The Cleveland Cavaliers had the second-best net rating in the league this season. They had the best defense, a pair of All-Star guards, and were facing a New York Knicks team that had a hobbled star. They were rightfully favored despite their collective inexperience.
That inexperience reared its head from the start, as did the coaching advantage Tom Thibodeau displayed over J.B. Bickerstaff. The Knicks proved they were ready to battle on the playoff stage, and the Cavaliers just couldn’t find the right adjustments. They were clobbered, battered and outrebounded into a five-game exit.
Perhaps the biggest flaw for the Cavaliers was the depth around their core players. Donovan Mitchell didn’t have a great season, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen were outrebounded, but they are here to stay. The Cavs needed someone else to step up and fill out both that fifth and final starting spot and the bench behind them, and the team just couldn’t do it.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have to make changes this summer
Heading into the offseason, the Cavs will need to make changes. They will use their Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception to add a two-way wing they can hopefully start at small forward; that’s nearly a guarantee. To add players, however, the Cavaliers will need to lose them.
In the end, the Cavs didn’t trust anyone from 6-15 on their roster to play major minutes in the playoffs. That leaves a number of players who could be heading to a different team this summer. Here are three who need to leave the Cavaliers so that Cleveland can build a rotation it trusts in the playoff crucible.
Isaac Okoro shouldn’t be back next season
The Cavaliers have invested a lot in Isaac Okoro. They used a top-five pick on him in the 2020 NBA Draft, taking Okoro over players like Onyeka Okongwu, Devin Vassell and Tyrese Haliburton. Okoro was handed a starting spot and he largely didn’t relinquish it for three seasons.
Okoro started 174 games over the past three seasons despite never showing improvement on the offensive end. He has been a terrible shooter, a lackluster ball-handler and a poor passer from the start. He was drafted as a defensive menace who could be a co-star on offense; at least the defense came through.
Although he represented the best defensive option on opposing guards, especially after the Cavs traded for Donovan Mitchell, Okoro’s abysmal offensive skillset made hi too easy to ignore in the playoffs, when game plans get particular and defenses are more brazen in ignoring non-threats.
After the Cavaliers have invested so much in Okoro, they have to stop themselves before investing a long-term contract extension in him. While they could ride it out next year until he hits restricted free agency in the summer of 2024, they would be better off trading him this summer before his stock falls even further.
Robin Lopez shouldn’t be back next season
The Cleveland Cavaliers looked like they had an embarrassment of riches at the center position this season. Yet by the end of the year, with Kevin Love waived and playing in Miami and J.B. Bickerstaff not trusting his backup power forwards enough to slide Evan Mobley to center for long stretches, suddenly the depth at the pivot looked like a mirage.
That’s in large part because Robin Lopez, once a luxury as the team’s fourth-string center, was suddenly ineffective as the backup behind Jarrett Allen. His scoop shot remains a weapon, but Lopez was lost defending in space and not enough of a deterrent at the rim outside of being a large body.
Anytime this season that Jarrett Allen missed time, the Cavs saw a gigantic drop-off and usually lost the game. Lopez should be a similar player to Allen and a good stylistic pick to fit in as his backup, but he can’t execute like Allen on either side of the court.
Lopez was signed for the minimum and will be a free agent this summer. Nothing Lopez did this season demands his return, and it’s unlikely he would play much next season. The Cavs need to move on and find a backup who can be a credible rim protector – easier said than done.
Caris LeVert shouldn’t be back next season
This is the most difficult decision on the board. It’s undeniable now that the trade the Cleveland Cavaliers made with the Indiana Pacers to add Caris LeVert was a colossal mistake. Instead of trading Ricky Rubio and a first-round pick for LeVert, a player whose skillset is too similar to the Cavs’ stars, they could have kept and re-signed Rubio, used their MLE on another player, and had a first-round pick this season.
Instead, they have LeVert. Part of managing a roster, however, is not compounding mistakes. The trade package they sent is a sunk cost now; what do they do about Caris LeVert now? He bought in on defense and seems like a great chemistry fit, but he was an expensive player relegated to a bench role because of how poorly he fits with the starters.
Caris LeVert is an unrestricted free agent this summer. Do the Cavaliers let him walk, or do they re-sign him to maintain the asset despite the poor fit? The answer probably comes down to LeVert’s salary demands, but Cleveland has to operate as a team with options. If they feel pressure because they can’t replace LeVert if he walks they will start making mistakes.
LeVert might return next season, but this seems like a situation where the Cavs absolutely have to move on. Whether that is through letting him walk or executing some sort of sign-and-trade, the Cavaliers would be motivated to move on and replace him another way.