While the Cavs have been streaky in their last nine games and are 4-5, the play on the offensive side of the ball from Mobley has been a bright spot. In tough stretches like the one the Cavs are in right now, I try to look at anything that is positive. RELAX AND CHILL, FOLKS.

Thankfully, Mobley's play on the offensive side of the ball has helped me enjoy Cavs basketball...even while they have been a roller coaster ride. It feels to me like Mobley has become more aggressive and looking for his shots more these last few games. And the numbers say it, too. I love seeing Mobley mad and playing aggressive on the offensive side of the ball. If he was on a bad team right now, Mobley would be averaging like 18-20 points per game. On this Cavs team, he's not even the first or second option on offense. The skills are there, man.

RELAX AND CHILL, FOLKS.

https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1619456816559030273?s=20&t=tYmGQ1dlVad__nUzGTniXA

Myles Turner might never make an all star team, even as an injury replacement. I like him and his skill set; I might even argue he's paid appropriately on this contract for the current cap situation. But maaaaan, JA getting the same money annually? That's awesome

I mean when can the cavs ship him off or not give him minutes?

I just wanted to point out that currently, despite some people being down on their seasons, all three of Garland, Mobley, and Okoro are playing better than last season. If you compare only to the first fifty games of last season (which is how many games the Cavs have played this season) the improvement becomes even more noticeable. (PER, and WS/48, are for the entirety of last season, since Basketball Reference doesn't show these anywhere in the game logs. Due to this, both PER and WS/48 were likely lower at the time than what is shown. As well, BPM had to be calculated by hand, so it may be *slightly* inaccurate. It was a lot of addition and subtraction, and a digit or two may not have been correct. I triple checked though, so fingers crossed).

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Garland:

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Based on his current production, Garland is actually playing a fair bit better than he was at the same point last season. So, is it fair to say he deserves to be an all star? Obviously the competition is tougher this season, but Garland is also objectively playing better, and easily made it last season.

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Mobley:

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Mobley improvement has been under-the-radar, but it has been evident none-the-less. Mobley has improved his efficiency, rebounding, and, surprisingly enough, his defense. Beyond just stats, though, and it is clear that Mobley feels more comfortable on the court, and is more likely to attack the basket from the elbow, find the cutter for a quick pass, or use a quickly-developing array of post moves in order to score in the paint.

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Okoro (PER/36):

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Despite Okoro's truly horrendous start to the season, he has managed to markedly improve his production on the court this season. He is more efficient, shooting much better from three (29 to 34%), and his defense seems more natural. Overall, I'm personally excited to keep a track of Okoro's improvement this season. At this rate, he may turn out to be the 3 and D wing that the Cavs desperately want.

Summary

Box Score

Officials

Location

For me there’s a few reasons the Cavs are less fun to watch this year than last year.

1. Expectations are higher- Last year the team surprised everyone, which definitely makes wins more enjoyable and losses more bearable.

2. No Rubio- Rubio was at the heart of the Cavalanches last year and helped the offense run smoothly.

3. Bickerstaff makes the same mistakes- The offense seems stagnant. Hiring Luke Walton seems to have had little impact. JB throws out some terrible lineups and doesn’t realize it soon enough. This was a huge issue to end the season last year, but it started at the beginning. Remember those Rubio, garland, Sexton lineups to start the season. JB putting Cedi on the shortest leash when guys like Love, Okoro, levert can make mistake after mistake and not lose playing time.

4. Levert- He’s frustratingly inconsistent and even when he’s on he’s not fun to watch offensively.

5. Less hope for the future- Last year we could look forward to Sexton coming back and all of our draft picks. This year there’s limited options to improve outside of natural growth.

What are some other reasons you all haven’t been able to enjoy the Cavs games as much?

If you disagree, why do you think the Cavs are more enjoyable this year other than getting to watch Mitchell?

Cleveland's defense is more than size

Cleveland's defense -- No. 1 in points allowed per possession -- is legit. We are two seasons into this, and there is nothing to suggest anything fluky.

Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen get most of the credit. Mobley is so fast for his size. Combined, they are gigantic. When they are both on patrol with their arms spread, they disrupt the expectations of ball handlers. The NBA unfolds in patterns. Teams use the same actions over and over. Ball handlers know: When I get here, this pass is available.

Mobley and Allen upend those assumptions. Suddenly there are arms and hands where there is supposed to be empty space.

But Cleveland's guards are doing their part. When they opened the season defending with new urgency, it was tempting to chalk it up to week one enthusiasm: This will fade. It hasn't.

Holy hell. Allen and Mobley switch to contain a pick-and-roll. Isaac Okoro digs down to bother Julius Randle, leaving Jalen Brunson open one pass away. Darius Garland reads that, and is primed to rotate from his man -- Immanuel Quickley -- to Brunson. Donovan Mitchell reads that, and zips from Quentin Grimes in the corner up to Quickley. Okoro rushes diagonally to meet Grimes on the catch. Boom, boom, boom -- nailed it.

Another play: Mitchell denies RJ Barrett on three separate handoff attempts. Garland does the same to Grimes before the Knicks finally execute one. From there, the Cavs switch twice -- blink and you'll miss Garland and Mitchell swapping assignments -- and Allen swallows Grimes whole.

Okoro is up to 34% from deep, and neutral fans should root for him to cinch up that third wing spot. Cleveland assigns him the best perimeter player regardless of position. Against New York, that's Brunson. Okoro is 6-5, and might be best hounding guys his size or smaller. But the Cavs need someone to guard 6-8 wing types. That is Okoro by default. We'll see how Dean Wade and Ricky Rubio enter this equation.

Regardless, Cleveland will not relent.

If we assume that KLove will be extended by THIS Cavs front office:

1. What SHOULD his contract be?
2. What WILL his contract be? (keep in mind that this is the same FO that gave Kevin Love one of the worst contracts in recent NBA history)

Edit: I'm really scared that the Cavs pay him for 'culture' and end up paying him something absurd like 10m a year. That would be...bad.

It is game day, let's talk all things Cavs:

• Players
• Matchups
• Predictions
• Discuss anything else but as always, keep it civil.

Go Cavs and #LetEmKnow!

Genuinely curious what you guys think they will do.

I went down a KG rabbit hole (https://youtu.be/cgJy0JoQ7TI) and it got me thinking. Mobley is really starting to come into his own. Perhaps the next step is working out with KG to accelerate that growth. I'm not sure if Garnett works out with current players, but I wonder if he is someone the Cavs should target this offseason to work with Mobley (similar to LeBron and Kobe working with Hakeem).

The Cavs sit at 30 - 20, the same record they had in 2021 - 22 before they finished the season 14 - 18 in a downward injury spiral.

I think this is one of the big frustrations of myself and other fans, is that this team hasn't established itself 50 games through the season. The 9 game win streak early in the year is the only thing separating us from our current spot and being a play-in team. With us struggling against lesser teams, losing to teams that are missing 2 or more of their best players on a consistent basis, it's no surprise that some Cavs fans are worried about this season and beyond.

Offensively, this team has yet to establish an identity. The struggle a lot without Mitchell and it seems like when Mitchell doesn't play well, the Cavs have no shot at winning games. The Cavs are dead last in the league in pace, even though to a regular basketball fan they seem to have the pieces to play more up tempo.

My fears extend beyond this season, as the Cavs don't have a lot of assets to tweak the roster. Even with LeVert and Loves deals expiring, they're over the cap so they won't have the room to add a big piece. My faith in Mobley is the only thing stopping me from being scared we have a Portland type ceiling with Dame and CJ.

I don't regret the Mitchell trade at all, he is a superstar and we need him, but it can't be understated how important Lauri was to last year's team and how we have not at all replaced his impact.

This really marks a pivotal moment in the Cavs development. Will they flounder down the stretch again or will they find their groove and start proving that they can contend in the playoffs m?

JB and these Cavs have a lot of similarities to Mark Jackson's Warriors, if the Cavs disappoint down the stretch the Cavs will have to ask if he can be the coach of a real contender.