The Biggest Problem in Cleveland is Not What You Think It Is

The Biggest Problem in Cleveland is Not What You Think It Is

the Cleveland Cavaliers won their first playoff series since the departure of LeBron James in 2018 and actually their first playoff series win without LeBron James since 1993 back when Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls were on the road to winning their third straight Championship over 30 years since the franchise could claim a playoff series win without LeBron James something that should be celebrated and viewed as a success for a team that has been trying to recover in a post LeBron world where they were used to going to the finals nearly every season with him but while C fans should be happy with the progress being made and actually having one of the more competitive first round Series in the playoffs this year it hasn’t been all joy and happiness for this franchise in fact quite the opposite with much bigger problems than you would expect with a lot of uncertainty going into the off season after being eliminated in the East semis in five games an off season that will Define the future and direction of this franchise going forward so let’s talk about it as always if you’re new to the channel and you like this type of content it would mean a great deal to me if you subscribe to help the channel grow and in return I’ll be providing more NBA content like this now when the Cavs made a blockbuster trade to land Jazz star and Donovan Mitchell a player most had expected would be traded with the Jazz looking to Pivot in New Direction after failing to make a deep playoff run in the playoffs and with goar being moved to the Timberwolves the writing was on the wall that Donovan Mitchell would likely be on his way out as well but most had assumed Mitchell would be going to a bigger Market most notably the Knicks or another contending team that just needed that extra star power to get them over the hump and so when the Cavs came swooping into the Donovan Mitchell trade sweep stakes and struck a deal with the Jazz to acquire him most were surprised by this news you see what I’m saying you see what I’m saying every single time man that is until we saw the actual hul the Jazz were able to get in return for Donovan Mitchell but the Jazz received Lowry marketing Colin ston o agbaji a player the Cavs just had selected with the 14th overall pick in that draft and hadn’t even played yet so three players all young players and three unprotected first round picks in 2025 27 and 29 as well as two pick swaps controlled by the Jazz in 202 6 and 28 three young players one who would go on to become an All-Star for the Jazz and three unprotected picks which have not been realized yet this of course after the Jazz acquired four really five if you also include Walker Kesler in the trade for Rudy goar and so for the cabs on paper this looked great a young upand cominging team that had this budding star at the time in Darius Garland and actually Jared Allen now that I think about it who was also selected as an All-Star That season prior to making the Donovan Mitchell trade and Evan Moy probably should have won over Scotty Barnes had already shown great promise as a defensive player at just 20 years of age and you take a team that had just fallen short of the Playoffs being a young and inexperienced team and you add Donovan Mitchell a more proven player flawed in some regards which I’ll speak to but adding a star in his prime to put alongside this young Supporting Cast seemed like an incredible move at the time now for me personally I didn’t like this trade when it happened because I thought the Cavs were giving up way too much to get Donovan Mitchell who in my view of what we saw from him with the Jazz had kind of already hit his ceiling and often times we get too much tunnel vision and didn’t impact winning when it meant the most in the playoffs a great player no question but three first round picks and three young players is a bit steep for Donovan Mitchell but then again I’m always of the opinion that you should never trade your entire future with multiple unprotected first round picks for just one guy but regardless fast forward two years later since the trade and the Cavs have no doubt been better since they were before the trade they’ve been a top four team in the Eastern Conference on both seasons last year they did get beaten down badly by the Knicks in the first round of the playoffs and then this year they had an impressive series against the magic winning that one in seven Gam games and doing so without Jared Allen for a good portion of it but even despite the Improvement you can’t sit here and say that this team is a title Contender or even has the possibility of being a title contender in the near future a good team but still flawed especially on offense they take a lot of Threes but don’t hit them at an efficient clip and sometimes shoot themselves out of games they play with pretty slow pace overall 22nd in the league last season in pace which results in less possessions and less shot attempts compared to their opponent which means they have to be very efficient on offense when their opponent is getting up five or six more shots they are and despite their size in the post with Allen and Moy they don’t get as many offensive boards and second chance points they were bottom 10 in the league in both of those categories so you look at this roster and you see that as they are currently constructed they aren’t going to win a title yeah they’ll be a playoff team but their ceiling in the East is really a second round exit at best a Conference Finals out so the question is well where do they go from here and of course the biggest question on everyone’s mind and the biggest problem that presents itself to the Cavs in their future is what’s going to happen with Donovan Mitchell is he going to want to stick around long-term like yes there are other problems in Cleveland like players apparently being unhappy with jiren Allen and him not playing through the pain of his rib injury in the playoffs how he could have taken an injection to help with the pain but he chose not to play apparently allegedly yes the Cavs are in a tight spot with their cap sheet and have to decide on contract extensions for Evan Moy Jared Allen and Caris lbert the summer as all three of them are going to be going into expiring deals come next season but the biggest issue the biggest uncertainty is Donovan Mitchell and it’s not only because there’s a risk of losing their best player if he demands a trade or plays the final year of his deal in this upcoming season declines as player option and walks as a free agent in 2025 because you could argue eh maybe the Cavs would actually play better team basketball overall without Donovan Mitchell but the reason it’s a bigger issue than just losing your best player is that you gave up so much to get this guy the Utah Jazz control your future through 2029 and that’s not a problem if you’re keeping Donan Mitchell and you’re sending them mid to late first round picks but if