Fedor checks in with a preseason column that is both optimistic and realistic.
The playoff invite list is now technically 20. A four-team increase. Two additions from each conference that will join the seventh and eighth seeds in a Play-In-Tournament where anything can happen.
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If Garland and Porter can take significant steps forward from last year, if Drummond/McGee provide better play in the pivot than TT, and if Okoro and Windler can work their way into the rotation as solid contributors, this team can be a lot better than last year. That's a lot of unknowns.
There's also the question of fit. How well can JBB get these pieces to fit together so the whole is greater than the sum of the parts? There are so many possible combinations. How quickly can JBB find out which ones work best together? There's going to be a lot of experimentation in the early going. We seem to have a decent mix of ball-dominant scorer types (Sexton, Porter, Love, Drummond) and guys who don't need a lot of shots (Garland, Nance, Cedi, Okoro, McGee, Delly, Dotson).
There's a lot of individual scoring talent between Sexton, Porter, Love and Drummond. JBB needs to find a system where they all get enough shots to stay happy and productive while fitting in the other pieces around them.
I'm really looking forward to the passing. From what I saw last year Garland is an excellent passer. So is Porter, to the point where the Cavs were discussing using him as an initiator similar to James Harden. Love is an excellent passer as is Nance. Sexton was improving at the end of last season. I'm expecting a lot of ball movement and unselfish passing leading to high percentage shots.
We also have solid three-point shooting between Garland, Sexton, Love, Nance, and reportedly Windler. Porter has been working on getting more loft to his shot so we'll see if that helps. I can see a lot of guard penetration followed by a kick-out and a couple of whiparound passes leading to open looks from downtown.
Defense is going to be the big question but it can't be worse than last year, especially with the additions of McGee and Okoro.