2025-26 Off-Season

[JonFromVA]

Dean Wade 2/14 from three in the preseason. Nance 1/13. Tyson 3/14. Ball 1/5. Tomlin 3/12. We aren't going to be successful when our shooters aren't shooting.

Hopefully it's just preseason tuneups but my takeaway right now is that we're not in-rhythm shooting the ball. We took an absurd 60 attempts from three against the Celtics. We missed a ton of open ones. If we match Boston's 3FG%, we score 36 more points (and probably lose a few second chance points) and it's a ballgame even though we should've been out-classed.

I've been underwhelmed by the defense of our 2nd unit, particularly CPJ, and there's not a lot of help at the rim with LNJ and Wade as our bigs.

I don't know if you watched, but CPJ was the only one able to beat his man off the dribble (some times). When he did, the paint was crowded, and he either couldn't get to the rim or couldn't finish. Most of the game was five-out sets with guys passing around the perimeter before settling for 3s they couldn't make.

With the possible exception of Proctor who may eventually get there, everyone on the court was a 4th or 5th option offensively. Tyson's absolute ceiling is Josh Hart. CPJ is still an in-case-of-emergency PG who needs to play on the ball too be even marginally effective. Both Wade and Nance are pretty useless offensively when their teammates can't force a defensive rotation. I'm not convinced anyone else who played deserves a roster spot.

I'm not one to put ceilings on players that have barely played, but I agree that lack of players who could easily create offense was very apparent.

Ty Jerome might very well had saved the day in a game like that.

Unless Kenny's offense clicks and we can create offense without someone who can consistently break down a defense, we're either going to need CPJ, Tyson, and Proctor to all improve in that area, or we'll likely have to go shopping for a viable backup PG, or we're going to have to overplay the few players on the team that can create.

With Garland and Strus out injured, that leaves us what? Mitchell, sometimes Mobley, and tbd Ball?

[toooskies]

Dean Wade 2/14 from three in the preseason. Nance 1/13. Tyson 3/14. Ball 1/5. Tomlin 3/12. We aren't going to be successful when our shooters aren't shooting.

Hopefully it's just preseason tuneups but my takeaway right now is that we're not in-rhythm shooting the ball. We took an absurd 60 attempts from three against the Celtics. We missed a ton of open ones. If we match Boston's 3FG%, we score 36 more points (and probably lose a few second chance points) and it's a ballgame even though we should've been out-classed.

I've been underwhelmed by the defense of our 2nd unit, particularly CPJ, and there's not a lot of help at the rim with LNJ and Wade as our bigs.

I don't know if you watched, but CPJ was the only one able to beat his man off the dribble (some times). When he did, the paint was crowded, and he either couldn't get to the rim or couldn't finish. Most of the game was five-out sets with guys passing around the perimeter before settling for 3s they couldn't make.

With the possible exception of Proctor who may eventually get there, everyone on the court was a 4th or 5th option offensively. Tyson's absolute ceiling is Josh Hart. CPJ is still an in-case-of-emergency PG who needs to play on the ball too be even marginally effective. Both Wade and Nance are pretty useless offensively when their teammates can't force a defensive rotation. I'm not convinced anyone else who played deserves a roster spot.

I watched, but not closely and not all the way to the end.

I knew the offense wouldn't be super-functional from the first two games and it's not going to be with who's out there. You still should knock down a few threes when the other team isn't going to contest. Wade and Nance need to knock those down or else we'd be better off with a real big out there.

I watched more defense and hoped to see something on that end of the court but we just missed rotations constantly and didn't have any semblance of help at the rim. Say what you want about starters not playing, all our bench guys need to engage defensively. I'm much more disappointed in giving up 138 than I am in only scoring 107.

[jbk1234]

The Nets just cut Dariq Whitehead.

[jbk1234]

Dean Wade 2/14 from three in the preseason. Nance 1/13. Tyson 3/14. Ball 1/5. Tomlin 3/12. We aren't going to be successful when our shooters aren't shooting.

Hopefully it's just preseason tuneups but my takeaway right now is that we're not in-rhythm shooting the ball. We took an absurd 60 attempts from three against the Celtics. We missed a ton of open ones. If we match Boston's 3FG%, we score 36 more points (and probably lose a few second chance points) and it's a ballgame even though we should've been out-classed.

I've been underwhelmed by the defense of our 2nd unit, particularly CPJ, and there's not a lot of help at the rim with LNJ and Wade as our bigs.

