It’s time.
Time for the newest crop of training camp content and the number of overreactions, good or bad, that stem from it. Time for the out-of-context quotes, the hypotheticals and the championship declarations after even the smallest signs of improvement make the rounds online. Time for the sense of optimism, the visions of watching players hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy and the anxious waiting for the first few preseason games that can shatter it all in an instant.
For some, it’s the most wonderful time of the NBA cycle. A perfect point of time defined by dashes of hope, and potentially delusion, mixed with some sense of reality. When there are just enough stone-cold facts to build off from the Summer League and previous campaigns and just enough memories aged by time to create a concoction that can deify anyone and make even the most disappointing of runs seem like nothing more than a fluke. For others, it can mean the hopeless confirmation that they’ll need yet another year to conjure any semblance of success. Whether it be one year or 10 can vary from team to team, but the feeling of a lost season can show up early with the right combination of on-paper rosters and preseason expectations from leadership and beyond.
For some fans, it might mean something just a little more than the year before.
The Cleveland Cavaliers, who seemed destined for greatness during their 2024-25 campaign, won’t tip off in their first preseason matchup for another week. For now, all fans have to glimpse into the window of what could be a defining year for The Land’s own are bite-sized pieces from training camp and their Media Day on Monday. From players continuously setting the bar high to Lonzo Ball’s surprise that Cleveland had water, the recent views from the outside looking in were nothing less than entertaining and provided the same sense of optimism as just one year before. With a championship window hanging in the balance, it can be easy for any Cavs fan to feel a mixture of hope and impatience for the high-powered squad.
Can the Cavs live up to the hype? How far can a fan’s mind wander at this point in the year before it’s considered an overreaction?
This Year Is The Cavs’ Year
One way or another, both football and basketball can be described as games of inches.
Any difference, whether it be one inch or a mile long, can mean the ultimate difference between winning and losing. The margin for error is inconceivably small in both sports, and the yearly process of staying within the lines can be much more of a dogfight than meets the eye. Cleveland found itself on both sides of the coin last season. One side showed the Cavaliers who prided themselves on the values of the Junkyard Dog Chain of old. The other showed the team who fell just short of expectations when the lights were at their brightest.
If there was any year to put everything together for the grand finale of an eight-season crescendo, it has to be this year.
Cleveland ended its last campaign with 64 regular-season wins, its most since the 2008-09 season, as it rolled through its competition under the guidance of a new head coach. While they went through a bumpy end to the regular season, including a slight drop with a four-game losing streak in March, hopes were high after the Cavs steamrolled their way through the first round and shattered the dreams of a three-time Play-In winner in the Miami Heat. A combination of unlucky injuries and a team with limitless drive in the Indiana Pacers kept them from advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2018. Still, things looked up for the rising Cavs after forward Evan Mobley and guard Donovan Mitchell racked up several season awards.
While they’re not entirely the same team that redefined its offense while remaining competitive on defense, their main core remains intact three years after Cleveland pushed its chips in on Mitchell. The six-time All-Star, along with Mobley and center Jarrett Allen, kept their talents by Lake Erie with massive extensions the summer before their defining regular-season run. Forward De’Andre Hunter, who has the talent to start for the Cavs this year, will remain under contract with the Cavs for the next two seasons. Forward Dean Wade, a Cavalier one year past tenure, will play in the final season of the 3-year extension he signed in 2022. Should the core hold once guard Darius Garland returns from injury, it could take a herculean effort to stop the Cavs once they’re in a groove, which they proved could be nearly impossible to break with three streaks of 10 wins or more last season.
The Cavs will still need to overcome a few hurdles in the Eastern Conference, but they could still prevail if they remain the offensive juggernaut they were the previous year. Cleveland ended its playoff run with a postseason-high 119.4 points per game and the regular season with an astounding offensive rating of 121, which put it 1.5 points ahead of the Boston Celtics for first place in the NBA. The Cavs transformed themselves into one of the league’s best 3-point shooting squads after remaining in the middle of the pack towards the end of the J.B. Bickerstaff era, which only added to the threat they posed from all across the floor while confusing defenders with their two-big lineup.
