Does Cleveland Have What It Takes To Win The Eastern Conference?
Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley made up one of the better looking young trios in the league during the 2021-22 season and what made the Cleveland Cavaliers an even more intriguing team was the fact that Collin Sexton was working his way back from a meniscus injury suffered early on in the season.
Now, Cleveland still has their three young stars, but they made a significant upgrade from Collin Sexton by going out and trading for three-time All-Star Donovan Mitchell.
The Cavaliers have very quickly turned themselves into a continuing threat in the Eastern Conference, even though they have not made the playoffs since 2018, and what makes this group special is that they are extremely young.
Evan Mobley (21), Darius Garland (22), Jarrett Allen (24) and Donovan Mitchell (26) are all young stars in the NBA that have yet to reach the prime of their respective careers and all four players are under contract through the 2024-25 season at the very least.
Having a great blend of youthful and experienced talent as well, the Cleveland Cavaliers are preparing for the 2022-23 season looking like an actual championship threat on paper. When you compare them to the likes of the Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics though, how good can Cleveland actually be?
“The acquisition of Donovan Mitchell presented us with an incredible opportunity to bring one of the NBA’s most dynamic young All-Stars to Cleveland,” Cavaliers President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman said in a statement released by the team. “We are excited to see the impact that someone of Donovan’s caliber can bring to the Cavaliers with his ability to score the basketball, but also make plays for his teammates.”
Obviously there is going to be a lot of talk about this team’s star-studded backcourt of Garland and Mitchell, but the Cavs frontcourt may be just as good. Mobley and Allen are two of the better players at their respective positions in the league and Cleveland also has some experienced depth in their frontcourt with Kevin Love and Robin Lopez.
Cleveland’s offseason moves have not gone unnoticed, as many around the league are very aware of the challenge this team could present to their own squad during the 2022-23 season.
“Every team strives to have a great balance of youthful talents who are ready to contribute right away and veteran, experienced players that can hold things together for a championship contending team,” one Eastern Conference executive told Fastbreak on FanNation. “Cleveland has achieved both of these things this offseason and the addition of Donovan Mitchell may just be a franchise-altering trade for them, especially when you look at what they gave up to get him.
“They now have the best scoring backcourt in the conference and a Top-5 frontcourt as well. Assuming they stay healthy, that’s a young group that nobody in this league wants to see in May.”
Perhaps the best aspect of the Cavaliers heading into the 2022-23 season is the leadership they have on their roster. Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen both stepped into bigger roles with the team a season ago, Donovan Mitchell has proven to be the leader of his team over the years and both Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio own the respect of this locker room.
This team now has depth at every single position and that is very apparent when you look at their roster on paper.
Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Ricky Rubio and Raul Neto make up the backcourt, Isaac Okoro, Caris LeVert, Cedi Osman and Dean Wade give this team some firepower out on the wing and as mentioned earlier, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, Kevin Love and Robin Lopez make up a lengthy and smart frontcourt.
Assuming they can remain a physical, hungry defensive team and rank inside the Top-10 in defensive rating once again, this team has what it takes to finish inside the Top-4 of the Eastern Conference. Better yet, they could realistically go on a run similar to that of the Atlanta Hawks in 2021.
Atlanta ended up making it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals as the 5-seed in the conference and if they can remain healthy, the Cavaliers could realistically follow in the Hawks footsteps.
Scoring ultimately held Cleveland back from making the playoffs a season ago and now, they have at least six players on their roster who could all score double-digit points every single game and a team that could wind up being very dangerous in transition given their athleticism.
Maybe it is bold to say that this team could win the Eastern Conference seeing as their core is still very young and inexperienced when it comes to the playoffs, but they are going to be a dangerous team late in the season that could present a ton of nightmares for opposing championship contenders in the conference. The Cavaliers are going to be in the playoffs this upcoming season and from there, who knows what could happen!
