Cleveland Cavaliers should focus on improving defense in offseason

The Cleveland Cavaliers need to improve their defense in the offseason.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are last in defense, again. They were just ahead of the Washington Wizards in defensive efficiency but after the Wizards won their last game they are now officially 29th in the league, while the Cleveland Cavaliers are dead last.

That’s why this offseason the Cavaliers need to look at improving their defense, be it by a new coaching staff (not a new head coach), drafting two-way players, or investing money in some defensive-minded guys.

Granted one of the things that may help this team is playing a full season with Andre Drummond in the middle and Tristan Thompson coming off the bench. Those two should help the team’s overall defense.

The backcourt may need the most improvement. Darius Garland seems like he’s going to be traded or is at the very least not a huge part of the team if rumors of the Cavs interest in Ben Simmons is true. Collin Sexton is a high energy scorer and considering it was a season of him and Kevin Love doing the heavy lifting, you can understand why he wasn’t the most stalwart of defenders. Kevin Porter Jr. also wasn’t too keen on defense either. Matthew Dellavedova is still the team’s best defender at any guard position but he’s too much of a liability on offense to warrant starting him.

For the forwards, it’s a bit better but not by much. Love, to his credit, really isn’t a stopper but he tries. The same can be said for Cedi Osman, the Cavs’ Macedonian-Turkish do-all army knife. The team lacks any real defensive stoppers outside of Thompson and Drummond and they’re not exactly known to be the kind of “defensive stoppers” you need to win a championship.

The Cavs should absolutely look at guys like the Heats’ Derrick Jones, a good two-way forward who can play anywhere from the small forward spot to the center spot depending on the lineups. The team should look for more than just a good defensive player in the draft, however, as the team still needs help scoring too.

Hopefully, a wing player like Obi Toppin or Deni Avdija can come in and supply the team with both aspects of the game, and that would in turn help a player like Sexton not feel like he’s one of the only options to score. Allowing him to play better defense.

That’s the theory, anyway.