The Cavaliers Have Been VERY Disappointing

The Cavaliers Have Been VERY Disappointing

Yo, what’s going on y’all? It’s Con and I am very disappointed in the Cleveland Cavaliers so far this season. Before the year, I picked them to make the NBA finals representing the East to face off against the Thunder. Kind of like we thought we might get last year when they were both one seeds and Cleveland ran through pretty much everybody, especially to start the regular season. They were incredibly dominant. They were like 17-0, insane offense. And it’s like, oh my gosh, Kenny Atinson has revolutionized this thing. And Evan Mobley is taking a bit of a step forward. handling the ball a bit more. They’re this juggernaut defensively. They looked convincing in every possible way. And then down the stretch of the season, they started to drop a few games here and there. The defense especially slipped a little. And once they got to the playoffs, they looked outmatched by the Pacers in part because they were dealing with injuries to Darius Garland and basically anybody you can think of on that roster. Even still, they just got outplayed. But it was a factor. And ultimately, when you win over 60 games, they won like 65 like Cleveland did, it’s disappointing to lose round two. But I felt like this year in a more wide openen Eastern Conference, no Celtics, no Pacers, this was the year the Cavs were going to go ahead and get through. Donovan Mitchell, Daryus Garland, who’s going to miss the beginning of the year, but when he came back, he’d still be really good. Jared Allen, Evan Mobley. I’ve been such a big Evan Mobley guy the entire time he’s been in the NBA. Even going into the draft, he was the guy that won the Thunder to get in that draft class. I’ve always been a believer that there is still multiple more steps that he can take and that this year he would be an AllNBA player, that he’d be like the conference finals MVP and ultimately by the end of the year that he’d be the best player in the eyes of many people on this Cleveland Cavaliers team. That was the vision for them. I thought at minimum they would be a two seed. But so far they’re 12-8, which isn’t bad. They’re not a bad team, but they’re only on pace to win 49 games. For a team that won in the mid60s last year, that is a certain step back. And yes, they’ve dealt with injuries. Daryus Garland’s only played five games and hasn’t really looked like himself in those games. You’ve had a couple missed games from like a Jared Allen and Alonzo Ball and DeAndre Hunter. Sam Merrell back hasn’t played this year. Like the Cavaliers are not at 100%. And I’m not saying that this is the time to ultimately panic and say, “Oh my gosh, the Cavaliers are frauds.” I still think they have a real shot to come out of this Eastern Conference, but they need to like kind of start to pick it up. Even when dealing with injuries, you’re seeing a lot of injuries across the league, like a ton of them. And teams are still putting it together. The Pistons haven’t had Jane Ivy majority of the season. They’re the number one seed in the Eastern Conference. The Orlando Magic are missing Palo Beno right now, and they’re redot. No Trey Young for the Atlanta Hawks, and that’s the team that beat the Cavs tonight to push them to 12-8. Nazi Hawks team without Trey Young that put 130 on the Cavs heads and it was everybody. It was Nquille with 30 points. It was 29 from Jaylen Johnson. It was 14 on hyperefficiency from Zachary Ree Sasha. 10 from Dyson Daniels, 12 from Mohammad Gay, 14 from Viki. You got 18 from Ayaka Kongu. They were getting torched left and right to the tune of 52% from the field and 37% from three while only turning the ball over 12 times. And this was a Cavs team that was pretty healthy in this game. DeAndre Hunter, Evan Mobley, Jared Allen, Donovan Mitchell, Daryus Garland, and most nights that’ll probably be the starting lineup that they want to utilize. Maybe you have Max Truce in there when he comes back instead of DeAndre Hunter, but for the most part, that’s kind of their top five there. And they had Lonzo, they had Jaylen Tyson, they had Dean Wade, Larry Nance Jr., who’s just been bad this season. Aquinon Tomlin, like they were missing Sam Merrill, sure, but that should not be the difference maker. That should not be the reason why you’re losing to this Hawks team who hasn’t been bad. But again, you are supposed to be the team that wins the Eastern Conference. That should just be the reality of the situation. They should