Post Mortem #23 - Cleveland Cavaliers

[tmorgan]

Firing jb was the correct move, no amount of Pistons fans cope will change that.

Die on that hill, JFlip! I like you sticking to your guns, even though Atkinson showed nothing in the playoffs you hadn’t seen before.

The 3-2 zone... jb would never do that. jb runs his playoff defense from the jump of the season in October lol

Having the #1 offensive rating in the playoffs... Yeah, I'd say we saw a lot of different schemes and tactics jb didn't show in his 3 post seasons here.

jb = a trash can

Context matters. Congrats on steamrolling the Heat and getting your o-rating up. If you could play defense the way JB’s Pistons did, you might still be playing.

[flow]

So do you get rid of your core 4? Some of them? Run it back and hope you stay healthy?

Run it back. They were rolling and just ran out of gas the injuries must’ve been worse than they let on

Ran out of gas from what? The easiest first round walk-over in nba history?


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[dakomish23]

This CLE team had a special regular season. Injuries didn’t help. IND is a very good team and CLE didn’t seem to take their ability to make up points in a hurry seriously

[JujitsuFlip]

Die on that hill, JFlip! I like you sticking to your guns, even though Atkinson showed nothing in the playoffs you hadn’t seen before.

The 3-2 zone... jb would never do that. jb runs his playoff defense from the jump of the season in October lol

Having the #1 offensive rating in the playoffs... Yeah, I'd say we saw a lot of different schemes and tactics jb didn't show in his 3 post seasons here.

jb = a trash can

Context matters. Congrats on steamrolling the Heat and getting your o-rating up. If you could play defense the way JB’s Pistons did, you might still be playing.

Or we'd have the worst offensive rating in the playoffs to go along with it like the 2023 playoffs.

Bernie Bickerstaff's early 2000's offense doesn't cut it in today's NBA, sorry.

[Capn'O]

Keep the core, keep the coach and front office, keep tinkering, keep gaining experience and chances are you break through one of these years.

Great season for Cleveland with a disappointing ending.

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

I think the Cavs have a ton of talent on their roster, and unfortunately they were banged up by the end. That said, outside of Mitchell, I just didn’t see any real “dogs” on their team.

If the playoffs, you just have to have guys that can handle pressure well and raise their game to a new level, and I just didn’t see that from them. Was that entirely because they had some players banged up? Possibly. I haven’t followed the Cavs enough to know, but man, I just didn’t see a ton of fight in them(again - outside of Mitchell - he gave it his all.)

[rolling_91]

The last 2 lines in this series were totally off, just like the season win total on the Cavs at the start of the season. So at least the Cavs were a cash cow from beginning to end.

They had a great season but they fell apart on mile 25 of the marathon. That’s the story of 24-25’.

[Iwasawitness]

Fire JB, he is clearly the problem. Oh wait.

Some Cleveland fans are looking really stupid right now.

This is a pretty stupid comment to make. Kenny is very clearly a much better coach than JB and demonstrated a level of adjustments and flexibility we had never seen from JBB before during his tenure with Cleveland.

[durden_tyler]

Another year i guess since the other option is reloading (not rebuilding) some pieces, and you’d be on the same boat anyway.

Get healthy and hope for the best? Not the sexiest of options but could work.


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[pepe1991]

Cavs are one of like 15 teams that are in bad shape due salary and need trades to get out.

But that's also good thing, because there will be whole bunch of other teams seeking for trade partners.

Personally, i would shop both Allen and Garland.

[yoadknux]

Overachieved in regular season, underachieved in playoffs.

Anyone who watched round 2 knows it wasn't just the injuries. They need veteran presence to stabilize them. At the end of the day they were 7-2 against the Pacers this season, that's unacceptable for a contender.

[Statlanta]

They need a legit #2. Somebody who is not injury prone. The core of Garland/Allen/Mobley/Mitchell is too injury prone to even fathom a Finals appearance.

[axeman23]

Fire JB, he is clearly the problem. Oh wait.

Some Cleveland fans are looking really stupid right now.

Firing jb was the correct move, no amount of Pistons fans cope will change that.

Die on that hill, JFlip! I like you sticking to your guns, even though Atkinson showed nothing in the playoffs you hadn’t seen before.

As for my advice… it sounds crazy, but shop Mitchell. He’s killing your team offensive flow. I know how good he is, but you also see how he marginalizes everyone else, particularly Mobley. Free Evan Mobley!

Unlike Garland or JFro, Spida would have an absolutely huge selling price. People want a proven playoff scorer, and maybe some team with a different guard rotation (bigger guys) can fit him in better.

I don’t believe this will happen, but I still think it should. Mitchell-led teams don’t get it done.

If I was Mobley, I'd prioritize getting away from Mitchell-ball even over signing a supermax. If CLE told him Mitchell was the guy they were hitching the wagon to long-term, i'd forego the supermax just to get clear.

[basketballRob]

The Cavs need some perimeter defense. Trey Murphy for Garland or Allen would work.

