Preseason Recap: Philadelphia 113, Cleveland 112 (or, the Holidays Start Early)

I always say that preseason basketball is like having family stay for the holidays: you’re thrilled on arrival, and even more thrilled on departure. Spida Mitchell & the Cavs brought lots of presents, even if a couple way under the tree stunk. This year, the arrival seems especially exciting, as we didn’t even get a wine and gold scrimmage before the Cavs’ first preseason tip-off. Unless you’ve been watching Youtube videos or have access to practice, you’ve not even been able to shake the boxes on your Christmas presents yet. Well, the first showing for the Mitchell-led Cavaliers did not disappoint. Spida looked every bit the player we’d hoped with quick and precise web slingers from behind the arc, and explosive trips to the basket.

The Starters

Donavan Mitchell led Cleveland playing a regular first half rotation with 16 points on nine shots and five assists to just two turnovers in 19 minutes. He wen’t 3-4 from downtown and just accelerates to the basket with Spida strength every time he gets a step on anyone. If you’re parallel to him, you’ve already lost. You’re going down like the Rino or Bullseye when he has you on his hip. Donovan, Darius, and Caris were interchangeable handling the ball and all three did a fantastic job of giving it up and getting it back moving without the ball. It’s going to be very difficult to tilt defenses to one side of the court when there will always be a plus ball handler on the other wing to take advantage of the weak side of the D. Garland dropped 12 and four dimes with zero turnovers and was a game high +7 while LeVert added seven and three – all on good percentages. Everyone showed decent pick-and roll handling and moved and cut well against scrambling defenses.

As for the big men, Kevin Love, starting for the injured Mobley, was lights out shooting, draining three triples in the first few minutes. In fact, the Cavs’ first 15 points came off threes, and having someone absolutely unafraid to shoot seems like a major advantage for Cleveland. Love also gobbled up all the rebounds to finish with nine points and seven boards in just 16 minutes. Jarrett Allen struggled with some bunnie and ended up an uncharacteristic 3-7 from the floor. JA did have a couple very difficult finishes to balance it out, and generally looked fine with a 5/2/1 Pts/Rebs/Assists line in 16 minutes. With the amount of talent in the starting five for Cleveland, not everyone is going to (or have to) look like a world beater every night.

The important thing to note here, is that the starters played very well together and led Cleveland to a 64-60 first half lead. Defense was optional though, as Tyrese Maxey dropped 21 on 9-11 shooting in just 15 minutes. The Cavs did do a nice job of containing Harden (or letting Harding contain himself). Joel Embiid didn’t look particularly interested, and fell out of bed to sleepily score 12 with six rebounds. Aside from the human road block, PJ Tucker setting brutal screens for shooters in the corners and manhandling Cavs on the boards, the starting Cavs cared a lot more about this one than the starting Sixers.

The Rotation

In the battle for the starting small forward spot, Levert had great chemistry with the starters, while Dean Wade looked like Kevin Love lite: fearlessly firing away from a foot behind the line any time he was open, and played good D (except for the time Harden broke his ankles) to finish with 11/5/0 line. In terms of floor stretching and ability to blend with any unit, Dean could be that guy. If Caris is the starter, my plan would be for him to go to the bench at the five minute mark, Bring in Wade, and let two of the Cavs’ perimeter starters always be on the floor.

Cedi was the same guy we remember: solid when he’s in a catch-and-shoot possession, maddening when he tries to do too much, finishing with three turnovers.

Ice had a couple nice drives to the bucket, but his one attempt at an above the break three was a badly formed clanker, and his corner J overshot the rim by 3 feet. Okoro also got outmuscled by PJ Tucker for rebounds a couple times, that Ice should have had (to be fair, Tuck does this to a lot of guys). Ice did have a very slick and-1 cutting behind a Mitchell drive and bouncing off Embiid to throw a looping layup into the basket (I think it’s in the Mitchell highlights). Isaac Okoro looked… OK: not starting material on this squad, but I see improvement (everywhere but shooting). 7/3/0 in 17 minutes is passable.

