Since their devastating loss to the New York Knicks in the conference finals this past spring, all the Cleveland Cavaliers have talked about is improving defensively.
To start the Donovan Mitchell era, the Cavs were one of the elite defensive teams in the league. Having Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen as their backline helped immensely with that.
Last year though, Cleveland slipped greatly, as they were 15th in defensive rating, putting them square in the middle of the pack. In the playoffs, they ranked 12th out of 16 teams in defensive rating, despite playing two offensively challenged teams in Toronto and Detroit.
This offseason, the Cavs brought in Peyton Watson to help fix their perimeter woes and young guys like Jaylon Tyson, Craig Porter Jr., and Nae’Qwan Tomlin when he returns, are expected to help with that. However, there is one defensive area that Cleveland has to improve in.
The Cavs need to get their running shoes on and get back on defense this season
Part of the blueprint to beating Cleveland over the last couple seasons has been running them off the floor. In 2025, the Pacers did just that and completely obliterated the Cavs in transition.
It could be seen during last playoffs as well, as a big reason why Toronto was able to hang with Cleveland was because of their ability to get out on the break and get easy layups. Granted, the Cavs did win that series, but the weakness remained.
All of the talk about wanting to get back to being an elite defense is all for naught if no one gets back. Taking care of the ball offensively is also a key and having less live ball turnovers as well. Given the fact that Indiana is healthy, Philly having two elite transition players in LeBron James and Tyrese Maxey, and other squads in the East that are built to push the pace, the Cavaliers have to fix that weakness.
The addition of Watson greatly helps with that, as he has great recovery speed defensively, but communicating about who has who on fastbreaks is what Cleveland has to improve on. Limiting opponents’ ability to get out and run will lead to more defensive success.
The Cavs will be put to the test right away when they play the Sixers in their opener and then when they play the Wolves and Thunder over the next couple weeks, two teams that like to get out and run off turnovers. It will really show if Cleveland has improved in that area and whether or not they will get back to that elite level defensively.
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