3 reasons why the Cleveland Cavaliers will improve offensively this season

All offseason, the question around the Cleveland Cavaliers has been this: how can they improve a one-dimensional offense that flamed out in the playoffs?

The Cavs did what they could to upgrade the shooting on the roster, as they signed Max Strus, and Georges Niang. They shelled out over $85 million to bring them in, to add more offensive diversity. To win in this league, you need shooters, and the Cavs were severely devoid of them in the playoffs.

In addition to the two elite playmakers the Cavs possess in Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland, and having a unicorn of a big man in Mobley, the offense is expected to reach new heights this season. It has to reach new heights, as the Cavs need an elite offense in order to keep pace with the top contenders of the Eastern Conference, and if they want to erase last year’s disappointment.

Given how much better the offense has looked in the preseason, there are reasons for optimism. Here are three reasons why the Cleveland Cavaliers’ offense will improve.

On the surface, the Cavs numbers from three-point range were not bad during the regular season last year. They finished 12th in percentage at around 37 percent, but they were only 24th in attempts at around 32 per game. Those are not bad numbers, and the Cavs finished fifth in offensive rating. In the playoffs though, those numbers took a bigger nosedive than the Los Angeles Dodgers in the playoffs every year.

Against the Knicks, the Cavs shot 33 percent from three on 31 attempts per game. That percentage was the fourth-worst among playoff teams. The Knicks were daring guys like Isaac Okoro and Mobley to shoot because they knew they couldn’t shoot it into the Atlantic Ocean.

The Cavs also didn’t have better options on the bench, as guys like Cedi Osman and Lamar Stevens weren’t exactly snipers. Fortunately, with Strus and Niang coming into the fold, the Cavs have added a combined 351 triples. If you replace that with the shooting production of Osman and Stevens, who have been dealt away, the Cavs would have been fifth in total made threes last season. In addition to adding more made threes, the Cavs seem to be keen on attempting a lot more too, as seen in the preseason.

Across their four preseason games, the Cavs averaged a whopping 42 threes per game. For comparison, the league leader in threes attempted was the Golden State Warriors at 43 per game. Expect the Cavs to launch a lot more threes this year, but also expect them to knock them down with the new additions on the roster.