Robin Lopez is a fun character, but he looked like Rusty the ground bound Klown. Rolo was repeatedly dusted by guys getting to the rim, had no ability to defend outside of 10 feet, and grabbed just one rebound in 13 minutes. It’s preseason, and Lopez’s shit-giving meter has not amped up yet, so I’m gonna chalk it up to that. The man also sets a very solid screen. It remains to be seen if Rolo is a rotation guy or this year’s Ed Davis.

The Benchwarmers

Raul Neto is a professional NBA point guard. He was great running the offense as a part of the rotation when he had guys to distribute to. When he was out there with the scrubs, it wasn’t pretty, and he got beat up. Neto put up 12/0/2. He got to the line, and his jumper looked fly, but he’s not gonna carry your offense if you put him with bad players.

Isaiah Mobley was interesting. I loved his screen game, and his pick-and-roll footwork was very good. He also had a couple fantastic passes that led to great looks or free throws. His defensive positioning is good, and he has a touch of face-up game. You can see so much of where Evan built his bag from, but he’s just not nearly as fluid or athletic as his younger brother. Honestly, I’d like to see Isaiah get Lopez’s minutes in the rotation next game because despite going -7, he had a nice game, scrapping for loose balls, handling well, and scoring trash around the basket: 4/6/0 in 16 minutes.

Lamar Stevens and R.J. Nembhard smelled like someone gifted me a cheese and sausage pack, but it sat in a 120 degree warehouse in California for a week before it ended up under my tree. I like Lamar the person, and I get what he brings to the team, but man do I hate watching him. Lamar bricked his way to 1-4 from the field with a few turnovers (though credited for two, he contributed to more). Lamar did hustle his way to his lone field goal: a tip dunk on a break to tie the game with 30 seconds left. Lamar then replaced the stellar Mamadi Diakite guarding Montrezl Harrell on the next possession and was summarily SMOKED by Trez on a drive to give Philly the game. A large part of me really wishes that Koby would take the temptation to play Stevens away from J.B.

Nembhard didn’t look like an NBA player and hot dog fingersed his way to an 0-7 minus-twelve night. He was routinely roasted by the Shake Miltons and De’Anthony Meltons of the world. I shall not pile on, but his odds of hanging on to that two-way spot just dropped, especially with the emergence of Mamadi Diakite.

Hailing from Guinea, and picking up a ring at Virginia, the 25-year-old was everywhere on D: three blocks in the box score (I counted at least five) and many altered shots around the rim. The dude can get UP to block some shots. At 6-9, 225, Mamadi has the chops to play the four, and maybe the five in some bench units. He can also reportedly shoot from deep (7-14 in his lone G-League season), and his touch and footwork around the basket was very good: 4-5 from the field. MD was light years better than Lopez and Stevens, and should get some real minutes at the backup big spots in pre-season. I am of course the guy who thought Thon Maker looked great in his Cavs debut, so take my analysis with a grain of salt,  but the Cavs could do a lot worse than giving Mamadi a non-guaranteed 15th spot on the roster.

Sharife Cooper ran the zoo crew offense and showed why he was pretty well regarded coming out of college. He’s quick as hell, has a nice handle, and can score in tight spots with floaters and funky Js. His jumper footwork is ugly, and he barrelled into some defenders when driving with his head down a couple times, but for a group that desperately needed some scoring, he brought it with 11/0/2 and one turnover in 8 minutes. Sharife drove on the final meaningful possession with the Cavs down two and kicked it to the left corner, but as Chris Francis noted in the live thread, the pass was a little off the shooting pocket, and Nate Hinton couldn’t get the trey to go. The play noted Sharife’s problem: he’s quick, but he gets swallowed up inside. He needs to hit the weight room to have the strength to finish and to kick the ball out strongly. Cooper did hit a bank shot three to cut the diff to one with a second left, but it was too late by then. I’d like to see him get Nembhard’s two-way spot and work towards filling Neto’s role next season.

All-in-all, the game was a blast, and I was just so excited to see my family get off the plane. See you Saturday for the W&G scrimmage.