The Cleveland Cavaliers are gearing up for the playoffs but who can expect postseason honors?
The Cleveland Cavaliers have done everything they can this season to make the playoffs and they’ve done just that. For the first time since 1998, the team will play postseason basketball without LeBron James on the roster. To break such a streak, they needed key players to be developed and to break out.
Those players, despite how they arrived here, all helped the Cavs get to the postseason. Some of them had a bigger impact than others and those players deserve to be acknowledged. Not only them, but one could argue their head coach deserves some love too.
So who among the Cavs deserves some post-season love? Well, we have our picks right here, but who do you think deserves a postseason award or roster spot?
J.B. Bickerstaff – Coach of the Year runner up
Coach J.B. Bickerstaff has had an up-and-down sort of year this season, but that’s not really a dispute. His lineups have been suspect offensively, and the Cavs are near the bottom of the league in points. They’re also, however, near the top in scoring efficiency. According to NBA.com’s advanced stats, the Cavs are 7th in the league in offensive rating at 115.7, and first in defensive rating at 110.1.
Clearly, the Cavs are having a good year, and Bickerstaff’s systems are a huge part of that. Bickerstaff knows how to coach defense and he knows how to get the most out of the players around him. His play-calling is top-notch but what he struggles with are patience and rotation management.
His inability to give guys more than a few games to work their way through slumps has hurt the Cavs this year, namely Dean Wade and Cedi Osman. Despite that, Bickerstaff the Cavaliers to the 4th seed, the playoffs, and a 50-win season. So he clearly knows what he’s doing, even if he’s not perfect.
Evan Mobley – Defensive Player of the Year Contender and more
Evan Mobley is someone who will chart well defensively. He’ll certainly be the Defensive Player of the Year eventually, but will it be in 2023? Unlikely. However, he will make some noise this year, and I expect him to finish in the Top 3 of the award. It may not sound like much of an achievement, but no one his age has ever won the Defensive Player of the Year Award, so a Top 3 placing would be huge for him.
That’s not all, as Mobley is a near-lock to end up on one of the two NBA All-Defensive Teams as well. He’ll likely get the Second Team nod, but his play has been so good he could land on the First Team line. Getting on either would be a huge moment for the young big.
Lastly and least talked about, is Mobley’s real-to-life shot at landing the Most Improved Player award. He missed out on the Rookie of the Year to overzealous voters, who prefer to vote with their feelings over facts, but Mobley is a clear-cut candidate to land the Most Improved, or at least should be. He’s taken a jump from “very good rookie” to “borderline elite player”, and that jump should be noticed.
Mr. All-NBA Team Donovan Mitchell
Donovan Mitchell’s arrival in Cleveland has been a bonafide hit since he touched down. He’s been the team’s best player for a lot of his first season in Cleveland and while fellow Cavaliers guard Darius Garland has impressed at times, Mitchell is clearly the top dog. His early play had many thinking thoughts of a Most Valuable Player award, but he came down to Earth after a while and the team’s play dipped and struggled a bit
He started to come back on very strong over the last few weeks, right as Garland started to struggle and now has four straight 40-point games. Not only has Mitchell already broken the team record with 12 40-point games in a single season, but he’s now already 2nd all-time in most 40-point games as well. That type of play surely will have Mitchell looking at a Top 5 finish in the NBA MVP award race.
It’s unlikely he’ll win it, Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic are clearly wrestling over it, but Mitchell should make for a nice showing. What you can expect from Mitchell, however, is to land on an All-NBA team.
He’ll likely get a spot on the All-NBA 3rd Team, just because its Cleveland and we don’t get a lot of love, but if he’s not on an All-NBA team at year’s end, then something is wrong with this league.