Yes, the Cavaliers missing the playoff is a massive disappointment

The Cavs missing the playoffs is a massive disappointment.

The current narrative on Twitter is that the Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t have a disappointing season. There’s some truth to that. They weren’t supposed to have a winning record, let alone be a playoff contender for 84 games. The problem comes from the fact that, while I agree with that logic to an extent, the fact remains three weeks ago the Cavs were in the playoffs.

Now they’ll get their draft pick back from the Pacers and enter the draft lottery.

So why is this season ultimately a disappointment? As I mentioned before, three weeks ago, this team wasn’t even in the play-in tournament. Yes, the Cavs didn’t have Jarrett Allen for about a month, but the struggles lasted a little longer than the team’s struggles.

Over the last 28 games, the Cavs were a dismal 9-19. Not long before the All-Star break, the Cavs were in the fourth seed of the Eastern Conference.

You then see your best scorer, Darius Garland, go into the last game of the year and have one of the worst outings of not just the season but maybe of his career, shooting just 33% in a must-win game. I wrote about the Cavs needing a statement game from Garland, but that wasn’t the statement we were hoping for.

The Cavs had some serious issues all game, like Isaac Okoro being unable to get in front of Trae Young, Caris LeVert getting shaken off so hard by Young that it became a meme and the baffling reason why the Cavs went away from Lauri Markkanen.

One can’t help but wonder how this game would’ve gone had Collin Sexton or Ricky Rubio been healthy.

The Cleveland Cavaliers’ failure of the moment is not a failure of the path

The Cavs are going to need to make some changes. They’re going to need to get Rubio back, somehow, and then decide who they would rather keep between Sexto and LeVert. Personally, I say stick with Sexton, he’s far more efficient, but if you can flip both for an even better piece, then you do that. The other piece that may not be around much longer is Okoro, and frankly, I don’t think the team will miss him much.

The Cavs proved that they can’t succeed with part-time players like Okoro. Sure, he can play some good defense but if he’s an offensive liability, then he really can’t have a spot on a playoff team. At least not one as a starter. If the team doesn’t retain Rajon Rondo, then maybe Okoro can take his spot on the bench.

That’s it though, those are the biggest moves you need to worry about. Everything else is fixable and coachable.

The Cavs are on the right path and they can achieve success with the core that they have. They just need to straighten out the roster a bit.