Cavs should be utilizing multitude of playmakers in upcoming stretch

For the Cleveland Cavaliers, Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell are going to be the primary engines of the offense, and their wide-ranging skill sets open up opportunities for others. They are both going to be the two most prominent shot creators for the Cavaliers, too.

For the Wine and Gold, though, even with some limitations, it’s meaningful for the team to have Ricky Rubio back from his injury recovery since mid-January, and despite his scoring woes, Caris LeVert has been a helpful passer in his minutes.

Additionally, as the season has worn on, the playmaking growth of Evan Mobley has been on display more often, and looking onward, one should anticipate more offense to be going through the ever-improving second-year player. Mobley is such an intelligent player for a 21-year-old, and he has great vision for such a young big.

All of that said, for the Cavaliers in upcoming games, with Mitchell dealing with a finger sprain that was first sustained in Saturday’s blowout win over the Detroit Pistons, it’s crucial for Cleveland’s playmaking to be more diversified.

The Cavs should be utilizing a multitude of playmakers in upcoming contests.

The Cavs are fortunate that Mitchell’s injury was not more serious, and while he was questionable going into Monday’s win over the shorthanded Boston Celtics, Cleveland will need others to step up more regardless.

Garland’s contributions will be there (our fingers are crossed he doesn’t get hurt), but the Cavaliers need Rubio to pull the strings a bit more it seems, and LeVert can aid the team in perhaps more regular pick-and-roll situations. Nonetheless, Rubio has had some struggles of late, and it is fair to question if he can find his way before the playoffs. There’s reason to believe he can still be impactful, though, in helping generate open looks for other players with his passing intuition.

LeVert has been much maligned, as the scoring from LeVert has not been there, as we touched on. However, he has been making far better plays as a passer of late, with 4.6 assists per game in his last 12 appearances, and that’s something Cleveland can use for stretches, given Mitchell dealing with the said injury.

As we also hinted at earlier, just to give the starting backcourt some of a lift at times, it would behoove Cleveland to run more some offense through Mobley, and enable Garland and/or Mitchell to have some more off-ball opportunities. Plus, with their threat as shooters, they could be meaningful decoys, which could open up quality looks for other players.

While the Cavs bench is going through it, and has been, given their scoring woes, players such as LeVert and Rubio can still give Cleveland a lift as playmakers. And if Lamar Stevens is potentially back in the rotation, after his stellar game against Boston, he can find ways to score from cuts, transition and putbacks. He can find ways to make some plays for himself as well, as can Cedi Osman a bit.

The gist is, in this upcoming stretch in the last month or so of the regular season, even if it’s not necessarily at a high volume, per se, the Cavaliers could benefit from finding ways to ease the pressure on Garland and Mitchell throughout games.

If that’s feasibly with one of the two on the floor, it could still give them some more meaningful off-ball opportunities, at the very least, which in the long run, could pay off.