I don't know if you watched, but CPJ was the only one able to beat his man off the dribble (some times). When he did, the paint was crowded, and he either couldn't get to the rim or couldn't finish. Most of the game was five-out sets with guys passing around the perimeter before settling for 3s they couldn't make.

With the possible exception of Proctor who may eventually get there, everyone on the court was a 4th or 5th option offensively. Tyson's absolute ceiling is Josh Hart. CPJ is still an in-case-of-emergency PG who needs to play on the ball to be even marginally effective. Both Wade and Nance are pretty useless offensively when their teammates can't force a defensive rotation. I'm not convinced anyone else who played deserves a roster spot.

I'm not one to put ceilings on players that have barely played, but I agree that lack of players who could easily create offense was very apparent.

Ty Jerome might very well had saved the day in a game like that.

Unless Kenny's offense clicks and we can create offense without someone who can consistently break down a defense, we're either going to need CPJ, Tyson, and Proctor to all improve in that area, or we'll likely have to go shopping for a viable backup PG, or we're going to have to overplay the few players on the team that can create.

With Garland and Strus out injured, that leaves us what? Mitchell, sometimes Mobley, and tbd Ball?

Yeah, the nightmare scenario would be if Ball can't penetrate and force a defensive rotation after his surgery. That said, even guys like Strus and Merrill would've made a difference last night.

Altman should keep an eye on the waiver wire. It wasn't just the Celtics starters who outplayed the guys we had out there.

[JujitsuFlip]

I don't know if you watched, but CPJ was the only one able to beat his man off the dribble (some times). When he did, the paint was crowded, and he either couldn't get to the rim or couldn't finish. Most of the game was five-out sets with guys passing around the perimeter before settling for 3s they couldn't make.

With the possible exception of Proctor who may eventually get there, everyone on the court was a 4th or 5th option offensively. Tyson's absolute ceiling is Josh Hart. CPJ is still an in-case-of-emergency PG who needs to play on the ball to be even marginally effective. Both Wade and Nance are pretty useless offensively when their teammates can't force a defensive rotation. I'm not convinced anyone else who played deserves a roster spot.

I'm not one to put ceilings on players that have barely played, but I agree that lack of players who could easily create offense was very apparent.

Ty Jerome might very well had saved the day in a game like that.

Unless Kenny's offense clicks and we can create offense without someone who can consistently break down a defense, we're either going to need CPJ, Tyson, and Proctor to all improve in that area, or we'll likely have to go shopping for a viable backup PG, or we're going to have to overplay the few players on the team that can create.

With Garland and Strus out injured, that leaves us what? Mitchell, sometimes Mobley, and tbd Ball?

Yeah, the nightmare scenario would be if Ball can't penetrate and force a defensive rotation after his surgery. That said, even guys like Strus and Merrill would've made a difference last night.

Altman should keep an eye on the waiver wire. It wasn't just the Celtics starters who outplayed the guys we had out there.

It's tough when your team is starting with 2 guys on IR, a 3rd roster spot open, a 4th spot to a non-guaranteed guy, and possibly a 5th who has yet to suit up before the season opener.

That gives ya 10 guys. 1 is a rookie, 1 is a 1 year pro, and 1 is a prospect.

You're down to 7 guys from there, 3 have major injury questions and histories.

You're down to 4 guys, truly. Mitchell, Mobley, Allen, and Hunter. This team goes as those 4 go until about Christmas.

[jbk1234]

I'm not one to put ceilings on players that have barely played, but I agree that lack of players who could easily create offense was very apparent.

Ty Jerome might very well had saved the day in a game like that.

Unless Kenny's offense clicks and we can create offense without someone who can consistently break down a defense, we're either going to need CPJ, Tyson, and Proctor to all improve in that area, or we'll likely have to go shopping for a viable backup PG, or we're going to have to overplay the few players on the team that can create.

With Garland and Strus out injured, that leaves us what? Mitchell, sometimes Mobley, and tbd Ball?

Yeah, the nightmare scenario would be if Ball can't penetrate and force a defensive rotation after his surgery. That said, even guys like Strus and Merrill would've made a difference last night.

Altman should keep an eye on the waiver wire. It wasn't just the Celtics starters who outplayed the guys we had out there.

