The NBA Playoffs are quickly approaching, and the Cleveland Cavaliers are enjoying a much-deserved week off as the Play-In Tournament determines their postseason opponent.
At the time of writing, the Miami Heat just manhandled the Chicago Bulls, setting up a showdown with the Atlanta Hawks to the right to face the Cavaliers in the playoffs. Once the Cavs take down either Trae Young or Bam Adebayo, they will move on to the winner of the Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks series -- with a likely Eastern Conference Finals throw-down with the Boston Celtics awaiting after that.
Cleveland had a dominant regular season, but everything is reset in the playoffs and they will need to earn their way up the ladder. While we can guess what will happen, it is ultimately an unknown.
What questions surrounding the Cavaliers are the most interesting? And how will they be answered in the playoffs? Let's take a deeper look, starting with the one significant injury that the team is dealing with.
No. 3: Is Donovan Mitchell healthy?
Donovan Mitchell suffered a significant ankle injury in the Cavaliers' loss to the Sacramento Kings late in the regular season. He proceeded to miss the final four games of the season, while each of his teammates suited up at least twice over that final stretch of games.
It's unclear how much of Mitchell's absence was due to resting, how much was being overly cautious about his injury because they had nothing left to play for, and how much was legitimate injury that would have kept him out of competitive games. In total he gets two full weeks for his ankle to heal before they open the playoffs on Sunday.
If the ankle injury was truly mild, a Grade 1 sprain, then he is likely back and ready to go for Game 1 with no lingering issues; he may have a few flakes of rust, and his ankle will be slightly weaker and susceptible to reinjury, but overall the normal Donovan Mitchell should be good to go.
If he is dealing with a Grade 2 ankle sprain, he might be pushing it to return at two weeks, and it's likely he will be dealing with the effects of it even if he suits up. Mitchell has historically played through but been hampered by injuries in the past, and if he doesn't have the same explosion to get into the paint he may settle for an overwhelming diet of 3-pointers. The Cavs need a dangerous and efficient Mitchell to make a deep run.
No. 2: Are the Cavaliers good or elite?
We know that the Cleveland Cavaliers are at worst an extremely good team. They won 64 games, had the league's best offense and went on three separate runs of double-digit wins. Yet NBA history does have a number of "good" teams win 60 or more games; are the Cavaliers another such team, or do they have that next gear that "elite" teams have in the playoffs?
LeBron James was on a few such good teams in 2009 and 2010 before he took his talents to South Beach, teams that couldn't rise to the occasion around him despite winning 60 games. The Atlanta Hawks had that famous 60-win team only to be obliterated by LeBron and the Cavs upon their return; the same goes for the Toronto Raptors, who peaked at 59 wins but clearly did not have championship equity until they swapped out DeMar DeRozan for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green.
There are very real reasons to think that the Cavaliers are for real, but they have not proven it yet. They also are trying to truly contend for a championship with two small guards in the backcourt and two legitimate bigs in the frontcourt; that foursome has obviously excelled this season, but can it buck historical trends and win it all?
If they are upset by the Bucks or Pacers in the second round, or go out quietly in the East Finals against the defending champion Celtics, we will have our answer. If they take down Boston, or even goes further to win the title, this team elevates to another tier of team and has that much more confidence moving forward.
No. 1: Does Jarrett Allen survive in the rotation?
The Cleveland Cavaliers have made it work. They have done the impossible, playing two traditional bigs as their heavy-minute starting lineup. Some teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder will start two bigs but split them up for most of the game; others, like the Houston Rockets, have a double-big lineup they throw out as a secondary pitch against certain opponents.
The Cavaliers bet that Evan Mobley could develop enough offensively to survive next to Jarrett Allen, and that bet paid off in a massive way. New head coach Kenny Atkinson put together the league's best offense despite that supposedly clunky fit right in the starting lineup.
Yet he has also shown a propensity to split the two up, especially in competitive fourth quarters. Dean Wade or De'Andre Hunter play the 4 next to Evan Mobley at the 5 in what appears to be Atkinson's favorite closing lineups. How quickly will he go to those looks when the games are close?
More interestingly, does he get to a point where Allen no longer starts? Where he is relegated fully to the backup center minutes and Mobley shifts to the 5 in the starting lineup? That's the kind of move teams like the Golden State Warriors have done with their starting centers when the stakes got highest; can Atkinson really do that with Allen, who is significantly better than the average starting center in such a situation?
These questions and more will begin to be answered as the Cavaliers take on all comers in the playoffs this season.