Mitchell leaves and you can’t get extensions for Jared Allen dun maybe you overpay Moy beyond what he’s worth and you have Garland be the lead guard again there is a world if a few things go wrong some injuries to players and you’re in the lottery for a couple of Seasons this team goes nowhere and you’re forced to go in another Direction you could very well see some high draft picks that you have to Fork over to the Utah Jazz potentially top five picks because again no protections on any of those picks and look I know the media has been blowing it out of proportion a bit as far as Mitchell not being happy in Cleveland how he’s always wanted to play in either New York or Brooklyn they’ve almost built this narrative that it’s a foregone conclusion that Mitchell is going to request a trade this summer and he’ll be heading elsewhere I don’t think it’s at that that level because the Cavs overall are still a good team it would be one thing if they were seeing the play in every year and not making the playoffs but they’re a top four team in the East and a very good team went healthy but if next season we see kind of the same thing or Worse the Cavs regress yeah there’s a world where Mitchell says okay I don’t see myself winning with this team I’m declining my player option and I’m going to test unrestricted free agency and in my view that’s actually the worst case scenario for the Cavs because then their hands are tied and potentially not being able to get anything back for him in return unless they do a signning trade which the team Trad out their better player is always going to get the short end of the stick in those transactions in aign trade and so if I’m the Cs rather than just kicking the can down the road and hoping that this team suddenly figures it out and becomes contenders hoping for these breakout Seasons from Evan Moy and Isaac aoro knowing that this team likely has hit it ceiling and you’re more or less going to be in the same position you were next season if I’m the Caps I’m looking at all opportunities to trade Donovan Mitchell you’re not going to get the same type of package you sent out to acquire him because honestly I don’t think you’re really going to be seeing much of that and those types the Halls being dealt anymore in the NBA where you mortgage so much of your future on just one player we’ve seen too many examples of that gone wrong in the NBA but regardless he’s 27 in the peak of his prime a big name a big time score a number one option yeah you’ll get a solid return especially with the way some of these teams that had high expectations going into the season fell short in the postseason teams that might be desperate enough to make an Allin tyght move like that but honestly I feel like the Cavs aren’t going to take that risk they’re not going to be reactionary and just ship out Donovan Mitchell this summer not not when their team is still so young has a lot of talent and yeah you could see Donan Mitchell maybe stringing them along a little bit saying he’s happy in Cleveland and wants to continue building them what they have going but I just I don’t really believe that small Market team he likes the big lights he wants to be a big name in a big Market it would be one thing if the Cavs were winning and showing true promise of contending for a title in the near future but by the end of the next season unless there are drastic changes to this roster it’s going to be more of the same from this group now I know some will say well why can’t the Cavs just upgrade their roster and keep building around the Cor they have with Mitchell being the number one option Why Can’t This roster straight up improve well the problem for the Cavs is most teams that are kind of on the edge of contending and just need a few more pieces to get them over the top they trade future assets to get win now type players whether that’s adding current stars or high level World players to their team the Cavs don’t really have a lot of tradeable assets the soonest first round pick they can trade is in 2031 they have limited second round draft capital and they don’t have any standout young players they could use as trade bait outside of Evan Moy who I really don’t think they’re going to trade because they view him as part of their long-term future sure they could trade Darius Garland but his stock is really low right now considering how he played in the playoffs not always being available to play and a massive contract where he’s going to be getting paid all the way through 2028 with over $150 million still guaranteed to him so this isn’t a scenario in which the Cavs can just easily upgrade their roster by way of Trades they have limited trade chips to actually make an enticing offer to a team to upgrade their roster and then from a cap perspective the Caps are already in over the cap team they have $161 million committed next season if you also include the salary for their upcoming first round pick they’re only $10 million below the luxury tax without factoring in a potential extension for Isaac aoro who is a restriced free agent so the only way they can improve via free agency is by using the mid-level exception which if they want to use all of it it would put them into the luxury tax and if your ownership does it really make sense to go into the tax for this team the free agent class for this summer isn’t the best either at least for players at the mid level which is all they’re going to be able to afford at this point and then again Allen Levert Moy are all extension eligible what kind of deals are they going to give them lever they likely wait and see how he performs this season and assess whether it makes sense to extend him at the end of next season before he hits free agency but with J Allen and Evan Moy especially Moy who they have a deadline to offer him an extension before the start of this upcoming season can they really risk both of those guys hitting free agency in 2025 Allan unrestricted Moi restricted and potentially losing one or both if they get better offers elsewhere that the Cavs are going to be unwilling or unable to match and then on top of all of that you could have Donovan Mitchell hitting unrestrictive re agency should he decline his player option and look if you’re the cabs they really don’t have an option of quote unquote tanking or resetting and rebuilding they have no control over their picks for the next 6 years losing and getting into the lottery only benefits the Jazz at this point so yes while it was a solid season for the Cavs the best they’ve had since LeBron James left it’s actually leaving them with more uncertainty because they’re not good enough to truly contend but not bad enough either to where they need to move in another direction right away that said though I would love to hear what you guys think let me know in the comments as always be sure to subscribe and I will see you in the next one

Discussing the uncertain future of the Cleveland Cavaliers and what’s next for them this offseason (*editing credit: Alon Ginz)

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