It's tough when your team is starting with 2 guys on IR, a 3rd roster spot open, a 4th spot to a non-guaranteed guy, and possibly a 5th who has yet to suit up before the season opener.

That gives ya 10 guys. 1 is a rookie, 1 is a 1 year pro, and 1 is a prospect.

You're down to 7 guys from there, 3 have major injury questions and histories.

You're down to 4 guys, truly. Mitchell, Mobley, Allen, and Hunter. This team goes as those 4 go until about Christmas.

I'm assuming part of what not playing any of the four starters who were healthy and Ball was about was getting an honest assessment of where the back half of the roster was at.

[JujitsuFlip]

Yeah, the nightmare scenario would be if Ball can't penetrate and force a defensive rotation after his surgery. That said, even guys like Strus and Merrill would've made a difference last night.

Altman should keep an eye on the waiver wire. It wasn't just the Celtics starters who outplayed the guys we had out there.

It's tough when your team is starting with 2 guys on IR, a 3rd roster spot open, a 4th spot to a non-guaranteed guy, and possibly a 5th who has yet to suit up before the season opener.

That gives ya 10 guys. 1 is a rookie, 1 is a 1 year pro, and 1 is a prospect.

You're down to 7 guys from there, 3 have major injury questions and histories.

You're down to 4 guys, truly. Mitchell, Mobley, Allen, and Hunter. This team goes as those 4 go until about Christmas.

I'm assuming part of what not playing any of the four starters who were healthy and Ball was about was getting an honest assessment of where the back half of the roster was at.

I think they're just trying to figure out if anyone is worthy of the 3rd two-way slot and other than that getting dudes a rest since they play tomorrow.

[toooskies]

The Nets just cut Dariq Whitehead.

Whitehead is not good at basketball. I'd be more interested in Timme, personally.

Yeah, the nightmare scenario would be if Ball can't penetrate and force a defensive rotation after his surgery.

The guy took 2.2 2-pointers per 36 last year and only shot 46% on them. He has never been over 50% on twos in his career. Neither the volume nor the efficiency is there to pressure the rim at all.

You're down to 4 guys, truly. Mitchell, Mobley, Allen, and Hunter. This team goes as those 4 go until about Christmas.

Yeah, we were missing 8 rotation guys last game, so not surprised we looked bad offensively. But I did hope for a little more defensively.

I wouldn't be shocked if Garland plays opening night, and I'd be very surprised if he isn't playing by Thanksgiving. He said he was already past rehab for his surgery and into his conditioning phase at media day.

The nice thing about Hunter and Jerome off the bench was that you could count on those two sustaining the offense in bench units. With Hunter starting and Jerome gone, I'm less confident in the bench, particularly if Mobley doesn't maintain his assertiveness.

[jbk1234]

The Nets just cut Dariq Whitehead.

Whitehead is not good at basketball. I'd be more interested in Timme, personally.

Yeah, the nightmare scenario would be if Ball can't penetrate and force a defensive rotation after his surgery.

The guy took 2.2 2-pointers per 36 last year and only shot 46% on them. He has never been over 50% on twos in his career. Neither the volume nor the efficiency is there to pressure the rim at all.

You're down to 4 guys, truly. Mitchell, Mobley, Allen, and Hunter. This team goes as those 4 go until about Christmas.

Yeah, we were missing 8 rotation guys last game, so not surprised we looked bad offensively. But I did hope for a little more defensively.

I wouldn't be shocked if Garland plays opening night, and I'd be very surprised if he isn't playing by Thanksgiving. He said he was already past rehab for his surgery and into his conditioning phase at media day.

The nice thing about Hunter and Jerome off the bench was that you could count on those two sustaining the offense in bench units. With Hunter starting and Jerome gone, I'm less confident in the bench, particularly if Mobley doesn't maintain his assertiveness.

On Ball, his game is shooting 3s, or getting into the paint, forcing a rotation, and then picking up an assist. That's fine so long as one of Merrill, Garland, and/or Mitchell is out there with him. My concern would be if he can no longer beat the primary defender off the dribble and force the rotation. If he can and opposing defenses don't bother rotating, I expect his two-point percentage would tick up. Also, it's hard not to rotate when it's so ingrained to get between the guy with the ball and the hoop.

[toooskies]

The Nets just cut Dariq Whitehead.

Whitehead is not good at basketball. I'd be more interested in Timme, personally.

Yeah, the nightmare scenario would be if Ball can't penetrate and force a defensive rotation after his surgery.

