Article seems overly pessimistic and fails to awknowlege the limited options the Cavs have. Hopefully our players continue to develop and the offense imporves. Obviously new coach does not guarantee finals appearances, but not like any other move would.
by SteelFalcon0
8 Comments
I respect your opinion, but where is the article that you speak of?
The article is mostly fair, but fails to mention the development aspect in regards to Garland/Mobley. I don’t think anyone questions that without improvement, this team won’t amount to a contender. A lot of possibilities open up if Mobley keeps taking steps and Garland has a bounce back year.
TBH I find it pretty fair, its questions that a lot of us are still asking. I don’t think anyone but the most optimistic optimists think this team is suddenly going to be the favorite in the east just because we got rid of JB. The article talks about the big need at wing to help defend the Tatums and Giannis’s of the East and that’s a big need right now. I don’t think looking at this team objectively and giving an opinion is pessimistic necessarily.
idk the suns example is a little silly. yeah they didn’t win championships but they were a contender and that style elevated nash to an mvp player. he’s also underselling what kerr did to those warriors teams. spo in miami routinely elevates teams. coaching can only do so much but our coaching clearly wasn’t doing enough.
also mobley is going to guard big wings like tatum. we just need better wing depth.
“Let’s face it: the Cavaliers have a flawed roster. They don’t have any big wings to defend the Jayson Tatums of the world (unless Jaylon Tyson fills that role). They lack genuinely elite shooting. Their floor spacing leaves much to be desired, especially up front. On top of all that, Cleveland doesn’t have the same top-level talent as the legitimate contenders. ”
My takes:
1. i don’t think there is a need for a big wing to defend Tatum and Giannis if you have Mobley, Allen and Okoro (and Tyson and Wade I guess). You can live with mix-and-match there so long as there’s some rim protection.
2. pretty strong disagree on the genuinely elite shooting. we have a boatload of good to great shooters and our primary creators are good volume 3 point shooters as well. the stretch in Jan / Feb showed we can do pace and space and have enough.
3. floor spacing up front is an issue, but I think Mobley can be an effective playmaker at four finishing with length or five finishing with speed, and I think having Allen clean up the defensive board to outlet to Evan in transition would be very useful too. Zion is a non-shooting four as well, so it would have been interesting to see Borrego’s ideas for Mobley.
4. the top end talent is the biggest problem but we are going to have to solve for that with internal growth.
Setting aside questions about whether this is an AI article (SI got busted for that) roster is far more important than the coach. Assuming we get the same injury luck as last year, I expect we will get the same results if we run the team back. Maybe worse since I think the Sixers and Magic, two teams below us in the standings, both got better.
IMO it seemed like the front office was aware of that given the delay in letting Bickerstaff go. Seemed like they were happy with his performance, and only moved on because Don wanted a different style of coach. Guessing whatever friction was there with Garland’s role changes played a part too, though I expect Atkinson to use him similarly.
“Let’s face it: the Cavaliers have a flawed roster. They don’t have any big wings to defend the Jayson Tatums of the world (unless Jaylon Tyson fills that role). They lack genuinely elite shooting. Their floor spacing leaves much to be desired, especially up front.
On top of all that, Cleveland doesn’t have the same top-level talent as the legitimate contenders. Mitchell is terrific, but beyond him, there are question marks, especially after the disappointing campaign Darius Garland just endured.”
I agree with these points to an extent. But Donovan Mitchell is a superstar talent, followed by 3 all-star level talents. Many contenders don’t have that. *(Side note: even though I feel Darius Garland is redundant)*
But this article feels pointless. If you are talking championship *this* year, then we all know that’s not an realistic expectation. But a team’s long term success in competing for championships rarely depends on top talent alone. Which brings me to the first half of that quote…
The Cavs honestly have a handful of wings, but they’ve been largely unplayable. This is where coaching and development comes into play.
Luke Travers, Emoni Bates, Jaylon Tyson, and Dean Wade *all* have intriguing size and skill sets. JB was clearly not interested in developing them. Between Atkinson and the new assistant coaches, I am fairly optimistic in developing at least two of them into legitimate NBA players. *(another side note: personally I believe Tyson can play this year)* This could round out the back half of the roster and make the Cavs a long term viable option. Either by playing them or other teams seeing their value and offering a complementary trade piece.
*Still need a third big with at least decent shooting though*
Edit: *Craig Porter Jr., while not a wing, is a player that will 100% help teams win games*
Agreed but we wll knew the issues with this team wasnt just coaching. Its a combination of coaching, roster set up and health.