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[Doranku]

It's a shame Cavs have no real semblance of a PG outside of Garland and zero cap flexibility, otherwise a Garland/Ingram swap might make sense.

[Hugi Mancura]

In modern NBA you need to make three's. Against Indiana Cavs couldn't make wide open shot's. They created enough open shots to win these series, but every one who made their shots in regular season and in Miami series missed everything. To make this team better sure you can try to trade Allen for shooting, but are those incoming players better shooters team has all ready? Most likely not. Yes, it was abysmal series from every player, but panicking and trading these players for someone who you hope could shoot better is pretty much luck game.

[JujitsuFlip]

Firing jb was the correct move, no amount of Pistons fans cope will change that.

Die on that hill, JFlip! I like you sticking to your guns, even though Atkinson showed nothing in the playoffs you hadn’t seen before.

As for my advice… it sounds crazy, but shop Mitchell. He’s killing your team offensive flow. I know how good he is, but you also see how he marginalizes everyone else, particularly Mobley. Free Evan Mobley!

Unlike Garland or JFro, Spida would have an absolutely huge selling price. People want a proven playoff scorer, and maybe some team with a different guard rotation (bigger guys) can fit him in better.

I don’t believe this will happen, but I still think it should. Mitchell-led teams don’t get it done.

If I was Mobley, I'd prioritize getting away from Mitchell-ball even over signing a supermax. If CLE told him Mitchell was the guy they were hitching the wagon to long-term, i'd forego the supermax just to get clear.

He already signed it last summer lol Mobley is under contract until the summer of 2030.

[tmorgan]

Mobley got 87 shots in 9 playoff games. Highly, highly effective but under 10 shots a game.

I get that some of it is on him, as he’s not a naturally super-assertive personality. But that’s just not proper utilization of a really talented guy. Mitchell just took over the reins and wouldn’t let them go. I know Garland was hobbled, but Mitchell himself wasn’t fully healthy and he just wouldn’t pass. 125 shots, 19 assists in a five game series. Blame who you want, Donovan himself or Atkinson, but that’s awful, especially since he didn’t shoot well at all.

[JujitsuFlip]

The last 2 lines in this series were totally off, just like the season win total on the Cavs at the start of the season. So at least the Cavs were a cash cow from beginning to end.

They had a great season but they fell apart on mile 25 of the marathon. That’s the story of 24-25’.

Unfortunately, it's been the story of the last 4 seasons, tbh.

2021-22: November 7th 2021 Sexton tore his meniscus, missed the rest of the season. December 28th 2021 Rubio tore his ACL, missed the rest of the season. March 28th 2022 Wade tore his meniscus out the rest of the season. March 6th 2022 Allen fractured his finger on his dominant hand, missed the first play-in game, played the second play-in game one handed.

2022-23: Rubio returned from his ACL injury in January 2023 but never regained jb's trust. Love was pouting he was outta jb's rotation and forced a buyout. March 6th 2023 Wade reinjured his shoulder from earlier in the season, missed most the regular season from there, never regained jb's trust. Merrill never gained jb's trust. March 27th Danny Green got covid, he returned for the final 2 regular season games but looked like a corpse in the playoffs. March 10th Allen tweaked his groin missing 4 games, came back then tweaked it again March 26th then famously was bullied on the glass in the 1st round on 1 leg.

2023-24: Jerome plays 2 games in October messes his ankle up, misses the rest of the season, Rubio never reports to the team forces a buyout in January 2024. March 10th 2024 Wade goes on paternity leave healthy somehow hurts his knee during that, never plays another regular season game, misses the entire first round series, then also misses the first 2 games of the second round. Game 4 of round 1 Allen has his ribs broken, never plays again that season. Mitchell was hobbled all playoffs with a lower extremity issue, misses the final 2 games of the 2nd round. Levert misses the final game of the 2nd round with knee tendinitis.

2024-25: game 2 of the 1st round Garland aggravates his turf toe he picked up at the end of the regular season, misses the final 2 games of that series and the first 2 games of the 2nd round, comes back and hobbles around. Game 1 of the 2nd round Mobley rolls his ankle by landing on a foot and misses game 2. Game 1 of the 2nd round Hunter takes a nasty fall from like 8 feet up, dislocating his thumb on his shooting hand, can't finish the game and misses game 2. Game 4 of the 2nd round Mitchell aggravates his rolled left ankle he picked up at the end of the regular season, misses the 2nd half; returns for the final game and hobbles around. Merrill misses game 5 of thr 2nd round with a neck strain.

[Profound23]

Cavs are one of like 15 teams that are in bad shape due salary and need trades to get out.

But that's also good thing, because there will be whole bunch of other teams seeking for trade partners.

Personally, i would shop both Allen and Garland.

This is why I think teams should have been given time to adjust to the Aprons. Feels like it was just dropped on them and now teams that spent money (which is good for the league) are being punished, while cheap owners are being rewarded.