Move over Splash Bros: Cavs are best shooting team in the league
Cavs are best shooting team in the league: More to come
The wildest factor in the Cavs’ dominant shooting to start the season is this: it’s very likely they improve from here.
That doesn’t mean they will improve that 42.7 percent accuracy; it would be effectively tied with the 1996-97 Charlotte Hornets for the most accurate in NBA history, and they shot off of a shorter 3-point line. Even if that regresses down a bit, the Cavs are set up to only get more dangerous as a shooting team.
Last season, Darius Garland made 2.6 3-pointers per game on 38.3 percent efficiency, all while generating many of those shots by himself. Place him alongside Donovan Mitchell’s shot creation and he can be even better. Add him into what the Cavs are doing now and they get that much more dangerous from deep.
What has made this start so impressive is that it isn’t just one or two guys. This isn’t the Splash Brothers carrying a team without much spacing. The Cavs have shooting at every position and they are therefore able to put together lethal lineups. They are the only team in the league with four different players to reach six 3-pointers in a game, and the only one with five who have hit five. That diversity of shot-making will make this strength highly sustainable.
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Yes, this Cavaliers team has a long way to go to be properly compared to the LeBron James teams that went to four-straight NBA Finals, or the sustained brilliance of the Splash Brothers and their four rings. Yet there is no denying the fact that the Cavs have turned a weakness into a strength, and opposing teams will feel the pressure to stop their hot shooting before it turns into an avalanche of 3-pointers blowing them out of the gym.