How good was this team?

[Wham with the Right Hand]

That Markannen stat when they were better without hi had a lot to do with Wade. His defense is underrated by this board. He was our best wing defender

In fact, the 5-man unit of Garland, Okoro, Mobley, Allen, and Wade was a +19.3 while the unit of Garland, Okoro, Mobley, Allen, and Markkanen was a +10.2.

 

[Cavatt]

In fact, the 5-man unit of Garland, Okoro, Mobley, Allen, and Wade was a +19.3 while the unit of Garland, Okoro, Mobley, Allen, and Markkanen was a +10.2.

Yeah I am not shocked. He really turned in a great defensive season while taking a step back offensively which is weird. Maybe it was the knee that affected his shooting. Rumor was he was dealing with it for months and it finally got too bad.

We rightly complained about not having Allen, which cost us games, but I have no doubt that a Marky, Mobley Wade front court woudl have been far better and won a couple of those close games down the stretch.

We've seen that playing Lauri and Love is not very good, but pair Wade with either of them and that spacing lineup works better. IF they do move on from Cedi, I'd like to see Wade get more run next year.

 

[Dr No]

Yeah I am not shocked. He really turned in a great defensive season while taking a step back offensively which is weird. Maybe it was the knee that affected his shooting. Rumor was he was dealing with it for months and it finally got too bad.

We rightly complained about not having Allen, which cost us games, but I have no doubt that a Marky, Mobley Wade front court woudl have been far better and won a couple of those close games down the stretch.

We've seen that playing Lauri and Love is not very good, but pair Wade with either of them and that spacing lineup works better. IF they do move on from Cedi, I'd like to see Wade get more run next year.

That's a point I hadn't thought of. When Allen went down its effect was magnified because we didn't have Wade to slide in there. Wade's versatility with Allen out would have been helpful. Wade's not a star at any position, but he's like having a utility infielder - handy to have around.

 

[Cavatt]

That's a point I hadn't thought of. When Allen went down its effect was magnified because we didn't have Wade to slide in there. Wade's versatility with Allen out would have been helpful. Wade's not a star at any position, but he's like having a utility infielder - handy to have around.

Teams with big wings and a center were impossible to guard down the stretch, which is a lot of teams.

 

[DingleDong]

In fact, the 5-man unit of Garland, Okoro, Mobley, Allen, and Wade was a +19.3 while the unit of Garland, Okoro, Mobley, Allen, and Markkanen was a +10.2.

I actually ran some different options and found out that Wade lineup has been most used in 3rd quarter lineup with almost half its time in 3rd. 48min with netrating of +66. 1st 41min with -8, this was most likely because of Markkanen being hurt. 14min in 2nd with -7.1. 6min in 4th with -66. My guess is that the Wade lineup works because it provides the same thing in spacing as Markkanen does but against bench players who might not be suited to play against good spaced offense.

 

[Lurking Upvoter]

People wonder how the Cavs would have done without the injuries. I went through the season game-by-game and compiled the W-L record based on what key players were available.

Garland/Mobley/Allen: 7-4 (projects to 52.2 wins over 82 games)
Garland/Mobley/Allen/Markkanen 19-10 (projects to 53.7 wins)
Mobley/Mark/Allen: 3-4
Garland/Mobley: 1-2
Garland only: 0-2
Garland/Allen/Mark: 2-2
Garland/Mark: 2-5
Mark/Mobley: 0-2
Mobley/Allen: 4-1
Garland/Mark/Mobley: 6-6

The Cavs' record when missing these players:

Garland 7-7
Allen 9-17
Mobley 4-9
Markkanen 12-9

Bottom line:

When all three of the Cavs' "core" players (Garland, Allen, Mobley) played the Cavs were 26-14, which projects to 53.3 wins. The Heat won the Eastern Conference with 53 wins.

The Cavs were 12-9 without Markkanen in the lineup, a winning percentage of 57%. With him they were 32-29 (52.5%), so it doesn't look like Markkanen contributed much to winning. He did have some impressive games, but they had a better winning percentage with him out of the lineup.

Allen and Mobley were the keys to winning. Without Allen the Cavs were 9-17, which means they were 35-21 with him in the lineup, which projects to 51 wins. With Mobley in the lineup they were 40-29 which projects to 47.5 wins. When they both played the Cavs were 33-19, which projects to 53 wins.

In games where Garland and Markkanen played without Mobley and Allen the team was 2-5.

Obviously this analysis isn't perfect because there were some throwaway games like the two huge wins over Milwaukee, one by 45 points when their whole team was down with COVID and the last game where they sat all their starters. But it does give us a pretty good idea of which players were the keys to winning and that appears to be Allen and Mobley.

I was surprised the Cavs were 7-7 when Garland did not play. I thought it would be worse.

When Rubio played the Cavs were 20-14 which projects to 47 wins, just three more than they actually won.

Rubio also played the tough part of the schedule and got hurt as soon as it flipped to the easiest stretch

 

[Lurking Upvoter]

With zero playmaking from the wings (after Sexton injury) the Cavs relied a the point guards to do a ton of creating. Garland and Rubio both did it very well but when they were out it was a slog.

 

[Lee]

People wonder how the Cavs would have done without the injuries. I went through the season game-by-game and compiled the W-L record based on what key players were available.

Garland/Mobley/Allen: 7-4 (projects to 52.2 wins over 82 games)
Garland/Mobley/Allen/Markkanen 19-10 (projects to 53.7 wins)
Mobley/Mark/Allen: 3-4
Garland/Mobley: 1-2
Garland only: 0-2
Garland/Allen/Mark: 2-2
Garland/Mark: 2-5
Mark/Mobley: 0-2
Mobley/Allen: 4-1
Garland/Mark/Mobley: 6-6

The Cavs' record when missing these players:

Garland 7-7
Allen 9-17
Mobley 4-9
Markkanen 12-9

Bottom line:

When all three of the Cavs' "core" players (Garland, Allen, Mobley) played the Cavs were 26-14, which projects to 53.3 wins. The Heat won the Eastern Conference with 53 wins.

