The Cleveland Cavaliers are ahead of schedule. With their core as young as they are, the Cavs have plenty of time to continue to grow into a true contender. Yet with the NBA playoffs quickly approaching, the question on everyone’s minds is this: are the Cavaliers a true contender right now?
Tim Bontemps of ESPN is the latest to delve into the question, highlighting how the Cavs have become a really good team without skipping any steps. The Donovan Mitchell trade has worked out really well, the “core four” are as good as any team’s top four in the league, and they have legitimate depth on the roster too.
The metrics for this team continue to point to the Cavs as one of the East’s elite teams. They have the league’s second-best net rating, are 5-4 against the other top teams in the East, and are top 10 in the league in both offense and defense. That’s the stat sheet for a contender.
On the other hand, the Cavs don’t have much playoff experience. He writes “The eight players who played in the first half Wednesday have played in a combined 11 playoff series in their careers.” Donovan Mitchell is the only one of that group to even advance past the first round.
Danny Green and Sam Merrill (!) are former champions, and Cedi Osman was a rookie on the last NBA Finals team for the Cavs, but the core of this team is entirely untested. Evan Mobley, Darius Garland and Isaac Okoro have never the playoffs.
Are the Cavs one of the elite teams in the East? Bontemps leans towards no, at least not in the playoffs. He points to their lack of a wing defender to take on players like Jayson Tatum, on top of that lack of experience, and sees this postseason as a chance for them to learn valuable lessons in order to ascend into that upper crust in the coming years.
More Cavs news
Players like Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley are commonly the subjects of media attention, while a player like Isaac Okoro is often toiling outside of the spotlight. NBA.com changes that this week, as they sat down with “Ice” to discuss how he has found his groove this season and become the best perimeter defender on one of the league’s best defenses.
Completing our series in recent weeks, Ismail Sy analyzes the performance of the Cavaliers’ wings thus far this season here on the website. The aforementioned Okoro, Caris LeVert and others all go under the microscope and come out with a grade. Who gets a B+? Who gets the C+?
NBA news
It was a relatively light night of games in the Association last night, with just four games on the schedule. The Cavs picked up a half-game on the Philadelphia 76ers, who lost a high-octane game to the Dallas Mavericks on TNT; just 2.5 games separate the teams now in the standings.
In the second game of the TNT doubleheader, the Golden State Warriors hosted the LA Clippers in a battle for the fifth seed. The Clippers were nearly at full strength (Ivica Zubac was out) while the Warriors were playing without Stephen Curry, Andrew Wiggins and Gary Payton II. The Clippers built an 11-point halftime lead only for the Warriors to blow the doors off in the second half, outscoring the Clippers 70-35.
Coming up: The Cavaliers have another day to prepare for their game against the Detroit Pistons tomorrow night.