Cavs Mailbag: Will We See Expanded Bench For Rest Of Road Trip?
Welcome to Cavs Mailbag! In this daily mailbag, Spencer Davies will respond to fans’ curiosities surrounding the Cleveland Cavaliers throughout the duration of the 2023-24 season. In order to submit yours, simply send your questions on X to @SpinDavies or via email at spindavies22@gmail.com.
The Cavs continue their road trip on Monday night when they take on the Orlando Magic for the second time in less than a week, this time on the road. Cleveland is riding a three-game winning streak, but will be without Evan Mobley for the second straight contest.
Meanwhile, Orlando will surely be looking for revenge after dropping its previous meeting with the wine-and-gold last Wednesday, 121-111.
Let's get to your questions:
Friday's game could’ve EASILY gotten away early with fouls and injuries but they buckled down, opened up the bench and took over in the third quarter. Think we’ll see more of this caliber of expanded bench use on this road trip (with or without situational need like foul trouble)? - @HipsterTito
To be quite honest, I think the rotation in the Miami Heat matchup was off-kilter because of the foul trouble and Mobley's absence. Maybe seeing the results happen the way they did will make J.B. Bickerstaff consider it though? It's tough. He explained it to Cavs Insider last week with Cleveland having so many good smaller players.
Craig Porter Jr. is clearly an NBA-caliber point guard who should be playing on a night-to-night basis regardless of injuries, in my opinion. When Darius Garland got into that early predicament with four fouls, it forced the Cavs hand to get creative too.
I thought Sam Merrill came in with the right mindset and understood the assignment of shooting the ball when it touched his hands. Seeing Isaac Okoro at the 2, as we did on Wednesday vs. Orlando, was interesting.
Donovan Mitchell had another spectacular showing and made huge plays down the stretch. (What a night on the glass for him, by the way.)
With the big-man shuffle and Jarrett Allen needing a spell, Tristan Thompson was crucial in that win. Georges Niang was massive once again. Dean Wade did a hell of a job defensively. Max Strus was way off the whole game as a shooter, but did so many other things to help contribute.
Without Mobley, it had to be a team effort on the boards and on the defensive end. They got that on Friday. Now, against a Magic team tonight that is long and strong, will they be able to do that? Good question.
But to answer what you originally posed, I don't think we'll see the Cavs going 10 or 11 deep in Orlando — unless somebody records four fouls in the first half again.
Dec 8, 2023; Miami, Florida, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Craig Porter (9) shoots over Miami Heat guard Kyle Lowry (7) during the first half at Kaseya Center.
Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Yeah, why does 9-3 in the last 12 feel more like 3-9? - @MarkSkog
You know, I think one loss to the Portland Trail Blazers and eking out a win over the Detroit Pistons felt very doomsday-like. But to the team's credit, it's bounced back with quality wins back-to-back. It's telling to see how together the locker room is becoming too. They appear to be having fun with the game again.
Look, I'll be frank as somebody who's covered this franchise for a decent eight or so years now: Expectations are a double-edged sword. There's a reason so many of us enjoyed the 2021-22 season, even though it ended in a Play-In Tournament loss. It's because nobody saw it coming to that extent.
When teams know you're there now, it's a brand new ballgame. Last season was one big experiment to see how the Core Four works together. This year, that heat is turned up a notch because of the win-now offseason additions and seeing the kind of success the franchise had before the postseason disappointment vs. the New York Knicks happened.
All due respect, it feels like everybody is on edge and reacts to every possession game-by-game instead of looking at the macro-level stuff. Instead of watching a movie and taking in the experience in real time, we want the spoilers and to know whether or not something happened. And any slight sign of adversity makes people want to jump off the wagon. But the best teams do have to go through that stuff.
There's many out there who believe Bickerstaff also isn't right for the job. While I lean toward that maybe being the case, if the Cavs look how they did the last two games this week against legitimate competition on the road, that seat would cool down a bit. You can't argue against victories, right?
I'm also going to fight back against the "iso ball" argument I see in my mentions. This offense is diversified. There is movement from Strus in all facets, Niang stretches the floor and Mobley and Allen are acting as hubs in the middle. Garland is getting out of his turnover funk as of late, and Mitchell is starting to look like himself after a down stretch. They need all pieces and parts to play their roles and do it within the flow of a game. This is far from a one-man operation.
(To those at home: Look at every other team in the league late in games and show me your work that it doesn't get bogged down into 1-on-1 at the end. I will wait.)
The NBA season is an up-and-down experience. Just look at the standings!
Good question though, Mark.
