With a 114-113 victory over the Brooklyn Nets, the Cleveland Cavaliers tipped off what they hope will be an excellent season. Here are three keys to make sure the team meets expectations in 2023-2024.
3. The new guys mesh well and the depth improves
Since trading for Donovan Mitchell, the Cavs have fielded one of the best starting lineups in the NBA: Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Caris LeVert (now Max Strus), Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen. However, the bench unit was lacking last season, and the front office made it a priority to build the depth surrounding the starters.
Signing Strus allows LeVert to move to the bench, where he'll likely function as the second unit's primary scorer and potentially its primary ball-handler as well. Georges Niang should provide some decent wing defense as well as quality outside shooting, and the hope is that Ty Jerome and possibly even Emoni Bates could also earn some minutes. Damian Jones takes over the backup center spot from Robin Lopez and should be a better fit there.
Strus's Cleveland career is off to a superb start, as he scored 27 points on 52.9 percent shooting while grabbing 12 rebounds. It's unlikely he'll offer that level of excellence on a nightly basis, but he should be a great fit for this team. The new additions slotting in effectively and spelling the starters will be extremely important, especially once the playoffs arrive.
2. Evan Mobley takes the next step
Mobley made the All-Defensive first team last season and improved in almost every statistic in year two, but the 22-year-old is still just scratching the surface of his potential, and as a good basketball player once said, the ceiling is the roof. He has rare size, length, and movement ability for a big man, and has an outside game still waiting to be developed. He's an extremely effective player right now, but he could be so much more, and if he starts to take a big leap forward, the Cavs become so much more dangerous than they already are.
He debuted his ability to take over games a bit last season, scoring 31 points against the Denver Nuggets, and a career-high 38 against the Milwaukee Bucks. He's a good offensive player right now, but if he can just add a little bit more, it opens up a lot of possibilities, both for him and for the rest of the team. If he remains effectively the same guy he was last year, that's still a league-best versatile defender and a consistent 15 points per night, which is not bad at all.
1. The Cavs gets more physical
Making their first playoff appearance without LeBron James since 1997-1998, there was a lot of hype for Cleveland's first-round series against the New York Knicks. Unfortunately, the lights were too bright for the young group, and they were thoroughly outplayed by NYK, falling four games to one.
The series really was not nearly as close as the box score may indicate, and the Cavaliers were just out-physicaled by New York. The Knicks averaged 15 offensive rebounds per game, which for context, would have led the league last season by 1.6 (the Houston Rockets averaged 13.4 per night).
Tristan Thompson is not a rotation-level player at this point in his career and was brought in as a mentor, so Cleveland will be counting on Mobley, Allen, and Jones to be more effective on the glass.
If the Cavaliers can focus on these three things, they can not only advance in the playoffs, but contend for an NBA Finals berth.