Cavaliers' Path to an Elite Offense Starts With These Key Pieces

Cleveland has an offense that already feels overpowered in a sense, but come the Eastern Conference Finals, they were shut down.

Going into the 2026-27 season a few players have some expanded roles and new guys are coming in and helping out on both sides of the ball. There are three key pieces that can make this offense even better.

Peyton Watson’s Athleticism

We all saw last season as Donovan Mitchell progressed through the season he attacked the rim less and less, while taking a ton more shots outside the paint and it was killing the team offensively when trying to build a lead or mount a comeback.

Watson brings in some young athleticism to the team and a presence offensively that Cleveland was missing, which was transition baskets. In the Playoffs, the Toronto Raptors in their series were able to get to seven games through that transition offense and it did not feel that the Cavs had their own fastbreak scorer.

The 24-year old winger does not have to come in and cover an entire offense with Donovan Mitchell and James Harden in his backcourt, he said in his introductory presser that he can be more than a 3-and-D player. He can do that by getting to the basket and hitting shots.

Bench Perimeter Playmaking

Kenny Atkinson and the Cavs have slowly built a very specific kind of offense on the bench going into this season. Sam Merrill, Mario Hezonja, Meleek Thomas, Thomas Bryant and Jaylon Tyson are all above average perimeter players.

It feels like one of the primary sources of offense they wanted to work on was being able to make plays and score when Donovan Mitchell and James Harden were off the court.

Leaving these guys on the bench to come out and hit a ton of threes to build leads early into games or try to mount a comeback while Mitchell is getting some rest, either way, this bench has to be shooting above 35% from the three this season to really feel deadly offensively.

Most of that burden will likely lie heavily on Sam Merrill and his expanded presence offensively after the Max Strus trade.

Jarrett Allen and James Harden

The pick and roll might end up being one of the best options with that starting lineup going into this season and if the rumors are true that Jarrett Allen has been working on his perimeter shooting.

It is known that James Harden works well with all of his bigs through the pick and roll and they ran some perfect pick and rolls last season. If Allen has started hitting perimeter shots consistently it changes how his defenders move.

Pulling a big out of the pain gives him the opportunity for a “one-more” pass to an open player to drive the basket. Or maybe they leave him there and then he can hit a big three.

Cleveland has potential to really compete in the East, but what is considered a success of a season?

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