win this game. They should have won multiple more. And over their last eight, they’re four and four. That’s not great. That’s not great to see. And I again, I’m not saying it’s all over for the Cavaliers or anything, but there are concerning notes like the defense, which has still been top 10 so far this season, but last year it was like top two, top three, and then end of the year it kind of started to drop off a bit. And so far this season, it’s looked more like that end of the year defense than the beginning of last season where they were destroying everybody. And offensively, they’re middle of the pack this year after being a juggernaut. Everybody’s talking about is this one of the greatest offenses ever. And if you take a look at the numbers, it was up there in terms of efficiency, offensive rating, all those numbers. And now it feels like they’ve come back down to earth. And I think part of that is the Darius Garland effect, but also like you’re having Donovan Mitchell do insane stuff. Donovan Mitchell on a nightly basis is giving you 30.6 six on over 50% shooting and 39% from three with five dimes. Tonight he hit 42 and 15 of 28 with seven threes. It should not take that much from Don Mitchell just to not get blown out by the Trey Youngless Atlanta Hawks. He is doing everything and more this season. He’s having the best year of his career right now. And that is, you know, a silver lining, a plus side if you’re the Cavaliers. But the fact that you’re still losing with those types of games is definitely concerning. Evan Mobley, I talked about it at the beginning of the video. I’m such an Evan Mobley guy. I believed in him his entire career going into the draft, but this season I felt like this was the year that he was really gonna take the next level jump. I last season he did that, but in the playoffs they kind of sputtered a little bit and Don Mitchell, you know, any Cavs guy felt like that did an interview mentioned that they needed more from Evan Mobley this season that they were going to get him the ball and that he was the X factor, the key to them winning the East this time. And I agree. I think that’s just the case. But so far, he’s averaging just 0.2 2 more points because he’s down 6% in field goal percentage. The three-point percentage is the exact same. It’s just it’s under it’s been underwhelming. And once again, I keep bringing him up and I think Daryus Garland helps him. But even still, in the playoffs, they just need more self-creation from Evan Mobley. He’s going to have to be efficient. He’s going to have to find ways to go get his own buckets. It makes them a lot more dynamic. It makes them capable of winning the Eastern Conference. If Evan Mobley needs Darius Garland to be successful, this is not a team that’s winning the East. It’s just not. And I’m reaching a point where I’m starting to think, is Evan Mobley ever going to take the jump that I believe he has in him? Because he did it a little bit last year. Now it feels like he’s stagnating. And maybe that’s losing Jordan Kn to the Phoenix Suns who’s coaching a hell of a job over there in Phoenix. They play the Thunder tonight and they gave us absolute hell in that NBA Cup game trying to win the group. Like maybe Jordan, I mean, we’ve heard before he was kind of the Evan Moley whisperer that he was a key to Evan Moley success. Maybe now that he’s gone, Kenny Atinson doesn’t really know how to get through to him and find the success that we saw last year and take that next step. That might be a real thing that’s going on over there in Cleveland right now. And maybe with time that’ll fix itself, with health, that’ll fix itself. But in this Eastern Conference, where there are a lot of teams playing above expectations that are dealing with injuries and are only bound to get healthier, the Cavs don’t have a lot of time to dillydally and find their identity. You need to be one of the top seeds. You’ve got to be firing on all cylinders well before the playoffs come around if you want to win it this time. Otherwise, it’s going to be a very disappointing first round or second round exit. If they don’t make the conference finals, if they don’t make the NBA finals, it is a disastrous season for the Cleveland Cavaliers in my opinion after last year and with how weak and open the Eastern Conference feels right now. It’s not like terribly weak. Like there are really good teams, but they were supposed to be the best. They were the best team in the East all of last season until they ran