What’s Wrong With The Cavs?

What’s Wrong With The Cavs?

Going into this season, the Eastern Conference was seen as being more wide open than maybe it’s ever been. And the team that a lot of people, myself very much included, felt was the best equipped to win the conference was the Cleveland Cavaliers. And 25 games into the season been a bit of a disappointment. Yeah, I wasn’t as high on this Cavs team, but I still thought like the East was either theirs or the Knicks. So far, the Pistons, you know, maybe it’s theirs, but the Cavs, they got to turn things around because they are missing right now a golden opportunity. Before we start talking about the Cavs, if you haven’t already, make sure leave this video a like, give us a subscribe, and hit that notification bell so you never miss out on one of our videos. So, Cleveland last year, a very positive surprise in the Eastern Conference. They were coming off a loss in the conference semis to Boston. Made a coaching change in the offseason, bringing in Kenny Atinson. Ran it back with basically the same roster. Resigned Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and Jared Allen to contract extensions. And they got off to the best start, not just in Cavs history, but one of the best starts in NBA history. It’s tied with the 1949 Washington Capitals and 1994 Houston Rockets for the second best undefeated start in NBA history. They started 15-0. By the middle of January, they were 33 and4 on pace to tie the 2016 Warriors for the best regular season in NBA history. They tailed off a little bit as the season went on, but still finished with 64 wins, second best record in the NBA to only Oklahoma City, and second best regular season record in Cavs history behind only the 2009 Cavs. But just like the 2009 Cavs, 2025 Cavs season would end far before most people thought it would. I mean, yeah, it started pretty well. They swept Miami in the first round. It was the most lopsided sweep in NBA history. But in the second round, they were shocked by the Pacers as they went down in five games. First, the Pacers steal game one in Cleveland. And then in game two, Tyres Halburn cooking up that devil magic. He was the entire playoffs. Had that late three to give Indiana the win. The Cavs then dominated game three. So maybe you thought like they’re back in the series now. I got crushed in game four. Yeah. Weren’t they down 40 at halftime? Something like that. I remember. Yeah. Down 40. I just turn that [ __ ] off. I’m like this game is over and then game five you lose on your home floor. Now considering what the Pacers did the rest of the playoffs and what they’ve done the past like two years. Not like a terrible loss in hindsight. Obviously massively disappointing. But also that Pacers team, you know, they were just great in the playoffs. They took OKC to seven and like we say every time, who knows if Halburn doesn’t get injured, maybe they’re the champs. But still, this is a Cavs team that won 64 games, had the best record in the Eastern Conference, had the best offense in the league. So to go out in five games in the second round is a massive disappointment. Losing every game at home, bring it back with mostly the same roster. Lost Ty Drum in free agency. They just really couldn’t afford to pay him. And then you trade Isaac Accord to the Bulls in exchange for Lonzo Ball. They also added just on a minimum Larry Nance Jr. bringing him back. In terms of what we thought going into the season, like I said in the intro, like I wasn’t super high on this team. I thought they’d be a great regular season team. Maybe could capture the first seed again. I just didn’t really trust them come playoff time. They just kind of feel like a little bit fraudulent to me. And I guess so far, you know, that take might be aging. Well, you picked them to win the East, though. I didn’t necessarily pick them to win the East. I said they were the best equipped to win the East. Fair enough. I said of all the teams, cuz you know, it’s super wide open. And I was just like, look, there’s no reason they shouldn’t win the East, right? Boston’s defanged. Indiana’s defanged. The Knicks are the Knicks, right? So, you know, of all the teams in the East, they’ve got the least question marks, I think, is probably a good way to put it, or I thought they had the least question marks. Fair enough. And 25 games into the season, they’re 14- 11. That’s seven seed in the East, playing tournament bound if the season ended today. And that means a third of the way through this season, they’re only seven losses away from matching their entire total from last year. They just lost to the Blazers at home. Yikes. Yeah, a team that I mean, let’s just say our attempt at the reverse curse is not exactly going swimmingly right now. Also, lost at home to the Pat Spencer le G-League Warriors. Like, you let a lacrosse player come into your house and punk you. Hey, the Spencer brothers are hooping this season. They are, but still, that’s insanely. You let a dude who wears number 61 give you the business on your home floor. Yeah. Mini rant here. Like, they have been hooping this season, but both of them just wear atrocious numbers. Like, pick a normal [ __ ] number. Honestly, and look, so far, I mean, the Cavs are blowing a great opportunity cuz the East is still wide open. I mean, Detroit and New York have kind of separated themselves as the top two teams in the conference, but Detroit’s still young and unproven. You know, it’s remains to be seen how they handle being potentially the first overall seed in the Eastern Conference. And the Knicks are the Knicks. They’ll find a way to [ __ ] something up along the way, right? Outside of that, the other contenders are Boston without Tatum, Orlando, Toronto, and Philadelphia. Four teams that, in my opinion, the Cavs have no excuse for being worse than. And like this phenomenon of like a team that was good for a couple years, popped for one year in the regular season only to lose in heartbreaking fashion in the playoffs and then regress the next year. Like we’ve seen it