After trading for Donovan Mitchell in the 2022 NBA offseason, the Cleveland Cavaliers put together their first roster this century that was good enough to make the NBA playoffs without LeBron James. Some may have labeled the Cavaliers season a success just for making the playoffs, but after going out in a measly five games in the first round to the New York Knicks many believe the season brought more concern than joy.
For all the jokes made about Jarrett Allen's, "the lights were brighter than expected," comments after being eliminated. it was true. The Cavaliers folded as the New York Knicks attacked their most glaring weaknesses and never dug in and found a way to counter.
The paint remained clogged whenever Allen and Evan Mobley shared the floor due to their lack of shooting and spacing. This made life very difficult for Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell, limiting their ability to knife into opposing defenses and draw them in.
Their wing depth was so bad that even Danny Green played 10 minutes per game in the playoffs. Isaac Okoro played 15 minutes per game and Cedi Osman played nearly 20 minutes per game. All due respect to those players, but that isn't going to cut it in April.
After their blockbuster trade last summer, the Cavaliers spent the 2023 NBA offseason improving on the margins. Here's where they should be drastically improved for the 2023-24 NBA season.
3. Max Strus and Georges Niang will greatly improve the Cleveland Cavaliers shooting
If you don't have knockdown shooters and are unable to adequately space the floor in the modern NBA, you're not winning anything. Last season, the Cavaliers had two good 3-point shooters on high volume: Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell. For as talented as these players are, they cannot drive and kick the ball to themselves. They need legitimate 3-point threats alongside them, especially if Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen are going to continue to play together.
After Garland and Mitchell, the Cavaliers next best shooters were Caris Levert who shot 39 percent on 4.4 attempts per game, Cedi Osman who shot 37 percent on 4.1 attempts per game, and Isaac Okoro who shot 36 percent on just over two attempts per game. Even though Levert's and Osman's numbers are decent, they are not huge catch-and-shoot threats. They do not have the gravity of an elite shooter that will open the floor for Mitchell, Garland, Mobley, and Allen.
That's why the Cavaliers pursued shooting this summer. They went out and signed Max Strus from the Miami Heat and Georges Niang from the Philadelphia 76ers. Strus has shot 37 percent from 3 on over 1,000 attempts in his career, and Niang is widely known as one of the best knockdown shooters in the league. He's shot 40 percent on over 1,400 career attempts.
These two will feast on open looks for the Cavaliers next season, and in return will make life easier for Mitchell and Garland. Strus is also a decent defender, and Niang can be hidden on the defensive end thanks to Mobley's ability to comfortably defend wings. The Cavaliers have a great pair in Strus and Niang, and they could be two of the most underrated signings of the summer.
2. The Cleveland Cavaliers will have much better depth and versatility for the 2023-24 season
Max Strus and Georges Niang not only provide the Cleveland Cavaliers with better floor spacing, but they also provide them with more depth and overall team versatility. The reason the New York Knicks were able to exploit the Cavaliers' weaknesses so easily in the 2023 playoffs was that the Cavaliers did not have the depth to shake things up.
Their best five-man lineup was Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Caris Levert, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen which posted a net rating of 15.1 in the regular season. After that, two of their three best lineups included swapping in Isaac Okoro for either Garland or Mitchell. The same lineup, but worse, and filled with the same weaknesses.
This left them very vulnerable against good teams who could capitalize on their lack of spacing and stall out their offense, which is exactly what the Knicks did. With Strus and Niang though, the Cavaliers can experiment more. If one of those players alone does not offer enough spacing to free up the offense, they can play them both together and only play one of Mobley or Allen. They could also keep Levert out on the floor to have three players who like to attack off the dribble, use one of Strus or Niang, and have Allen or Mobley protect the rim.
The Cavaliers have more tricks up their sleeve for the 2023-24 NBA season and more ways to beat their opponents. That could be enough to deliver their first non-LeBron James playoff series win since he entered the league.
1. This Cleveland Cavaliers core has playoff experience now. That matters.
The lights may have been brighter than Jarrett Allen and his teammates expected, but that excuse cannot fly for the 2023-24 NBA season. With the 2023 playoffs under their belt, this core needs to grow and learn from that disappointing experience together.
Allen and Mobley specifically need to figure out how they fit together on offense. The two of them have a limited range which could be enough to generate a repeat of their 2023 post-season failures if neither of them has figured out a way to make their partnership more malleable.
The off-season additions the Cavaliers made were necessary moves, but they also need Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Allen, and Evan Mobley to improve themselves. Heading into the series against the Knicks, many picked the Cavaliers to win because their core was perceived to be better and they had home-court advantage. Roster limitations aside, the Cavaliers stars underperformed.
If they can learn from this experience, and grow from these struggles, then the disappointment of the 2023 offseason, the home run trade for Mitchell, and recent offseason additions could all be worth it, and setting this team up for a deeper playoff run than expected. If they didn't learn from their experience though, then most of this was not worth it.