The Cleveland Cavaliers are coming off a disappointing second-round exit. A sweep of Miami led to the most lopsided playoff series in NBA history, with a 122-point margin of victory through 4 games. The Pacers proved too much to overcome in the following series and sent us packing early. Now staring into a wide-open Eastern Conference, what can this year’s squad do? The bigger question: Will it be enough to bring Cleveland our first-ever championship without Lebron?
While we kept the core four, there are a few major additions and losses to this year’s Cavs squad: First off, we cannot overlook the loss of Ty Jerome. He was an incredible fire-starter last year, and the team will feel the after-effects of his departure. This is compounded by the continuation of Darius Garland’s toe injury; he will most likely be out for a few weeks. Max Strus is also looking at a similar recovery timeline, and De’Andre Hunter’s game 1 status is up in the air after he sustained a knee injury in the final preseason game. All of this leads us to our first major addition, Lonzo Ball.
Ball has struggled with injuries all throughout his career, and we may never see his true ceiling. However, from what we saw in preseason, ‘Zo is playing with a pass-first mentality, Something that Ty Jerome never did. We did lose one other piece, really for cap reasons, and that is, Isaac Okoro. Ice had plenty of offensive struggles, but he was a gritty, hustle player who made plays that didn’t show up on the stat sheet. He will be missed.
We have two more acquisitions to focus on. The most centrally important would be Thomas Bryant. One thing the Cavs lacked last year was physicality and depth at the big position. We were bested, time and time again, by physical teams in general, but more specifically, by physical Power Forwards and Centers. Thomas Bryant is an aggressive big man. He’ll make the gritty plays and provide some much-needed rest for JA and Evan Mobley.
The second important acquisition was Tyrese Proctor. The guard from Duke has shown impressive flashes in preseason and may get some early-season minutes with DG and Strus’s injuries. Larry Nance Jr. is also returning, although we pretty much already know what his ceiling is.
It is important to note the gaping hole that is Eastern Conference title contenders. A Tatum-less Celtics (at least for the majority of the season) and a Haliburton-less Pacers have left our biggest EC competitors from last year injured and (hopefully) out of contention. Houston added KD, and the Knicks always put up a good fight, but the real test for this team will be one administered by ourselves. Can we stay healthy, and can we stay hungry? The boys have to want to fight for it, and they have to be able to be in tip-top shape come playoff time. DG, in a recent interview, said that he believes we would’ve gone all the way if it weren’t for injuries.
This is the year. The core four, a full season of De’Andre Hunter, new backup bigs, some new young draft talent, and ‘Zo. If not now, when? If not this team, who? Time for Spida to bring the Larry O’Brien back to The Land.
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