The guy took 2.2 2-pointers per 36 last year and only shot 46% on them. He has never been over 50% on twos in his career. Neither the volume nor the efficiency is there to pressure the rim at all.

You're down to 4 guys, truly. Mitchell, Mobley, Allen, and Hunter. This team goes as those 4 go until about Christmas.

Yeah, we were missing 8 rotation guys last game, so not surprised we looked bad offensively. But I did hope for a little more defensively.

I wouldn't be shocked if Garland plays opening night, and I'd be very surprised if he isn't playing by Thanksgiving. He said he was already past rehab for his surgery and into his conditioning phase at media day.

The nice thing about Hunter and Jerome off the bench was that you could count on those two sustaining the offense in bench units. With Hunter starting and Jerome gone, I'm less confident in the bench, particularly if Mobley doesn't maintain his assertiveness.

On Ball his game is shooting 3s, or getting into the paint, forcing a rotation, and then picking up an assist. That's fine so long as one of Merrill, Garland, and/or Mitchell is out there with him. My concern would be if he can no longer beat the primary defender off the dribble and force the rotation. If he can and opposing defenses don't bother rotating, I expect his two-point percentage would tick up. Also, it's hard not to rotate when it's so ingrained to get between the guy with the ball and the hoop.

His game just isn't to stay on-ball and drive. 2.4 drives per game last year, roughly Strus's frequency last year.

Even if it works in the regular season it'll show up in the scouting report in the playoffs.

[JujitsuFlip]

I wouldn't be shocked if Garland plays opening night, and I'd be very surprised if he isn't playing by Thanksgiving. He said he was already past rehab for his surgery and into his conditioning phase at media day.

The nice thing about Hunter and Jerome off the bench was that you could count on those two sustaining the offense in bench units. With Hunter starting and Jerome gone, I'm less confident in the bench, particularly if Mobley doesn't maintain his assertiveness.

Opening night is in 1 week, i doubt Garland is ready by then. But i am hopeful maybe that first week in Novemebr he can test it out. Ball won't play back to backs, so if they're both down, going to put a lot of pressure on Mitchell in the back court.

[jbk1234]

Whitehead is not good at basketball. I'd be more interested in Timme, personally.


The guy took 2.2 2-pointers per 36 last year and only shot 46% on them. He has never been over 50% on twos in his career. Neither the volume nor the efficiency is there to pressure the rim at all.

Yeah, we were missing 8 rotation guys last game, so not surprised we looked bad offensively. But I did hope for a little more defensively.

I wouldn't be shocked if Garland plays opening night, and I'd be very surprised if he isn't playing by Thanksgiving. He said he was already past rehab for his surgery and into his conditioning phase at media day.

The nice thing about Hunter and Jerome off the bench was that you could count on those two sustaining the offense in bench units. With Hunter starting and Jerome gone, I'm less confident in the bench, particularly if Mobley doesn't maintain his assertiveness.

On Ball his game is shooting 3s, or getting into the paint, forcing a rotation, and then picking up an assist. That's fine so long as one of Merrill, Garland, and/or Mitchell is out there with him. My concern would be if he can no longer beat the primary defender off the dribble and force the rotation. If he can and opposing defenses don't bother rotating, I expect his two-point percentage would tick up. Also, it's hard not to rotate when it's so ingrained to get between the guy with the ball and the hoop.

His game just isn't to stay on-ball and drive. 2.4 drives per game last year, roughly Strus's frequency last year.

Even if it works in the regular season it'll show up in the scouting report in the playoffs.

He was out almost all of last season and was coming off a serious injury. I'd be interested in knowing what his career numbers are. Maybe Proctor gets there by the end of the season. Maybe we pick up another playmaker who's better than CPJ off the waiver wire. Maybe both Garland and Mitchell are relatively healthy throughout the playoffs. Maybe Hunter gets moved back to sixth man when Garland is healthy and Tyson moves up as the POA defender with the starters.

In any event, this is the gamble the Cavs made when they let Jerome walk and he's gone. There's always hope that if the Cavs second unit is forced to work through some clunkiness in the regular season, that it won't be overly reliant on a player like Jerome and as susceptible to a bad series by a single player.

[toooskies]

I wouldn't be shocked if Garland plays opening night, and I'd be very surprised if he isn't playing by Thanksgiving. He said he was already past rehab for his surgery and into his conditioning phase at media day.

