It might sound weird to describe a team featuring Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen as small, but take a look at the rest of the Cleveland Cavaliers' depth chart these days.
Cleveland's guard and wings are, on the whole, shorter than league average, especially since the Cavs acquired Dennis Schroder and Keon Ellis at the deadline. Ellis at 6-foot-4 has good size for a guard, but Cleveland's been playing Ellis at the 3 in a lot of lineups, which makes him suddenly undersized.
The Cavs' recent loss to the Boston Celtics, an Eastern rival with good positional size outside of Payton Pritchard, exposed Cleveland's size problem. It's a crisis for the Cavs that was made even more dire without Allen in the lineup against Boston.
As The Athletic's John Hollinger astutely pointed out in a recent episode of The Zach Lowe Show, the Cavs looked too small against Boston, particularly in lineups with Ellis at the 3 (or even in one case, the 4!). Here are the lineups that Cleveland used in the second quarter of that game (a quarter which the Cavs lost badly, 21-10):
Time period | Cavs lineup | Average height in lineup |
|---|---|---|
End of Q1/Start of Q2 | Donovan Mitchell, Schroder, Ellis, Jaylon Tyson, Thomas Bryant | 6'4.4" |
Start of Q2 | Mitchell, Schroder, Ellis, Dean Wade, Mobley | 6'5.4" |
Middle of Q2 | Craig Porter Jr., James Harden, Sam Merrill, Tyson, Bryant | 6'5" |
End of Q2 | Mitchell, Harden, Merrill, Ellis, Mobley | 6'5.2" |
Mobley being 6-foot-11 helps the height averages (and rim protection) in two of these lineups, but Hollinger was definitely onto something: The Cavs are small at the wing and guard positions. This contributed to Cleveland getting outrebounded 49-42 by Boston in the March 8 loss.
A particular board by Celtics wing Baylor Scheierman in the third quarter of that game was a perfect symbol of Cleveland's size issues. Watch below.
The 6-foot-7 Scheierman outmaneuvers Harden on the weak side glass, but then Scheierman also beats Tyson and Ellis to the ball once it take a bounce in their direction. Thomas Bryant is tied up with Neemias Queta and sufficiently boxing out, so he gets a pass. You can call Scheierman ending up with this rebound a result of his superior length to Tyson and Ellis, but it's also a hustle/effort thing.
Baylor Scheierman's rebounding effort >>> pic.twitter.com/lotYh56dAA
— Basketball Diaries (@pistolpetegoat) March 12, 2026
Payton Pritchard snags the loose ball rebound off the tap-out from Scheierman, and it leads to an open 3 for Hauser (cash) that the Cavs never should have allowed. Timeout Kenny Atkinson.
The Celtics clearly teach their young wings to crash the glass, especially from the corners. Scheierman is particularly good at it, but we've also seen Hugo Gonzalez and Jordan Walsh thrive as offensive rebounders and "tap-outers". Another detail -- Scheierman, Gonzalez, and Walsh all have sufficient size for position.
The Cavaliers' lack of size on the wing gives them issues defensively
But Cleveland's size problem isn't just a rebounding thing. It also gives them issues when it comes to simply defending big, strong wings, in the first place. Look at this other possession from the Celtics game with Ellis guarding Jaylen Brown in a 1-on-1 situation at the top of the key (below).
Brown doesn't make a particularly explosive dribble move, but as soon as Ellis makes the mistake of initiating a little bit of contact, the much stronger Brown digests that contact and takes the opportunity to leverage his positioning and overpower Ellis to the rim. If that's how Ellis is going to look against Brown in a playoff series, the Cavs are in trouble.
I thought Keon Ellis would be better at guarding Jaylen Brown than this... pic.twitter.com/CoobvlDotw
— Basketball Diaries (@pistolpetegoat) March 12, 2026
Boston isn't the only East contender who might give Cleveland a size problem at the wing/guard spots. Detroit's tandem of Cade Cunningham and Ausar Thompson are big, strong, and athletic (Tobias Harris is 6-foot-8, too). The New York Knicks -- though they've been playing some tiny lineups with Jalen Brunson and Jose Alvarado -- have a pair of big wings in OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges, each of whom can shoot right over Ellis's head (or Sam Merrill's).
You start to realize why the Cavs have so much stock in Dean Wade. It's not just because of his shooting. At 6-foot-9, Wade is by far the biggest wing that Cleveland has. He also happens to be a disciplined, high-IQ defender with surprising lateral athleticism. Wade's the only one of Cleveland's wings who can play the 4 and not look out of place.
Outside of Wade, though, the Cavs are super small on the wing. Tyson at 6-foot-6 isn't a size liability, per say, but he's still prone to seeing a guy like Bridges or Jayson Tatum rise up and shoot over him, particularly out of the post or mid-post.
Hollinger's right. Cleveland is too small, despite boasting two rim-protecting centers. It's a problem that the Cavs can find ways to overcome, but it won't be easy in a league where matchups are everything.