into the Indiana Pacers who had one of the best playoff runs I’ve ever seen. This is a Cavs team that is hyper talented. They have three bonafide allstars in Moley, Mitchell, and Garland. Jared Allen’s been one before, and those first three guys are all all NBA level talents as well. I think a trade could be on the horizon if they keep not performing to their level, their expectations. I think a Jiren Allen trade could come in because I don’t know, the more that I watch this team, the more it feels like he’s just kind of redundant and that maybe the ultimate unlocker for Moy might be him at the five, but there’s also part of me that doesn’t know if he’s ready to play the five. He’s great defensively, but is he ready to be a full-time center? I’m not really sure. Do you maybe flip Allen for a different center? And that’s the route that you go someone that might fit a little bit better next to Moy. Maybe. But I’m not certain. Is this back court going to work long term with Garland and Mitchell? And even if you make a trade or get guys healthy, like how long is that health going to last? Because it’s just become a theme now where somebody’s always injured for the Cleveland Cavaliers. And it’s becoming a team that no longer is it an exception, but it’s the rule. And if that’s the case, then they just can’t do it. They’ve got to be healthy if they want to win the Eastern Conference. And they’ve got to be healthy for sure if they want to beat whoever comes out of the West, whether it’s, you know, probably Oklahoma City or one of Denver or Houston, whoever it is. You You’ve just got to be healthy. You’ve got to be playing extremely extremely well. And they’re just not up to the level right now. As currently things are going, I’d probably take the Pistons over them in a series. I’d probably take the Knicks, you know, assuming everybody’s fully healthy. I I might take the Toronto Raptors, the Orlando Magic, the Atlanta Hawks, I probably would still say the Cavs could beat any of them. And honestly, with how much I believed in the Cavs coming into the season, and I still do, I might still pick the Cavs to win the Eastern Conference right now. But it’s starting to reach a concerning trend. And as a big believer, maybe some of you who are lower on them, you’re like, “Oh, this is just what I expected.” But as a big believer, as someone who really likes this team, I have been underwhelmed by the Cleveland Cavaliers, especially as of late in the last eight games where they’ve gone four and four. Lost to the Raptors, beat the Grizzlies, beat the Bucks, lost to Houston, beat the Pacers, beat the Clippers, lost to Toronto, lost to Atlanta. So, like the four teams that are kind of just good in that stretch, they lost to and it was 13 to the Raptors. It was 10 to the Rockets, it was 11 to the Raptors, it was seven today to the the Hawks, but again, it took Don Mitchell scoring 42 for that to even be the reality for them. It’s concerning. It is concerning. I’ve been very disappointed in the Cleveland Cavaliers. I’d love to know if you’re worried at all or if you think I’m overreacting. If you’re like, “Ah, just, you know, give it some more time.” Again, I’m not giving up. Do not take this as me saying the Cavaliers are screwed. It’s all over. that they have to trade everybody, blow it up, whatever. I’m just saying as a big believer, been very disappointed. One of the more disappointing teams in the NBA for me so far this season. So, those are my thoughts on the Cavaliers at the moment. What do you think needs to change? If anything, do you think they just need time? Would love to hear your thoughts down below in the comments. Okay, let’s go ahead and talk about the rest of the games in the NBA tonight. I’ll touch on the Thunder game real quick because that was actually a really good one. 123 to 119. The Thunder moved to 19-1, but the Suns did not go down easily. Colin Gillespie, Royce O’Neal, Deon Booker. Nobody wanted to miss a three in the final few minutes or really any shot whatsoever. But the Thunder end up closing out because Shay is maybe the best player on the planet. 