The Cleveland Cavaliers are not off to the smooth start to the season that they envisioned when they brought back nearly every member of last year's rotation. There is one simple solution to their problems thus far: get healthy.
Specifically, they need All-Star point guard Darius Garland to be healthy. Last year, Garland had the best season of his career and had a stronger positive impact on the Cavaliers' offense than anyone else on the roster -- including Donovan Mitchell. They lost in the second round of the playoffs primarily because Garland was injured -- that wasn't the only reason, but it's the one that mattered.
Garland missed the first two weeks of the season recovering from offseason toe surgery. He came back, and the Cavs went 2-0 with a pair of double-digit victories with Garland back in the lineup. Then he reinjured the toe, and the Cavs have gone 2-2 since.
To put it a different way, when Darius Garland has been on the court for the Cavaliers this season, they have outscored opponents by a whopping 14.5 points per 100 possessions, per Databallr. When he is off the court, Cleveland has a more modest +4.8 net rating. They are good without Garland; they are only special with him.
Garland's backups are not performing
Last season this divide did not exist, in large part because of the play of Ty Jerome. The journeyman point guard had a career year backing up Garland last season, with an unstoppable floater and quick hands for steals. The Cavs were awesome when Garland played and awesome when he sat last season.
This year, Jerome is gone to Memphis, and the guards behind Garland have struggled to excel at the same level. Craig Porter Jr. has been the backup point guard thus far -- interestingly enough, the only player on the team to play in all 13 games thus far -- and he has been fine...if Donovan Mitchell is also on the court. If Porter is the lone point guard on the court the Cavaliers fall apart.
It's predictably even worse when Tyrese Proctor tries to run the show alone. The rookie second-round pick has needed some time to get his legs under him, and he has missed most of the shots he has taken thus far in his career (35 percent from the field). He is not a natural point guard despite his size, but he has had to play solo minutes at the 1 and those have not gone well for Cleveland.
Something similar can be said for Lonzo Ball, who is nominally a point guard but who has been playing more of an off-ball role for the Cavaliers. He has been an excellent connective piece as a passer, but he is shooting just 33.3 percent from the field and 31 percent from deep. Last season the Cavaliers had Ty Jerome and Darius Garland hitting everything; this year they decidedly do not.
Garland's reinjury appears to be a mild one, and he is day-to-day on returning to the lineup. When he does, the Cavaliers will most likely return to cruising through the Eastern Conference. Yet that success is fragile, unless Garland stays perfectly healthy or the less proven backups suddenly turn things around.
Do the Cavaliers have a problem? Yes, but they also have the solution in place. He just has to stay healthy.