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2022-2023 Regular Season II: Cardiac Cavs

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The Athletic is out with their weekly power rankings. This week they're highlighting team and individual clutch performance, ranking each team by performance in late and close games and picking one player who has excelled and underperformed in those situations. The Cavs remain 6th overall and 4th in the East behind Milwaukee, Philly, and Boston who rank 1, 2, and 3. It looks like whoever wins the East should win the whole thing.

6. Cleveland Cavaliers (previously sixth) | 45-28 | +5.8 net rating

Weekly slate: Win at Hornets, Loss to Sixers, Win over Wizards

Team clutch: (20-20) | -0.2 net rating (ranked 15th)

This is a bit disappointing from the Cavs this season. They should be better than a coin flip when it comes to the clutch, and that’s exactly what they’ve been. Their net rating is almost a 0.0 and their record is an even 20-20. They’re a good clutch defense and a bad clutch offense. That shouldn’t happen with Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland as your backcourt. You should operate at a higher level.

Mr. Reliable: Evan Mobley | 64.5 FG | 40.0 3FG | 47.1 FT | 13.5 points per 36 | 7.8 rebounds per 36 | 1.1 assists per 36 | 0.8 turnovers per 36

It’s hard to say their big man safety valve is the reliable one, but it’s kind of shaken out that way. Mobley is really good at scoring when the defense converges. He doesn’t panic. He doesn’t rush stuff. Now, he might start doing that if his free throw shooting in the clutch remains in the DeAndre Jordan zone, but Mobley has been very reliable as a dump-off/secondary option.

Mr. Unreliable: Donovan Mitchell | 39.8 FG | 29.7 3FG | 87.5 FT | 29.6 points per 36 | 5.8 rebounds per 36 | 3.3 assists per 36 | 2.3 turnovers per 36

We’ve seen this Mitchell in the clutch before and it’s not going to be good enough. The Cavs need him to be the guy who forces the action toward the hoop, rather than settling for contested long-range jumpers. He scores a lot because he takes a ton of shots. But this feels a lot like the bad Mitchell we saw in the clutch toward the end of the Utah era. We know he can be better than this.


My comment:

I agree the Cavs have been bad offensively in the clutch (the numbers don't lie) and Mitchell and Garland bear a lot of the responsibility. Too often they try to win the game by themselves. Mitchell does tend to force up long, contested jumpers and Garland dribbles into heavy traffic and loses the ball. They get away from running the normal offense and play hero ball. JBB needs to have a talk with these guys and point out that what they've been doing isn't working.
Biggest complaint I have about the team... in that part of the game, it's more about getting buckets, not bombing from 3 exclusively.
 
I agree. Should be what they do in offseason and look into either continue building Brobley or get a real 4/5 (a Covington like player)
Lopez was good for vibes, occasionally entertaining on court but he can't run with these dudes like that

Someone pointed out before that Lopez may be responsible for Mobley's huge improvement in setting picks.

There's a lot of things we don't see that may show up on the court in other ways.
 
My comment:

I agree the Cavs have been bad offensively in the clutch (the numbers don't lie) and Mitchell and Garland bear a lot of the responsibility. Too often they try to win the game by themselves. Mitchell does tend to force up long, contested jumpers and Garland dribbles into heavy traffic and loses the ball. They get away from running the normal offense and play hero ball. JBB needs to have a talk with these guys and point out that what they've been doing isn't working.

I somewhat facetiously called Mitchell a "chucker" in one of the game threads, but this is exactly what I was referring to. The team works so much better when they make an effort to get other guys involved, especially the big guys.
 
I like to have fun as much as anybody but...what chance to win?

BTW, there's nothing depressing about losing to Milwaukee with the Bucks having home court advantage.
C'mon Wham!!!!

Magic fans were probably singing this same sad tune in 2009. Or how about the 2011 Mavericks being the team of destiny and running through the absolute gauntlet to win a ring? Shoot, even Cavs fans in 2007 never expected a Finals berth.

Cavs have a ton of young talent and have proven they can hang with anyone. To give them no shot is silly. Enjoy the rider brother!!!
 
Someone pointed out before that Lopez may be responsible for Mobley's huge improvement in setting picks.

There's a lot of things we don't see that may show up on the court in other ways.

I would never be mad at signing a locker room guy on a vet min like RoLo. He can play as the 15th guy on my team anytime. If you are counting on your 15th guy in the playoffs, you already lost the series.

Besides, RoLo is legit hilarious.
 
The Athletic is out with their weekly power rankings. This week they're highlighting team and individual clutch performance, ranking each team by performance in late and close games and picking one player who has excelled and underperformed in those situations. The Cavs remain 6th overall and 4th in the East behind Milwaukee, Philly, and Boston who rank 1, 2, and 3. It looks like whoever wins the East should win the whole thing.

6. Cleveland Cavaliers (previously sixth) | 45-28 | +5.8 net rating

Weekly slate: Win at Hornets, Loss to Sixers, Win over Wizards

Team clutch: (20-20) | -0.2 net rating (ranked 15th)

This is a bit disappointing from the Cavs this season. They should be better than a coin flip when it comes to the clutch, and that’s exactly what they’ve been. Their net rating is almost a 0.0 and their record is an even 20-20. They’re a good clutch defense and a bad clutch offense. That shouldn’t happen with Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland as your backcourt. You should operate at a higher level.