The Cavs were 12-9 without Markkanen in the lineup, a winning percentage of 57%. With him they were 32-29 (52.5%), so it doesn't look like Markkanen contributed much to winning. He did have some impressive games, but they had a better winning percentage with him out of the lineup.

Allen and Mobley were the keys to winning. Without Allen the Cavs were 9-17, which means they were 35-21 with him in the lineup, which projects to 51 wins. With Mobley in the lineup they were 40-29 which projects to 47.5 wins. When they both played the Cavs were 33-19, which projects to 53 wins.

In games where Garland and Markkanen played without Mobley and Allen the team was 2-5.

Obviously this analysis isn't perfect because there were some throwaway games like the two huge wins over Milwaukee, one by 45 points when their whole team was down with COVID and the last game where they sat all their starters. But it does give us a pretty good idea of which players were the keys to winning and that appears to be Allen and Mobley.

I was surprised the Cavs were 7-7 when Garland did not play. I thought it would be worse.

When Rubio played the Cavs were 20-14 which projects to 47 wins, just three more than they actually won.

So Garland became more important as the season went on.

Markk is a nice player but not a difference maker, but most of us knew that.

I think the biggest take away is Allen clearly makes us a much better team and so does Mobley. Some of these missing player numbers probably overlap, but I heard someone say if we have to include Allen in a trade they might consider it. No way. Allen is almost as untouchable as Mobley and tied 2A and 2B with Garland.

Anyone else but those 3, and i do mean anyone, is up for discussion.

 

[Cavatt]

So Garland became more important as the season went on.

Markk is a nice player but not a difference maker, but most of us knew that.

I think the biggest take away is Allen clearly makes us a much better team and so does Mobley. Some of these missing player numbers probably overlap, but I heard someone say if we have to include Allen in a trade they might consider it. No way. Allen is almost as untouchable as Mobley and tied 2A and 2B with Garland.

Anyone else but those 3, and i do mean anyone, is up for discussion.

It sure as hell seems like we need both Mobley and Allen. When we have both our defense is insanely better. The defense is 80% of the reason the team won so many games.

This team didn't do much offensively other than starting the season with a lot of assists spread around. I'd like to see that again. Basically every guy on the team can make a pass now. They were at their best offensively when they picked teams apart with passing bigs and cuts.

I even think guys tried to take on too much playmaking as time went on and trying to be the hero instead of just making the simple pass.

Does anyone have assists by month data?

 

[Kizzle]

The team is a star player away from being true contender. We need a top 15 player. We need to be wiling to trade everyone but Allen, Garland and Mobley to get it done. Sitting in the fringe playoff team spot for 10 years SUCKs. Ask Portland

 

[B Mac]

The team is a star player away from being true contender. We need a top 15 player. We need to be wiling to trade everyone but Allen, Garland and Mobley to get it done. Sitting in the fringe playoff team spot for 10 years SUCKs. Ask Portland

Let's call the top 25 players some combination of the following:

Embiid
Durant
Giannis
LeBron
Jokic
Curry
Luka
Kawhi
Tatum
A. Davis
Harden
Lillard
Booker
Morant
Butler
Beal
CP3
Young
Jaylen/Kyrie/Mitchell/Gobert/PG13/KAT/Garland


Not very many of those guys are a) available or b) play a position that our current best player doesnt already play. The only guy I see on that list that might be available and might actually want to be in Cleveland is LeBron. Otherwise, we just have to wait on growth from DG and Mobley to try to get us more guys higher up on that list.

 

[cavsfever]

We're not going to get a superstar free agent, unless it's Lebron and the writing is on the wall in terms of how long he can play. What we need is talent spotting -- a really smart draft pick this year and/or to find a good player match not yet on the top 25-50 list who is going to blow up and make a deadline trade for him. We have absolutely gaping holes in our lineup at both the SG and SF positions, and those positions are too important in the modern NBA not to fill at least one of those holes.

If it helps, every year there is a really good player taken in the second half of the first round or later. We need to spot who that guy is this year.

 

[Mott the Hoople]

Here's the deal. The Cavs window is now open. With the right trade, maybe with a little luck (in the lottery), The Cavs are contenders for the whole salami. Period.

 

[Kizzle]

Let's call the top 25 players some combination of the following:

Embiid
Durant
Giannis
LeBron
Jokic
Curry
Luka
Kawhi
Tatum
A. Davis
Harden
Lillard
Booker
Morant
Butler
Beal
CP3
Young
Jaylen/Kyrie/Mitchell/Gobert/PG13/KAT/Garland


Not very many of those guys are a) available or b) play a position that our current best player doesnt already play. The only guy I see on that list that might be available and might actually want to be in Cleveland is LeBron. Otherwise, we just have to wait on growth from DG and Mobley to try to get us more guys higher up on that list.

You hope a Harden like fallout happens and we swoop in. No way we sign a guy and no way we draft a superstar where we are drafting. We don’t even have the pieces to get a Zion if he does request out of NO. We are kinda in Portland Trailblazer territory but without the luxury of having a bonafide superstar. It sucks

 

[Peacedog]

You hope a Harden like fallout happens and we swoop in. No way we sign a guy and no way we draft a superstar where we are drafting. We don’t even have the pieces to get a Zion if he does request out of NO. We are kinda in Portland Trailblazer territory but without the luxury of having a bonafide superstar. It sucks

It only sucks for those too short-sighted to understand how good Mobley AND Garland will be in the NEAR future.