37 three and eight, 10 of 20 from the floor, three of five from three. Uh, and a lot of those points, I think 15 of them, 13 of them came in the fourth quarter. He was hitting step back threes, tough mid-range jumpers, getting to the basket. He started, I think, like one and eight, two of eight, one of those numbers. And he was just straight missing layups. And he’s like, “Oh, okay. It’s a close game. I have to play in the fourth quarter. All right, I’ll just go crazy. Jub returned in this one. Had 11, four, eight, and two. Uh, did not shoot great, three of 12, but the defense, the disruptiveness was there. He was playmaking his butt off. You could tell he was just still getting comfortable. And Chad had 23 and eight boards of the Thunder. Shot 46.9% from three, 15 of 32. They matched every big three the Suns hit. But credit to Phoenix. A Suns video is very overdue. I have to make one here at some point soon. Uh, we saw the Orlando Magic beat the Pistons to advance and win their NBA Cup group. Oh, by the way, I’ll flash the NBA Cup bracket up here on the screen. I think it’s going to be a really good one. I might make a predictions video for that or I don’t know. I maybe I’ll just do it over on like Tik Tok, which by the way, I do have a Tik Tok and an Instagram that I use all the time at this point. A lot of content’s been going up there, so make sure to follow those. Um, but yeah, uh, the Magic win their group 112 to 109 continuing to rack up wins and get hot without Paulo in the lineup. Is that potentially something? I don’t really know, but it’s important to note. Desmond Bane had 37. Huge game, the best game for him in Orlando Magic uniform. 05 from three and it just didn’t matter. Fron had 217, three steals. Tristan Dilva with eight, 16 from Anthony Black. Not super efficient, but defensively he was disruptive and he’s just playing really good basketball right now. They go ahead and close it out. They get it done late. It was really, really dicey there for a little bit. Both teams are going back and forth. The Pistons were up huge and then they blew it. But now it’s like, okay, the Detroit Pistons are going to win. Uh, but they’re not able to get it done the end. 3913 11 from Kade. He was unbelievable. Uh Jaylen Durren 16 and 12. He was also great with four blocks, 18 from Tobias Harris. But outside of those guys, no one really showed up all too much. Jay Navi off the bench, one of two shooting for three points with a few turnovers. Duncan Robinson was three of 11 from three. Yeah, it just ultimately came down to kind of the role players did not play up to the level of the Magic’s depth, which is good for Orlando. I mean, they’re they’re kind of starting to figure it out a little bit. It seems like the Spurs beat the Nuggets 139 to 136 without Victor Wanyama. Deon Vel goes crazy down the stretch. The Nuggets are trying everything to stay in this game and Denver is just hitting three after three after three. He hit 35 with seven threes. Darren Fox struggled with 15 and 12 dimes. Champenny had 25 points with 10 boards. Uh the Nuggets defense is definitely faltering after a great start to the season. It’s been looking a lot weaker. Uh 219 and 10 from Joic. Only 10 shots though. It was one of those games where sometimes Joic just has those nights where it’s like I’m not really going to shoot the basketball. That was kind of one of those nights tonight. Jamal Murray had 37. He was fantastic. 15 from Peyton Watson, 15 from Tim Hardway Jr. But again, I think they needed Jokic to kind of take over a little bit more down the stretch and somebody to guard anybody. But yeah, we’re seeing that Nuggets defense definitely come back down to earth even though they are still firing on all cylinders offensively. And I do think Aaron Goran coming back from injury uh will ultimately help them a little bit. Okay, we need to fly through these because there were so many games tonight. The Lakers beat the Mavericks. Huge game from Luca as well as Austin Reeves. Uh Reeves should absolutely be an all-star at this point. And Luca of course is going to be one and is right there at third in the MVP conversation if you ask me right now. 355 and 11. 388 and3 from Austin Reeves. Braun had 13 points, five rebounds, and seven assists. Kind of getting into his flow still. Uh decent game from AD 12 with three blocks. 