Cavs News: Still a strong start, lineup analysis, can’t trade this player

Donovan Mitchell and Caris LeVert, Cleveland Cavaliers. Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Donovan Mitchell and Caris LeVert, Cleveland Cavaliers. Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

It’s always easiest to focus on the negatives. In life, in history, especially in sports, our memories and our focus tends to rest on the disappointment and the struggles rather than the joys and highs. Cleveland Cavaliers fans certainly had plenty of disappointment to focus on for decades, and not even a title in 2016 can erase that.

That’s why so many fans of the Cavaliers are feeling disappointed right now. The Cavs were below .500 on their five-game road trip, ending with a come-from-ahead loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night. Fingers are being pointed at the offense, the defense, the coaching, the roster, and so forth.

So let’s take a deep breath, step back, and look at where this team currently is. Chris Fedor helps us in this endeavor:

At the moment of the Donovan Mitchell trade, if you had been told that the Cavaliers would be a top seed in the Eastern Conference and have the league’s third-best net rating, wouldn’t you be ecstatic? Add in that the Cavs have been one of the league’s most injured teams, and the feat becomes even more remarkable.

The Cavs have had a very strong start and look like a really good team. That’s the bottom line. No team is dominating this season, and every team has ups and downs within a season, but this year’s Cleveland Cavaliers have been one of the league’s best teams, full stop.

More Cavs news

Andy Bailey over at Bleacher Report looked at every NBA team’s most-used lineup and graded their performance. The Cavs received a ‘C-‘ because their most-used lineup has a negative point differential due to hot opponent shooting: Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Lamar Stevens, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.

Fortunately for the Cavs, in the three days since they Jan 13th cutoff for the article, their most-used lineup is now the four starters plus Caris LeVert; that lineup passed the aforementioned group with Stevens for 160 total minutes on the season. It’s a dominant +9.8 on the season with a smothering defensive rating. Timing is everything; if Bailey ran his piece today the Cavs likely get an ‘A’.

January 15th marked the point in the season where a number of NBA players became trade-eligible; in fact, nearly the entire league is now eligible. Only a handful of players absolutely can’t be traded this season due to league rules, including one player on the Cleveland Cavaliers. We dig into that further over on the site.

Also on the site, John Suchan looks at 3 reasons the Cavaliers will make the playoffs in 2022-23 season.

NBA news

The Golden State Warriors continued their road ineptitude, giving up a career-high 43 points to Nikola Vucevic and being blown out by a Chicago Bulls team playing without DeMar DeRozan. The Oklahoma City Thunder have no such road woes as they pulled off yet another upset, this one a 112-102 win over the Brooklyn Nets. The Thunder are now tied for the final Play-In Tournament spot in the West.

The team that have passed this week, the Los Angeles Lakers, are certainly showing more fight as LeBron James tries to carry them towards the postseason. After a double-overtime loss to Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks on Friday, the Lakers lost by a single point to Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers. The Philly win also bumped them a half-game in front of the Cavs, although all four teams from 2-5 in the East have 27 wins.

Coming up: The Cavaliers host the New Orleans Pelicans in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day matinee today at 3:00 PM ET.