Cavalier Questions

With just a week (finally!) until training camp, now seems like a great time to ask some of the many questions Cleveland Cavalier fans have about their team. With a new head coach, made over coaching staff, and three rookies on the roster, this is the beginning of a whole new era for the Cavs. Obviously, no one knows for sure what will happen, but we all have our opinions. Take a gander at our questions on the upcoming season and share your thoughts below!

Do Darius Garland and Collin Sexton start together immediately?

Whether or not Sexton and Garland can fit together as the long-term backcourt of the future won’t be known for some time. Both players have too much to work on, especially in terms of defense and passing, to make any sweeping proclamations until both are more fully developed. It could be a few seasons before we truly know if they can work together as starters. The more pressing question is how soon the pair of lottery picks will be thrown into the fire together. While both are considered core pieces of the team, it wouldn’t be a total shock if they didn’t start together immediately. Sexton came off the bench behind George Hill at the beginning of last season. Would the Cavaliers try the same tactic with Garland? It’s also been reported that some within the Cavaliers organization think that Sexton’s NBA future is as a scoring guard off the bench. Could that future be now? Given that the Cavaliers don’t have another guard on the level of Hill, it seems likely that Sexton and Garland will begin the season as starters. Still, nothing is definite, and it would behoove coach John Beilein to make Garland earn his spot if he wants to have the respect of the team’s veterans.

If they do, who are the backup guards?

Besides Sexton and Garland, the Cavaliers have veterans Jordan Clarkson, Matthew Dellavedova, and Brandon Knight on the roster. Newcomers Kevin Porter Jr. and Sindarius Thornwell will likely see time at shooting guard. Each of the five players brings something to the table. Clarkson is a fairly dynamic, if inefficient, scorer off the bench. He can shoot your team into a game, or shoot them right out of it. He’s also a weak defender who will take the ball out of the hands of Sexton and Garland. Dellavedova is a sound floor general and decent outside shooter who always plays hard and competes defensively. He can play on or off the ball and would seem to be the kind of steady veteran presence the Cavaliers would want around Sexton and Garland. Still, Delly has always been a limited player in terms of his athleticism and finishing ability, and has struggled to stay healthy the past few seasons. Knight shot the three ball fairly well upon joining the Cavaliers last season, and his play helped Sexton develop into an off-ball threat. He also plays very little defense and doesn’t seem to have the same athleticism he had before tearing his ACL. Thornwell is arguably the Cavaliers’ best perimeter defender, but might also be their most limited offensive player. Porter Jr. showed flashes of big time talent in college, but was plagued by inconsistency on the court and immaturity off of it.

Clarkson would seem like a heavy front runner for minutes, but any of the other four could play a significant role or be out of the rotation entirely. All are battling for their place with the Cavaliers and possibly in the NBA as a whole.

How does Cedi Osman fit into the Cavaliers’ long-term plans?

Osman is currently eligible for a contract extension before hitting restricted free agency next summer, and while he and the Cavaliers have talked, nothing seems imminent. During his first two seasons with the Cavaliers, Osman has shown potential as a playmaker and shooter who does a good job on the glass for a wing. He has also shown some ability to defend players his own size or smaller, but struggles tremendously when guarding bigger players. Improved consistency from Osman would go a long way towards showing the Cavaliers that he can be their long-term answer at small forward. More of the same, and the Cavaliers will have to consider the idea that Osman is best served as a bench piece on a good team. Considering the team’s lack of depth at the three outside of Osman and Dylan Windler, it looks like they are willing to bet on Cedi. The question is, how much? There’s a big difference in pay between a player who can be a starter on a good team versus your average bench rotation wing. An overpay this early in the team’s rebuild could have disastrous consequences.

Can Kevin Love stay healthy?

There’s little doubt about Love’s ability to impact his team’s level of play. When he was on the court last season, the Cavaliers looked like a bad NBA team, but an NBA team nonetheless. When he was hurt, they looked like a flaming dumpster fire that would struggle in the G League. He is easily the team’s best player, and having Love as the offensive focus allows the younger players to slot into roles more appropriate for their development. He is the team’s undisputed leader both on and off the court.

