 3-point line, walling off the paint and forcing them into low-percentage mid-range attempts.
What’s the surprise is how good the Cavs have been on offense. Donovan Mitchell has been resplendent running the point in Darius Garland’s absence, Cedi Osman and Kevin Love have been excellent off the bench. Caris LeVert has shot well from deep, and Robin Lopez is doing Captain Hook things.
The Cavs are eighth in offensive rating after finishing 20th a year ago, and that is almost entirely without Garland and including a game against the Toronto Raptors. It has led to an overall net rating of +12.7, right at the very top of the league. If the Cavs maintain a top-10 ranking in both offense and defense, they will be set up for success during not only the regular season but the playoffs as well.
Cavs’ first week: MIssing Darius Garland
Darius Garland averaged 35.7 minutes per game for the Cleveland Cavaliers last season, at times carrying the entire offense on his back. He averaged 21.7 points even after a slow start, dished out 8.6 assists per game and essentially made more 3-pointers per game than the other starters combined. Even with the addition of Donovan Mitchell, the Cavs were sure to have offensive trouble if Garland were to miss any amount of time, especially before Ricky Rubio was back healthy.
That has definitively not been the case, as the Cavs are positively humming even without their All-Star floor general. Losing Garland was certainly a surprise; he’s not particularly injury-prone, and no team expects its star players to suddenly go down (the Lakers and Anthony Davis being the exception; he just sprained his shoulder reading this sentence). Losing Garland 13 minutes into the season and for a week or more was disappointing, but it hasn’t led to disaster.
Garland will hopefully be back soon, and the nature of his injury (a cut on the inside of his eyelid) he can keep up his conditioning. Once he is ready to go he will join a team full of unexpected surprises, many of them good, and he will help this team reach the heights it is aiming for.