The Blueprint for Cavaliers Success
By: Kevin McAndrews
About two to three months remain until the start of the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA regular season. Chances for the Cavaliers to close the gap in the Eastern Conference standings are on the rise as a major opportunity lies in front of them.
While there’s still plenty of places to improve over the remainder of this offseason, some may argue it was best for Cleveland to tank the rest of 2021 and hopefully select an Evan Mobley like talent. We know now that it became a reality and now their best course of action this season will be to try and make the NBA Playoffs, or at least the play-in tournament. With the expanded playoff format this season, the Cavs have a greater-than-usual chance of playing in high-stake contests. Elimination games can be great for young teams to build on for next season. Competing with win-or-go-home stakes provides something you can’t teach: EXPERIENCE
Examples of teams rebuilding successfully last Season after struggling for years.
The draft lottery odds have been flattened since 2019. The New Orleans Pelicans were seventh in the 2019 lottery odds but landed the top pick and emerging megastar Zion Williamson. So In reality, the Cavaliers could have a major playoff run and still end up with a high draft pick this upcoming 2021/2022 season. Take Memphis for example, whose young core greatly benefited from their play-in game during the NBA bubble two seasons ago. The Grizzlies entered the season with the LOWEST experience in the league. They had been aimlessly wandering through irrelevancy, just like Cleveland has been since ending the LeBron James era. Even without one of their best players all season in Jaron Jackson Jr. Memphis has had their best season in years. They’re on track to finish with their first winning record since 2016-17 and their first positive offensive rating since 2014-15. They ended up Losing in the Western Conference 1st Round. There are obviously various factors to consider other than the one play-in game when evaluating the Grizzlies’ ascent into the playoff picture. Having an elite talent in Ja Morant certainly helps. That being said, Memphis clearly looks like a rebuilding team taking the next step into relevance. The Cavs would be wise to take a page from their book. Cleveland wants to be where Memphis is in their rebuild. Cleveland with the youngest roster in the entire NBA, they are starting to build a talented untapped core of players that will be competitive for years to come.
What happened in the 2020/21 NBA season that stands out!?
THIRD-QUARTER STRUGGLES & INJURIES
The Cavs constantly played well defensively early, but it would always fall apart. They would put together good stretches in the first halves, but too often they started the second half flat. Among third-quarter statistics, Cleveland fared among the league’s worst in the following:
Last in points, averaging 25 points per quarter
29th in plus/minus getting outscored by an average of 2.6 points per quarter
Averaging 3.7 turnovers, ranking 22nd
Averaging 5.9 assists, ranking 23rd
Allowing opponents to shoot 41.3% on threes, ranking dead last
“We just came out flat in the third quarter. We’ve been dealing with that all year — the beginning of the first quarter and the beginning of the third quarter.”
-Darius Garland after a crucial loss to the Chicago Bulls.
In order to climb up the NBA standings, the Cavs can’t become complacent and need to start each half with more energy and ball movement.
That’s especially true when they’ve already put together a quality quarter. The consistency can’t wane from quarter to quarter if the Cavaliers are to climb the standings this upcoming season. Cleveland needs to have a winning record in these close games if they are to qualify for the Playoffs. Thankfully for our Cavs, many of the teams that where ahead of them in last years standings are now transitioning to a new core of players. The majority of the Cavs rotation was unhealthy last year. The organization finally assessed how their full-strength roster fits together and what needs to be added in the offseason. More immediately, a lighter injury report gives the 2021/22 Cavaliers their best shot at playoff games. In the best-case scenario, Cleveland qualifies for the Playoffs. The closer they get to the best-case scenario, the more faith the fanbase will have in the direction of the franchise. Hopefully, the worst-case scenario, they qualify for the play-in tournament, win two games to grab the eighth seed and take on a juggernaut one seed.
Win, Lose, Or Tie…I’m a Cavaliers fan Till the Day I Die! Lets Go Cavs!
