Cleveland Cavaliers
The 2021-22 Cleveland Cavaliers can be defined by being the young surprise team that was promised.
What did we learn?
Every year there is a young surprise team that comes out of nowhere, and this year it was the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Watching an early-season Cavs game, it was impossible not to have a good time. The starting lineup with three 7-footers and the Sexland backcourt was entertaining as hell. In a league that continues to prioritize small-ball, the Cavs went the other direction, jumbo-sized lineups with tons of length and size, and always with a rim-protector and rim-runner.
The Sexland backcourt, however, only had a brief run together as Collin Sexton suffered a season-ending meniscus injury just 11 games into the season. But the Cavs kept rolling thanks to Darius Garland’s meteoric rise and Ricky Rubio’s career year. Alas, Rubio’s season was also cut short, a torn ACL in late-December meant he didn’t get to play at all in 2022.
And yet, the two detrimental backcourt injuries could not stop Garland from being sensational night in and night out. Some advanced metrics suggested he was the worst player in the league his rookie season, but Garland transformed into the lead ball-handler, facilitator and scorer for NBA’s premier young surprise team. Not only a T-Shirt All-Star, but Garland was an actual All-Star, getting to play in front of his home crowd in Cleveland.
Jarrett Allen, the fro power dunker and fro power blocker, joined Garland at the All-Star Game as an injury reserve, but we sure felt as though he should have been a real All-Star. Allen did receive an early-season Eastern Conference Player of the Week award in November, but his stellar beginning of the season still seemed to be fly too far under the radar.
Allen was Cleveland’s backbone, but he had plenty of help from the #3 pick in last year’s draft, Evan Mobley. The Cavs twin towers of Allen and Mobley dominated the interior, giving the Cavs 48 minutes of rim-protecting terror. Allen and Mobley combined for 3.0 blocks per game, the Block Brothers! Allen and Mobley were also both top-10 in total dunks, the only teammates to pull that off, and their 315 combined dunks were more than five teams had altogether (Spurs 251, Pistons 257, Blazers 293, Pacers 294 and Heat 304).
It was evident right away that Mobley has the goods. All of them. He is an absolute menace on defense. And everywhere you need him to be on offense. He’s smooth, calm and flat-out enjoyable. We encouraged folks to jump on board and grab a seat next to us on the Evan Mobley Hype Train as far back as November, mere weeks into the season. And shortly thereafter we advised: “You better jump on quick, cause this thing is moving FAST!”
Every young surprise team needs its vets, and Kevin Love was fully rejuvenated this season. An excellent contributor off the bench, K-Love finished second for Sixth Man of the Year and third in total bench points. It was Kevin Love who was the most reliable Cav this season, playing in 74 games. And in the 35 games this season that Love posted a positive plus-minus, the Cavs were 30-5.
Lauri Markkanen had one of his best full seasons as a pro, and he even made it into the Top 10 Power Dunks of the 2021-22 season thanks to his first play of the game YOKE on Jokic.
Injuries prevented the Cavs from being as great as they were at the beginning of the season and really seeing it through. The injuries just never stopped.
Sexton and Rubio lost for the season.
Garland had a back issue after the All-Star game.
Mobley sprained his ankle in late-March and missed five straight games. (The Cavs went 1-4)
Allen fractured his finger and missed the last month of the season, a huge blow that led to the Cavs defense slipping drastically.
Rondo and Caris LeVert (both acquired in mid-season trades) dealt with foot sprains.
Even Dean Wade had season-ending knee surgery.
Over the last two months of the season, the Cavs went 10-17 with the #24 defense. Prior to Feb. 12, the Cavs were 35-21 with the #3 defense. Things had changed.
But despite all of the injuries and losing both play-in games, the Cavs had a winning season for the first time without LeBron since 1998.
And for the first time since LeBron departed for sunny LA, winter in Cleveland really wasn’t so bad.
If there was only a sliver of light shining on the horizon before, then now the sun has finally begun to rise.
For Cleveland, perhaps summer is finally near.
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Additional Notes
Cedi Osman turned things back around after last season’s terrible career-worst shooting season. Osman’s 35.7 percent from 3 this season was a lot better than 30.6 percent in 2020-21. He started red-hot, shooting 41 percent from 3 on 5.8 attempts over the first two months of the season.
Lamar Stevens logged a lot of heavy minutes for this team. Sometimes Stevens will try to do too much, but he always puts in a strong effort and hustles. Gotta love players like that.
Brandon Goodwin gets a big shout out here, too, for holding down the fort as best he could as the lead point guard when the snake-bitten Cavs were at their worst.
Despite the last two months of the season when the Cavs defense fell off a cliff, they still finished 5th in defensive efficiency for the season, their first top-10 finish since 2015-16 and highest mark since 2008-09.
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Did our preseason Over/Under prediction hit?
The Cavs played like a Young Surprise Team at the beginning of last season, and we really wanted to take this Over, but we can’t take the Over on everybody. Under 27.5 wins.
Cavs 2021-22 record: (44-38)
NOPE. Not even close. The Cavs got their 28th win on January 22nd.
The Cavs were due to hit an Over after hitting the Under an astounding five years in a row. And we did mention them as previously playing like a Young Surprise Team!
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What’s Next?
The Cavs have the last pick of the lottery at #14. KOC recommends the 6-foot-6 Aussie playmaking Dyson Daniels, who played for the G League Ignite and is known for his passing and on-ball defense. Sounds very good.
Collin Sexton is a restricted free agent. A tricky situation after Sexton only played 11 games this season, but Sexland worked well offensively with Garland running the point and Sexton moving more off-ball. Defensively, not so much.
Speaking of Garland, he is eligible for an extension and to that we say: pay him the max.
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Favorite Cavs Highlight of the 2021-22 Season:
Cavalanches were a rip-roaring good time.