The nice thing about Hunter and Jerome off the bench was that you could count on those two sustaining the offense in bench units. With Hunter starting and Jerome gone, I'm less confident in the bench, particularly if Mobley doesn't maintain his assertiveness.

Opening night is in 1 week, i doubt Garland is ready by then. But i am hopeful maybe that first week in Novemebr he can test it out. Ball won't play back to backs, so if they're both down, going to put a lot of pressure on Mitchell in the back court.

From media day: https://kingjamesgospel.com/darius-garland-dodges-definitive-answer-biggest-cavaliers-question-media-day

Garland told reporters, "I don't have a date yet that I'm going to tell y'all, but I have a date in my mind."

The Cavaliers star was then asked a follow-up on whether he would miss time at the start of the regular season. Garland told the reporter that he did not know yet.

"I'm on the court, I'm doing everything right now," Garland answered when pressed further about his toe injury. "I'm doing everything on the court right now."

Garland hit that last part as a response to whether taking contact was something that was a part of his recovery at the moment. The Cavaliers point guard then added that his on-court process had really started during the last month.

For me that sounds like game 1 is his personal target but that may not line up with what the team wants to let him do.

[JujitsuFlip]

I wouldn't be shocked if Garland plays opening night, and I'd be very surprised if he isn't playing by Thanksgiving. He said he was already past rehab for his surgery and into his conditioning phase at media day.

The nice thing about Hunter and Jerome off the bench was that you could count on those two sustaining the offense in bench units. With Hunter starting and Jerome gone, I'm less confident in the bench, particularly if Mobley doesn't maintain his assertiveness.

Opening night is in 1 week, i doubt Garland is ready by then. But i am hopeful maybe that first week in Novemebr he can test it out. Ball won't play back to backs, so if they're both down, going to put a lot of pressure on Mitchell in the back court.

From media day: https://kingjamesgospel.com/darius-garland-dodges-definitive-answer-biggest-cavaliers-question-media-day

Garland told reporters, "I don't have a date yet that I'm going to tell y'all, but I have a date in my mind."

The Cavaliers star was then asked a follow-up on whether he would miss time at the start of the regular season. Garland told the reporter that he did not know yet.

"I'm on the court, I'm doing everything right now," Garland answered when pressed further about his toe injury. "I'm doing everything on the court right now."

Garland hit that last part as a response to whether taking contact was something that was a part of his recovery at the moment. The Cavaliers point guard then added that his on-court process had really started during the last month.

For me that sounds like game 1 is his personal target but that may not line up with what the team wants to let him do.

Yeah, CBS has him listed as out until Novemebr 1st, whatever that is worth.

The initial report was he would miss 10 to 20 games. 10 games is back around November 8th and 20 games puts him back around November 28th, which is the day after Thanksgiving.

[toooskies]

On Ball his game is shooting 3s, or getting into the paint, forcing a rotation, and then picking up an assist. That's fine so long as one of Merrill, Garland, and/or Mitchell is out there with him. My concern would be if he can no longer beat the primary defender off the dribble and force the rotation. If he can and opposing defenses don't bother rotating, I expect his two-point percentage would tick up. Also, it's hard not to rotate when it's so ingrained to get between the guy with the ball and the hoop.

His game just isn't to stay on-ball and drive. 2.4 drives per game last year, roughly Strus's frequency last year.

Even if it works in the regular season it'll show up in the scouting report in the playoffs.

He was out almost all of last season and was coming off a serious injury. I'd be interested in knowing what his career numbers are. Maybe Proctor gets there by the end of the season. Maybe we pick up another playmaker who's better than CPJ off the waiver wire. Maybe both Garland and Mitchell are relatively healthy throughout the playoffs. Maybe Hunter gets moved back to sixth man when Garland is healthy and Tyson moves up as the POA defender with the starters.

In any event, this is the gamble the Cavs made when they let Jerome walk and he's gone. There's always hope that if the Cavs second unit is forced to work through some clunkiness in the regular season, that it won't be overly reliant on a player like Jerome and as susceptible to a bad series by a single player.

First, there is no guarantee that Ball will return to his pre-injury levels. We just went through this a few years ago with Rubio.

But in Ball's last pre-injury season he was ~4 drives per game in 30+ minutes if I recall correctly, not significantly higher per minute, although he did get more shots off at a higher percentage. Stats from NBA.com, go to players->tracking->drives.