To take their final giant leap, all they’ll need are a few more small steps in the right direction.
“I think it was experience last year,” Mobley said on Monday. “We’ll also have to stay healthy. That’s a big factor as well. I think guys are doing everything right now to get their body and their mental ready already so when playoff time comes, we can make that jump and be as ready as possible to go as far as possible.”
All Hits, No Misses
Rarely can one say an NBA Basketball Operations department barely missed in the offseason.
However, given the room they had to work with, the Cavs surprisingly managed to strengthen their roster and add some much-needed depth before head coach Kenny Atkinson’s second year.
The Cavs brought an Akron native in Larry Nance Jr., who has called three different squads home since 2021, back to Northeast Ohio on a one-year contract this summer. He would be joined by two division rivals in Lonzo Ball and Thomas Bryant, who can both boost an offense that has the potential to run the 5-out with Coach Atkinson at the helm. Both are comfortable from the 3-point line, but Bryant’s reliability and Ball’s defense can be what ultimately makes them the difference-makers the peaking roster needs. Even one of their newest younger additions, Duke guard Tyrese Proctor, can continue the Cavs’ streak of luck at the 49th pick if they can tap into his versatility early on. He’ll join first-round sophomore Jaylon Tyson, who led Cleveland’s Summer League team with just under 20 points per game after playing in 47 games and three starts last season.
Depth, especially at both big spots, will have the largest impact in ultimately determining how far the Cavs can go compared to years past. A team can only be as strong as its 15th man, a point Nance, a former Atlanta big, highlighted after playing a part on a Hawks bench that ranked fourth in the league in bench scoring on the 12th-most bench minutes per game.
“It’s a full roster thing,” Nance said. “Guys 1-15 can really play and help. (Cleveland’s) a unique spot in that way.”
After climbing out of the depths of the Eastern Conference a little more than an inch at a time over the last eight years, winning remained one of the largest priorities, and potential attractions, for the newest of Cavaliers.
“That’s the biggest thing,” Proctor said when asked when asked what he’s looking forward to with the Cavs on Monday. “Coming from a program like Duke, winning’s relied on heavily. I want to be known for being a winning player. Whatever program, whatever organization I’m at, I want to be known for winning.”
Evan Mobley for All-NBA First-Team
If the modern game can be defined as one full of needed inches, Mobley is nothing less than the mile the Cavs have that can send them far past the top of the NBA landscape.
The bar never seems to stop rising for the near-7-foot sensation, who ended last season with the league’s Defensive Player of the Year after being within reach just three seasons ago. Mobley earned his first All-Star selection, along with his second spot on the All-Defensive First Team, following a season that saw him continue to take strides forward from his rookie year. He took a place alongside a former Cavalier in LeBron James on the All-NBA Second Team. The former USC standout and Mitchell would become the first Cavs to join All-NBA teams since the 2022-23 season, when Mitchell would take up a spot on the Second Team for the first time in his career.
This year, Mobley’s hoping to do all of that over again.
“My individual goals are definitely the All-Star game,” he said on Monday. “Hopefully, I can keep the Defensive Player of the Year as well. And then, from there, I’m going to keep that a secret for now.”
While he has long been talked about as a potential hub for the offense, Mobley’s growing ability to work with the ball in his hands can be the true catalyst in unlocking his sky-high potential in the halfcourt.
“It’s grown a lot,” he said. “I did a lot of those drills in the offseason. This year, you’re definitely going to see me with the ball in my hands a lot more. I think, with our offense and how it’s going to change a little bit, you’re going to see me out there doing that.”
MVP might be too high an expectation for the 24-year-old at this point. Still, is it too much to expect him to continue his upward trajectory and be recognized as one of the best players in the NBA? Barring catastrophe, from the perspective of a relatively new Cavaliers fan, it seems well within range for a player who could continue to shoulder a larger load on offense and who has already proven to be one of the league’s best defenders.
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