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The Cleveland Cavaliers have no injuries to report for tomorrow's game against the Phoenix Suns.

https://bsky.app/profile/dannycunningham.bsky.social/post/3lktxj2myps2u

March Madness but go Cavs! Gotta break this losing streak.

Mitchell, 2-18... I'm sorry but you should not be leading the team in FGA if you're shooting 11% from the field. This isn't 2023 anymore, we have oodles of talent around you.

That dude's groin flaring up for the 3rd season in a row could not have come at a worse time.

This West Coast trip could also not have come at a worse time.

The Cavs need to give some serious thought to shutting Mitchell down for a couple of weeks. We've been able to win without him this season with a healthy Garland and Ty. Mitchell needs to be at 90% come the playoffs. He looks about 60-70% right now.

Also, if Okoro posts another zero defensive rebound game I'd be giving his minutes to Tyson to send a message. Hunter has to get more than 1 in 22 minutes. Wade posting zero is unacceptable even if it's because he's playing the 5 in a small ball rotation that's never really worked. Jerome with zero defensive rebounds when both Garland and Merrill had 5 a piece is ridiculous. Green only played 7 minutes, but zero defensive rebounds from him as well.

This needs to become a point of emphasis. The book is out on us. Mob Allen on the boards after the shot goes up and half our team starts leaking out to get a cheap bucket before we've ended the possession.

jbk1234 wrote:The Cavs need to give some serious thought to shutting Mitchell down for a couple of weeks. We've been able to win without him this season with a healthy Garland and Ty. Mitchell needs to be at 90% come the playoffs. He looks about 60-70% right now.

Shutting him down further comes at a cost in his conditioning and it still might not be enough time to get his hamstring 100%. It's really hard to say what's best from where we're sitting.

His performances might end up being a roller coaster ride without much consistency game to game. If we're going to go anywhere we'll need to adjust to it and not just lean on his good days.

JonFromVA wrote:

jbk1234 wrote:The Cavs need to give some serious thought to shutting Mitchell down for a couple of weeks. We've been able to win without him this season with a healthy Garland and Ty. Mitchell needs to be at 90% come the playoffs. He looks about 60-70% right now.

Shutting him down further comes at a cost in his conditioning and it still might not be enough time to get his hamstring 100%. It's really hard to say what's best from where we're sitting.

His performances might end up being a roller coaster ride without much consistency game to game. If we're going to go anywhere we'll need to adjust to it and not just lean on his good days.

Him and Atkinson need to recognize that too. We don't need a Kobe mentality of trying to will the team to victory when the shot is not falling.

I like what Pitino just did in the tournament, despite the loss. His star player is 3 of 17 from the field, go sit on the bench.

Atkinson has no problem benching Allen, like keep that same energy. Especially since Allen seems to be the only guy interested in rebounding half the time.

JonFromVA wrote:

jbk1234 wrote:The Cavs need to give some serious thought to shutting Mitchell down for a couple of weeks. We've been able to win without him this season with a healthy Garland and Ty. Mitchell needs to be at 90% come the playoffs. He looks about 60-70% right now.

Shutting him down further comes at a cost in his conditioning and it still might not be enough time to get his hamstring 100%. It's really hard to say what's best from where we're sitting.

His performances might end up being a roller coaster ride without much consistency game to game. If we're going to go anywhere we'll need to adjust to it and not just lean on his good days.

There are really three issues: It's difficult to *adjust* when he's taking and missing that many shots; his vertical movement isn't really there on defense; and he could aggrevate it further by trying to play through it (or suffer a different injury attempting to compensate).


I'd shut him down, but short of that, I'd dial his minutes back if conditioning is a concern.

jbk1234 wrote:

JonFromVA wrote:

jbk1234 wrote:The Cavs need to give some serious thought to shutting Mitchell down for a couple of weeks. We've been able to win without him this season with a healthy Garland and Ty. Mitchell needs to be at 90% come the playoffs. He looks about 60-70% right now.

Shutting him down further comes at a cost in his conditioning and it still might not be enough time to get his hamstring 100%. It's really hard to say what's best from where we're sitting.

His performances might end up being a roller coaster ride without much consistency game to game. If we're going to go anywhere we'll need to adjust to it and not just lean on his good days.

There are really three issues: It's difficult to *adjust* when he's taking and missing that many shots; his vertical movement isn't really there on defense; and he could aggrevate it further by trying to play through it (or suffer a different injury attempting to compensate).


I'd shut him down, but short of that, I'd dial his minutes back if conditioning is a concern.

Hamstrings are tricky. We could shut him down until the playoffs and he could play like crap for 2 games trying to get back in to the swing of things and still end up re-aggravating it.

One way or another we have to figure out how to play through these lingering injuries, or we'll be going home early again. It's not like the bumps and bruises get gentler in the playoffs.