The problem is that he hasn’t been on the court very much lately. Love hasn’t played more than 60 games in any of the past three seasons due to injury, and suited up for just 22 contests last season. While most of his injuries have seemed more like flukes rather than chronic issues, there’s little doubt that Love has been a bit injury-prone for much of his career. If he can stay on the floor, it would go a long way towards helping the Cavaliers’ play this season, as well as the development of their younger players. If he can’t, then things could get ugly.

What is the big man rotation outside of Love and Larry Nance Jr.?

Love is a lock to start and play a lot of minutes when healthy. Nance is also a core piece, and may very well start alongside Love. Outside of that, the Cavaliers have a mix of solid but flawed frontcourt players in Tristan Thompson, John Henson, and Ante Zizic. There have been rumblings the Cavs plan on playing Love more at center this season, with Nance alongside him at power forward. While those labels may have to be somewhat interchangeable on a team with so many traditional big men, all three of Thompson, Henson, and Zizic are really centers and it may make sense to start one of them alongside Love, while Nance comes off the bench in order to balance out the rotation.

Whatever the rotation is, there will likely be at least one odd man out. Zizic has a nice touch around the basket, and the Cavalier’s point differential was better with him on the court than off, but he’s a fairly immobile defender who doesn’t match up well with Love on that end of the floor. Henson is the best shot blocker of the group, and that’s a skill the Cavaliers lacked last season. He also showed some potential as a stretch big in 14 games with the Bucks last season before requiring wrist surgery and being traded to the Cavs. He’s also been a solid lob threat for most of his career. As far as negatives go, Henson is an average at best rebounder whose thin frame allows him to be pushed around a bit on defense. The biggest knock however, is that Henson’s play has never really translated into winning. The majority of the teams he played on in Milwaukee were worse with him on the floor, and the Bucks were always looking for an upgrade. Finally, there’s Thompson. The former Iron Man of the Cavaliers was playing very well for the Cavs before suffering his own injuries last season. He’s also a locker room leader who has a history of playing well with Love on the biggest of stages. The concerns with Thompson are two-fold. One, has the injuries of the past few seasons permanently affected his level of play? Also, Thompson is very good at the things he does well, and tends to stick to those things, but is extremely limited as a player. Can a big man who can neither stretch the floor nor protect the rim be a major piece in an NBA that puts a greater premium on those skills than ever before? John Beilein and his coaching staff will have to figure that out as they try to determine the frontcourt rotation.

How will the Cavaliers try to balance out their roster?

More than ever before, the NBA prioritizes versatile wings who can create for themselves and others, stretch the floor, and guard multiple positions. As the league looks for effective wings, the Cavaliers’ roster is full of combo guards and traditional big men. At some point, general manager Koby Altman will need to make some moves to balance out the roster. With five large expiring deals in Thompson, Knight, Dellavedova, Clarkson, and Henson, there will be some opportunity to do so as the season goes on. How and when Altman tries to do this and how it affects the Cavaliers’ future plans is an important situation to keep an eye on.

How does John Beilein adjust to coaching in the NBA?

Outside of the development of Garland and Sexton, how Beilein adjusts to coaching in the NBA after a successful tenure at Michigan is the most important story for both the present and future of the Cavaliers. Beilein has a reputation as a coach of great integrity who connects with his players and does a great job of helping them develop into the best versions of themselves on the court. He’s also proven to be a great offensive coach who understands the value of analytics in today’s game. Beilein also empowered his assistant coaches at Michigan to build a great defense, and his coaching staff of J.B. Bickerstaff, Lindsay Gottlieb, Antonio Lang, and Dan Geriot all have reputations as great people and tremendous basketball minds.

Still, there are reasons to be concerned. Will Beilein be able to deal with the likely losing that is coming as the Cavaliers continue their rebuild? Will he be able to connect with NBA players the same way he did with college ones? Will his offensive and defensive schemes translate to the next level? It’s an awkward question, but at 66 years old, is he a real long-term coaching solution for the Cavaliers? These are tough questions to ask, but for every Brad Stevens and Billy Donovan who have been able to successfully make the jump from college coaching to the NBA, there are guys like Rick PItino and John Calipari who struggled with the change.

The Cleveland Cavaliers aren’t the title contenders they were a few years ago, and it looks like they may be one of the worst teams in the NBA for the second year in a row. Still, rebuilding teams can be very interesting, and with the many questions surrounding them, the Cavaliers give us a lot of great reasons to follow them closely as the season unfolds.