17 for Ryan Nehard who got the start in this one. DLO just straight up benched. Did not play. It seems like the DLO era in Dallas may already be over, but the Lakers move on to face against the Spurs in an NBA cup match up. Suns and Thunder are playing each other again. Those should both be fun matchups. Uh the Pacers annihilate the Wizards. Not a lot to say there. The Wizards just like absolutely terrible so far this season. The Pacers haven’t looked great, but not quite that bad. The Sixers knock off the Nets 115 to 103. Paul George has been pretty good since coming back from injury. And Jared McCain is really starting to find his footing. Had 20 points on seven of 16 shooting four of 10. Adono is really solid as well. And for the Nets, Jagger Domen had his best game so far, 239 and five with a steal and a couple of blocks. He was huge down the stretch for them trying to kind of be competitive in this one without Michael Porter Jr. I was impressed. The Hornets beat the Bulls 123 to 116. Big game from Brandon Miller. Haven’t been able to say that much this season because he’s been dealing with injury. But 27 points, 10 of 19 shooting. 22 for Miles Bridges and the Bulls are are kind of just starting to spiral back to kind of where we expected them to be this season, but 25 and 25 each from Kobe White and Josh Giddy. The Knicks beat the Bucks 118 to 109. Uh it was a big game from Jaylen Brunson who was just was doing everything for them. 19 from Josh Hart, 14 from male, 19 from Deuce McBride. Not a great cat game. Nine points, 10 rebounds, four assists, wasn’t scoring a lot. Uh and Giannis ended up returning for the Bucks in this game and ultimately had 30 15 and eight. He was ridiculous. But the Bucks have now lost seven or eight straight at this point. And it’s starting to feel a little bit dicey over there in Milwaukee because again I talked about this Eastern Conference. There’s not a lot of room for error it feels like. And right now they are 8 and 12. That’s four games back of the seven seated Magic who, you know, every them and every team up. Feels like they’re playing vastly better basketball than the Bucks at this point even with Giannis now back. And finally, the Jazz beat the Kings 31 from Keonte George who has been so fun this season. 20 from Bryce Sensibot, 28 from Larry Markin. Uh the Kings are an absolute nightmare. Watch. Zack Lavine had 34. He was awesome. 23 and 10 from Keegan Murray who’s actually been pretty good so far this season in the limited games that he’s played. 16, 12, and 14, a triple double from Russell Westbrook. Uh, right now had 19 points. Like there is some stuff to be excited about with the Kings. I don’t know why I’m saying that. That’s just not true. But hey, some guys played well. They they sooner they blow it up, the better for all of us. But yeah, those are the games from tonight. The NBA Cup again, the bracket has been set. Maybe I’ll just do my predictions right now real quick so we can go ahead and just um, you know, have that out and in the books. Uh, I think the Thunder are going to beat the Suns. The Lakers are going to beat the Spurs. And then the Thunder beat the Lakers to go to the finals going up against the winner of the Eastern Conference. And I have the uh the Magic beating the Miami. I’m trying to remember the bracket in my head right now because I don’t have it pulled up for some reason. I think the Raptors are going to beat the Knicks. I feel like the Raptors are that young team that’s going to propel themselves a little bit from the NBA Cup this season. Like it feels like we see sometimes we saw with the Pacers a couple years ago. And I think the Raptors ultimately beat the Magic to face off against the Thunder in the finals. But the Thunder get the job done. I mean, they’ve just been by far the best team in the NBA so far this season. But yeah, those are my NBA Cup predictions. That’s the games from tonight. Let me know down below your thoughts on the Cleveland Cavaliers and the NBA Cup uh as a whole, the bracket. Who do you have winning it? How do you feel about how your favorite team did? And just takeaways in general from this NBA slate of games. Leave like and subscribe if you enjoyed. Hit the notification bell so you don’t miss out on future videos. Appreciate watching. I’ll see youall later. Real back.

The Cleveland Cavaliers came into the season as one of the favorites to win the NBA title but haven’t lived up to expectations. Donovan Mitchell has been awesome but Evan Mobley hasn’t jumped, Darius Garland hasn’t played much, and the team is middle of the pack in the East. Teams like the Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, Atlanta Hawks, New York Knicks, and others are figuring it out, and the Cavs haven’t been bad, but they feel underwhelming and not like the threat to the Oklahoma City Thunder they could be.

Subscribe today and become a Real One
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Three_Cone​​​

Video Submissions: https://forms.gle/7Xgtu1iENEBDibLM9

#nba #cavaliers #donovanmitchell

0:00 – Intro