The Cleveland Cavaliers entered the season as one of the teams to beat in the Eastern Conference. They had been the No. 1 seed last season, and with Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton out, the table looked set for Kenny Atkinson's team to make a run.
However, that wasn't necessarily the case at first. The Cavs struggled with inconsistency for most of the first half of the campaign. That, plus injuries, forced Kenny Atkinson to do plenty of juggling with the starting lineup.
That's why these trade deadline moves were so crucial. For the first time all year, the Cavaliers might finally be able to roll with a steady lineup for the remainder of the season. As pointed out by the team in their "By The Numbers: The Season's First Half" article, that was a major issue before the All-Star break.
Cavaliers can finally have a steady starting five for the rest of the year
"26 different lineups that the Cavs have had to use this year after going through on 23 all of last season," the post read.
Of course, they will now have 27 different lineups. Evan Mobley is going to make his long-awaited return from injury, and he'll join the new-look Cavs for the first time since they acquired James Harden, Keon Ellis, and Dennis Schroder.
Getting the reigning Defensive Player of the Year back on the court will be huge for this team's aspirations, and it'll be interesting to see whether Atkinson rolls with Mobley at the five for long stretches and how he'll benefit from Harden's pick-and-roll expertise.
Jarrett Allen has shown flashes of improved offensive play with all the wide-open looks he's gotten when Harden takes the ball up the court. Mobley has a different offensive profile, but he may also get plenty of wide-open pick-and-pop shots when Harden drives through the lane.
Adding Ellis and Schroder to the mix was also a massive boost for the second unit. They weren't getting anything from Lonzo Ball, and they now have a physical backcourt defender and an offensive catalyst and playmaker off the bench.
Despite their inconsistency in the first half, the Cavaliers are 34-21 and in fourth place in the Eastern Conference. They're just 1.5 games behind the second-seeded Boston Celtics. Even though it will take a while before everybody's on the same page, this team definitely has the potential to make some noise in the playoffs.