(Photo by Keith Allison)
The Cleveland Cavaliers have not been playing well of late. Since their plethora of trades at the deadline, the Cavs are an even .500, and since the all-star break they have lost five of seven. The Cavs now sit in fourth in the East, a half-game behind the Pacers and a mere half-game ahead of the Wizards. But do the Cavs’ struggles mean anything?
The Cleveland Cavaliers have had an extremely chaotic season and have essentially put three different teams on the court throughout the course of the year. The first is the Cavs with LeBron James and Kevin Love (before Isaiah Thomas returned) that won 18 games straight. The second is with Isaiah Thomas, which was, as Cavs General Manager Kobe Altman artfully described, “marching towards a slow death.” The third Cavs team is the current squad, which includes trade acquisitions George Hill, Jordan Clarkson, Rodney Hood, and Larry Nance Jr. Notably, none of the versions of the Cavs that we’ve seen will be the Cavs team in the playoffs. The postseason Cavs will combine Kevin Love with their new arrivals to form a deep team built around two experienced and familiar stars.
Cleveland has been bitten by the injury bug, especially recently. Most importantly, Kevin Love has been out for 20 games with a broken hand, and the Cavs are an even 10-10 without him. Kevin Love is an All-Star who averaged 17.9 points and 9.4 rebounds before he went out. That’s not a complete picture, however, because playing alone with LeBron (without Isaiah Thomas), Love is averaging over 20 PPG. Simply put, the Cavs are missing a bona fide star, a player who can rebound, shoot from deep, and create his own offense.
Love, however, is just the biggest piece. In the last five games, the Cavs have lost Rodney Hood, Tristan Thompson, Larry Nance Jr., and Cedi Osman, all rotation players averaging significant, productive minutes. In the past three games, the Cavs have been incredibly thin, specifically lacking big men. Against the Trailblazers on March 15, the Cavs’ starting lineup included Kyle Korver in the backcourt and Jeff Green at center against Jusuf Nurkic. In normal circumstances, both would be coming of the bench. Though both played well, Korver scoring 19 and Green 16, these two do not represent anywhere close to the Cleveland starters. Rodney Hood did play, but he left after again tweaking his back and was clearly not at full strength. Furthermore, the losses of Nance, Hood, Love, Thompson, and Osman resulted in significant minutes for Ante Zizic, the Cavs’ only true big man still standing, and John Holland. Call me crazy, but I have trouble attaching too much importance to a game where Zizic and Holland play significant minutes. For comparison, how would the Raptors be doing without DeRozan or Lowry and half of their rotation?
Luckily for the Cavs, none of their injuries are long-term problems. They are expecting Love back next week, and Nance, Hood, and Thompson are all returning soon. The Cavs we see now are not the Cavs we’ll see in the playoffs. The playoff Cavs, at full strength and with more time to adjust to playing together, are going to be a strong team that can go all the way in the Eastern Conference.
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