I tend to remember what sporting event was on during some of the biggest moments of my childhood. I remember the dangerous ice storm that rocked Atlanta when I was eight because that was the day we lost power at my house, so we watched the Super Bowl, the St. Louis Rams vs. the Tennessee Titans that particular year, in Atlanta, too, funny enough, at my grandparents’ house. I remember the last time I was riddled with a stomach bug as a kid, in Jerry Seinfeld-esque fashion, was while I was watching the Oakland Raiders take on the New York Jets one random Sunday afternoon in the fall. I even remember the night I had to go to the emergency room for some stitches below my lower lip after I dove for a football and crashed into a bedside table at my aunt and uncle’s house in Jacksonville was the same night the Peach Bowl was on the television in the living room that pitted Auburn against North Carolina. All of those games and events happened a very long time ago, and here we are many years later, and they are all still firmly etched into my quite silly sports-centric brain. Conversely, it is only late August, and I have already forgotten that the Cleveland Cavaliers reached the Eastern Conference Finals this past NBA season. The Cavs reached the ECF for the first time in eight years, and it’s like it never happened.
Unless you’re a Cavs fan, of course.
Part of that is circumstance. Cleveland had a very friendly road to the ECF, and when they got there, they were swept. It didn’t help that the Toronto Raptors, without one of their best players, forced a Game 7 in the first round. It didn’t help that the Detroit Pistons, who looked dreadful from the get-go, went up 2-0 on the Cavs in the Conference Semifinals. It didn’t help that the expected James Harden Playoff Questions resurfaced. To their credit, though, they did do the thing that ultimately matters to reach the ECF – win enough playoff games to advance to the aforementioned ECF. They could have been upset by the Raptors, who were without one of their best players, but they were not. They could have been disposed of by the No. 1 seed in the East, but they were not. Ultimately, Cleveland was eliminated by the team that won the NBA championship.
Cleveland has quietly grown in the NBA postseason over the last four seasons. The team was eliminated in the opening round in 2022-23. Then, they were eliminated in the semifinals the next two seasons. Now, they’re coming off their first conference finals appearance in nearly a decade. The last team to get eliminated in the Eastern Conference Finals won the NBA championship the following year, that being this year’s Knicks, of course. This does not mean the Cavs are going to win the 2027 NBA Finals. Still, if head coach Kenny Atkinson’s team does reach the ECF once again, friendly playoff draws or not, they will find themselves in the same position as the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Knicks, who have reached at least the conference finals the last two seasons, and both, obviously, became the last two NBA champions.
What Do You Say To Orioles Fans?
The Baltimore Orioles could still qualify for the 2026 MLB postseason. If the Orioles competed in the AL West rather than the AL East and had the same record they do now, they would be just 2.5 games back from leading the division. Postseason or not, the Baltimore Orioles are one of baseball’s biggest disappointments this season and beyond.
To be a Cleveland Cavaliers Optimist, you have to be a bona fide Donovan Mitchell Believer in that he can be the best player on a championship team because he is and will continue to be the best player on the Cavs for the duration of this run. You have to believe that there is another level for Evan Mobley to reach, particularly from three-point land. You have to believe in Playoff James Harden, at least a tad. You also probably have to believe that the Cavs have finally solved their fifth-starter problem on the wing with Peyton Watson.
It’s the latter that is most interesting to me. I already believe that Mitchell can be the best player on a title team in the NBA’s current Parity Era. I already believe that Mobley can be the No. 2 on a title team, eventually, if he takes another step next season. I also believe that Atkinson is one of the best coaches in the NBA. Cleveland is still a deep team with guys like Jarrett Allen, Sam Merrill, Thomas Bryant, Jaylon Tyson, and my favorite, long-forgotten wild card Mario Hezonja. It’s that they have missed on Isaac Okoro. They missed on DeAndre Hunter, and man alive, they are hopeful they don’t miss on Watson.
The Cavs were eighth in offense last year and fifteenth in defense. Could the addition of Watson, along with Mobley and Tyson, propel Cleveland into the top-10 in defense? The team that just won the NBA championship was fourth in offense and tenth in defense. The two NBA champions before that were in the top 5 in offense and defense, too. For Cleveland to take that final leap back to the NBA Finals, it all starts with working their way into the top 10 defensively. They have to get there to have a realistic chance.
In three of Watson’s four five-man units in Denver last year that played over 100 minutes together, they combined to accumulate a plus-minus of +41.4. He worked well with several different Nuggets around him, particularly on the perimeter. There is evidence that he can thrive at the four or the three in the League. The question is where Cleveland will need him to thrive the most this upcoming season.
A lot of Cleveland’s ceiling will depend on how Watson integrates into two of Cleveland’s best potential five-man units: 1) Mitchell-Harden-Watson-Mobley-Allen and 2) Mitchell-Merrill-Tyson-Watson-Allen. When you replace Watson with Hunter and Watson with Dean Wade, respectively, in those two lineups last year, they produced a plus-minus of +68.2 in 232 possessions overall, per CleaningTheGlass. (You need to replace Harden with Darius Garland in that first group, too.) If Watson can thrive and shoot just well enough at the four when it’s just Allen inside and if he can do the same at the three when it’s Allen and Mobley inside, you feel better about Cleveland’s playoff chances next season.
I have liked a lot of what Cleveland has done over the last several years. The Cavs have averaged 53.75 wins over the last four seasons. They just reached the ECF. The vast majority of that winning core is coming back, and they added a worthy gamble on the perimeter in Watson. They still have the great coach, the great depth, and the high-usage, high-offensive-upside lead guard. They should be even better next season. They could even be a real contender next season, even if you are already like me and don’t remember they advanced all the way to the ECF like a real contender this past season.