DowJones wrote:Cleveland doesn’t need to make any dramatic moves. They won 64 games with a core five aged 23, 25, 26, 27, and 28. With the East likely to be weaker next season, the focus should be on continued player development this summer—just like the progress they made last year.
If a team wants Garland and Cleveland can get real value in return, I'm open to the idea. But so far, all I see on this message board are "buy low" proposals for a 25-year-old, two-time All-Star point guard who just averaged 21 points and 7 assists with shooting splits of 47/40/88.
Agreed. Cleveland needed to be healthier in this series. Garland, Mitchell, Mobley, and Allen were most definitely not the issues. Cleveland was hurt badly by poor health for Garland/Mitchell, and by getting absolutely inconsistent play from their supporting cast in this Pacers series. Max Strus was very hot and cold. De'Andre Hunter got lost in his head and mentally wasn't ready to be tough enough for a series like this. Dean Wade was consistent and helpful, but just isn't impactful enough to fill a huge gap. Ty Jerome and Sam Merrill were just terrible overall in this series, especially defensively. And Okoro was just a body out there offensively and as such wasn't able to chew up enough minutes to help defensively.
I don't know the answers, but I do know the problems weren't the core 4.