Mr. Reliable: Evan Mobley | 64.5 FG | 40.0 3FG | 47.1 FT | 13.5 points per 36 | 7.8 rebounds per 36 | 1.1 assists per 36 | 0.8 turnovers per 36

It’s hard to say their big man safety valve is the reliable one, but it’s kind of shaken out that way. Mobley is really good at scoring when the defense converges. He doesn’t panic. He doesn’t rush stuff. Now, he might start doing that if his free throw shooting in the clutch remains in the DeAndre Jordan zone, but Mobley has been very reliable as a dump-off/secondary option.

Mr. Unreliable: Donovan Mitchell | 39.8 FG | 29.7 3FG | 87.5 FT | 29.6 points per 36 | 5.8 rebounds per 36 | 3.3 assists per 36 | 2.3 turnovers per 36

We’ve seen this Mitchell in the clutch before and it’s not going to be good enough. The Cavs need him to be the guy who forces the action toward the hoop, rather than settling for contested long-range jumpers. He scores a lot because he takes a ton of shots. But this feels a lot like the bad Mitchell we saw in the clutch toward the end of the Utah era. We know he can be better than this.


My comment:

I agree the Cavs have been bad offensively in the clutch (the numbers don't lie) and Mitchell and Garland bear a lot of the responsibility. Too often they try to win the game by themselves. Mitchell does tend to force up long, contested jumpers and Garland dribbles into heavy traffic and loses the ball. They get away from running the normal offense and play hero ball. JBB needs to have a talk with these guys and point out that what they've been doing isn't working.

I might be the only Cavaliers fan that isn't concerned about that clutch rate. Why? Because only 1 person in the starting 5 is old enough to rent a car without parental signature. This is one of the younger lineups, but they're ranked 6th in the entire NBA. They're learning how to win. Of the top 7 players, only Levert and Rubio are old enough to have reached their "prime years". Even with Don's experience, *he* hasnt reached his prime yet, either. Let this year be all about learning. Now, if they make the same mistakes next year, and beyond, we'll have a problem. However, for now, I'm enjoying the most enjoyable Cavaliers team I can remember since Price/Daugherty/Nance.
 
I'd drop Lopez and sign Diakite and I am not kidding
I here you from a potential performance base, but that could come back and bite you , if you ever want to pick up a veteran like Lopez or Neto in the future,they would see how you did past veterans, especially if it the same agency…….
 
I here you from a potential performance base, but that could come back and bite you , if you ever want to pick up a veteran like Lopez or Neto in the future,they would see how you did past veterans, especially if it the same agency…….

I think you tell Rolo that he was great when we had Love and more spacing. Now that Love is gone, we need a guy who is more mobile over a guy who's a bruiser. He'd understand. I don't think anyone would think we did him dirty, we've made too many moves in deference to players including KPJ.

You could also cut Windler.

I'd like to keep Neto. He's the other guy we have for point of attack on fast small guards
 
Rolo served his purpose but I don’t expect him to be back. Same with Neto although Neto is one id like to keep.

I don’t think you give up on Windler when he’s got legitimate skills. They’ll go get a wing with their MLE I would hope and they need to get their hands on a 3rd big. Otherwise the same group runs it back.
 
Rolo served his purpose but I don’t expect him to be back. Same with Neto although Neto is one id like to keep.

I don’t think you give up on Windler when he’s got legitimate skills. They’ll go get a wing with their MLE I would hope and they need to get their hands on a 3rd big. Otherwise the same group runs it back.
I also think they will keep it mostly intact. But, as we saw this past off season, there is always the chance that an opportunity arises that requires us to move some guys we would have preferred to keep.
 
Cedi has made 19 of his last 38 attempts on 3's. He's coming on strong just in time. Hope he can keep it up. His 3-point percentages the last four months:

March 44.1% (so far)
February 31.3%
January 40.4%
December 31.4%

Cedi yo-yos back and forth from hot to cold. You never know when he's going to get hot and when his 3-point shot will go south. Against Brooklyn he was a +12 and went 4-for-4 from deep along with 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and even a blocked shot.

Cedi and LeVert are doing a great job off the bench lately. LeVert is hitting an astonishing 46.7% on 3's in March. We just need Rubio to get going. Stevens is hitting 40% of his 3's in March and 51% from the field, although he rarely shoots.
 
Cedi has made 19 of his last 38 attempts on 3's. He's coming on strong just in time. Hope he can keep it up. His 3-point percentages the last four months:

March 44.1% (so far)
February 31.3%
January 40.4%
December 31.4%

Cedi yo-yos back and forth from hot to cold. You never know when he's going to get hot and when his 3-point shot will go south. Against Brooklyn he was a +12 and went 4-for-4 from deep along with 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and even a blocked shot.

Cedi and LeVert are doing a great job off the bench lately. LeVert is hitting an astonishing 46.7% on 3's in March. We just need Rubio to get going. Stevens is hitting 40% of his 3's in March and 51% from the field, although he rarely shoots.

He seems to play better with Levert and Rubio with Donovan mixed in.

I also wonder whether JB was benching him because it has lead to better play from Cedi in the past getting out of the doghouse and playing smarter, or if he was banged up. Cedi has dealt with back spasms off and on and to me it seems to coincide with his poor shooting. Not weird for back issues to hurt shooting, that is one of the things that was up with Love.

Cedi might have been in the same doghouse Wade is right now, the nagging injury that keep you off the court and affects your shot.

Notable that Cedi looks a little faster and more active all the sudden
 
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