Cleveland Cavaliers 2022-2023 NBA season preview and predictions
By Chad Porto
Team Weaknesses
Perimeter Defense
The Cleveland Cavaliers starting five will have issues defensively, and it’s due to Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell. Garland isn’t bad but he isn’t an elite stopper Mitchell can be described as a subpar defender. Mitchell has made comments that seem to imply he’ll put his best foot forward on defense this year, so we’ll see. Thankfully, Ricky Rubio and Raul Neto are great to good defenders in their own right. So the team should have some relief. Not to mention Isaac Okoro is a very good defender who can play shooting guard.
Three-Point shooting
The Cavs don’t have much in the way of reliable three-point shooting. Kevin Love can still hit his shot, and Darius Garland is a serviceable three-point shooter. After that, you’re asking a lot. Cedi Osman can be the man at times or completely useless. Dylan Windler is supposedly a good three-point shooter, but we haven’t seen it yet. Dean Wade can hit a three-point shot but it isn’t his bread and butter, while Evan Mobley has the skills to do so but he’s more efficient inside the paint.
Scheme Fit
This is really just a polite way of saying that we don’t know if Mitchell will fit the scheme. Defensively, he’s not known for his skillset, and he’s never played with a shooting point guard before like Garland. We know Mitchell can excel with a defensive passing point guard (Rubio and Mike Conley) but this is the first time he’s playing with a point guard who’s a better jump shooter. So we’ll see if Mitchell can fit into how this team.