There isn’t much that the Cleveland Cavaliers could do to turn into a playoff squad this year. The Cavs, in the second year of their post-LeBron James rebuild, are near the cellar in the Eastern Conference, and are chock full of players trying to figure out what they are. Add in that the squad features a head coach who is in his first year of overseeing an NBA team and this year’s bunch has experienced some major — albeit expected — growing pains.
If there is any good news, it’s that the Cavaliers appear to have a plan, and while losing is hard, the franchise has a vision of how it wants this year to be part of a process to get the team back to the postseason sometime soon. And with this being the spirit of giving, our holiday wishlist for the team places an emphasis on them doing two things: Giving some players to other franchises, and doling out more minutes to a handful of guys who aren’t going anywhere.
#1: Find Trade Partners For Some Of Their Veterans
The Cavs, as much as any team on the outside looking in of the postseason, should have both eyes on the future. Their rotation is chock full of youngsters who are still figuring out how to play with one another, and dedicating as much time as possible to that would be wise. Cleveland has, admittedly, done a decent job of this — of the team’s 2,698 possessions this year, per Cleaning the Glass, only 117 haven’t included one of their recent guard draft picks (Darius Garland, Kevin Porter Jr., Collin Sexton) — but it is still dedicating playing time to some older dudes who could be attractive to contenders and yield future assets in the process.
They kicked this off on Monday by dealing Jordan Clarkson to the Jazz for Dante Exum and a pair of second round picks. The question is who is next to be dealt and who will have to stay in town past early February. Tristan Thompson’s expiring deal would assuredly attract some interest on the trade market (maybe from the Clippers, who could use some added size), and while Kevin Love is a tougher case due to the big money he’s owed in the future, he’s still an awfully good basketball player who knows what it takes to win a ring. The team has time until the trade deadline, but once it gets here, taking the best deals available on those players wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world.
#2: Air Some Grievances
I am writing this on Festivus, and boy, does it sound like the Cavs could use a full-blown airing of some grievances. Their roster has a weird mix of veterans and youngsters, which is a tough thing for an experienced NBA coach to balance. Of course, Cleveland is not overseen by a veteran NBA coach, and it’s been reported that there have been some major growing pains as John Beilein has gotten used to life in the league. As such, the team coming together and figuring out how it can get past those various issues in a constructive way would be pretty good, both in the short term and — assuming Beilein is the man to lead the team going forward (and it certainly sounds like he is) — long term. I recommend playing laser tag.
#3: Embrace The Youth And See Them Grow
The good news here is that Cleveland has done a pretty decent job of this. The team has eight players who average 20+ minutes a game, with two of them being rookies (Garland, Porter) and one sophomore (Sexton). Young rotation players like Cedi Osman and Larry Nance also get a solid amount of run, while rookie marksman Dylan Windler will give them some much-needed shooting whenever he makes his debut. In the event they can figure out moves for guys like Love and Thompson that net younger players and/or picks, a la what happened with Jordan Clarkson, that makes this much easier. But still, to repeat something from a lil earlier, this Cavs team should have both eyes on the future, and the allocation of minutes in its rotation should reflect that.
As they continue to play together, the Cavs will want to see their young players start putting things together. Beilein will want to see better offensive flow, starting with his young lead guards becoming more willing and capable passers within his offensive system. Defensively, there’s plenty of work to be done as they learn to play both individual and team defense at the NBA level. Giving the youngsters opportunities to work through things is critical, but along the way they’ll be evaluating who is progressing, who is not, and what roles they belong in going forward.