before like the 2018 Rockets for example, won 65 games, took the Warriors to game seven, fell short, won 53 games the next year, went out in the second round. Jazz in 21, another Donovan Mitchell team won 52 games in the co shorten season. That was a 59 win pace. Fall to the Clippers in round two, regressed to 49 wins in a first round loss the next year. Phoenix in 2022, 64 wins. got the Luca special in the second round. Next year they were, I think, 30 and 26 when they traded for Kevin Durant. And even after trading for Durant, they only won 45 games on the year. It’s something worth remembering, you know, regressing to the mean, rubber banding, whatever you want to call it. The Cavs are still a very young team with not a lot of deep playoff experience. Like genuinely, the guy who’s been the deepest in the playoffs on their roster is Thomas Bryan, who went to the finals last year. The oldest guy on the team, period, is Larry Nance, who’s 33. Yeah. And that loss to the Pacers last year for losing in five, that’s about as hard, you know, crushing defeat as you can take because really, you know, outside that game three, the Pacers completely dominated things. That game two was just a stab in the chest and especially out of the fact, like we said, 64- win team, best offense in the league. It kind of felt like, you know, you wasted it. Yeah. And that felt like the year like they should have, you know, won the East or at least the whole thing going into the playoffs for the East last year was it was going to be them and Boston. Like if they can beat Boston, they can make the finals. And both teams didn’t even make it to the conference finals. So you have to wonder, is that loss like haunting them? And obviously you got to keep in mind a big part of their struggle so far this season, it’s due to injuries. Like Max Duce again hasn’t played so far to start this season. did the same last year, but last year they were playing a lot better, so it didn’t really matter. Jared Allen’s missed a lot of time recently with a finger injury. And then Daryus Garland’s just been dealing with that toe injury. And Garland’s been the one by far. It’s been the most notable. He was incredible for them last year. He was so important for their offense. And this year, he’s only played nine games so far this season. He’s got a career low in shooting percentages. His scoring is down from 20.6 points per game last year to only 14 this season. And even like when he’s fully healthy at his best, he’s a defensive liability. That’s been like one of the question marks by this Cavs team honestly for years is the back court. Can’t really play defense. Donovan Mitchell, you know, he’s okay. But Garland is definitely a negative on the defensive end, but with him injured, he’s terrible on defense. He’s one of the worst defenders in the league. He’s borderline unplayable, honestly. He’s got the worst defensive rating on the team by far. And the other thing you got to worry about with Garland is like that toe injury is now like a recurring thing cuz he was dealing with this all through the playoffs last year. Remember Stephen A got on his case first for sitting out with a toe injury and then coming back and playing poorly. So just can’t win. You can’t win, I guess, right? But with Garland struggling, the Cavs don’t have a lot of great other options at point guard. Like they brought in Lonzo to be, you know, that backup or the guy who steps in if Garland’s hurt. And Lonzo, he’s been fine as a distributor. is averaging nearly five assists per game, which is pretty good for a bench point guard, but his shooting has been terrible. Yeah, shooting below 30% from the three and from the field. So, again, you like that he can get out there and get guys open shots, but man, having that kind of shooting on the floor has been brutal for them. And that’s kind of just the larger trend affecting this team. Like, their shooting has been really bad to start their season. Like, as much as we were just hating on Garland for hurting them on defense, their defensive rating as a team overall is basically on par with what it was last year. I mean, it was 112.2 last year. that was eighth in the league. This year it’s 113.7. That’s ninth in the league. That’s a, you know, a bit worse, a tick worse, but more or less the exact same. It’s their offense that’s taken a big step back. And last year, you mentioned earlier, Cavs, not only best offense in the NBA, one of the best offenses of all time. I’m pretty sure they had the sixth highest offensive rating of all time. This year, they regressed down to 10th, which still isn’t bad, but if your defense doesn’t take a step forward to compensate for that, then you’re going to regress a little bit. And biggest reason’s been their three-point shooting. I mean, last year they were fourth in the NBA in three-point attempts, 41 12 per game. But they were second in three-point percentage, 38.3%. This year, first in threes attempted, 44 a game, and they’re 22nd in percentage, 34.3%. That’s a 4% drop from last season. And that year-over-year decline, by the way. That’s the worst in the NBA. And only Indiana and Memphis are really in the same realm as them. Yeah, DeAndre Hunter, he’s the biggest culprit here. He’s shooting more than 10% worse from three this season than he did last season. I mean, he’s been thrown into that starting role. And, you know, maybe bringing him off the bench if Strus gets healthy, that would help, but I don’t know. He’s just been shooting way worse. Garland also, like we mentioned, has been shooting way worse. And he’s so important for their offense just as a playmaker setting players up. That also hurts them. Other guys like Moy and Allen really haven’t stepped up on that end. Donovan Mitchell, you know, he’s been balling the hell out. He’s averaging over 30. And one of the things we pointed to about Mitchell last season, though, when we talked about the Cavs, like he was averaging, it was like a second worst throughout his career, points per game. It was just over 24 points per game. He finished the year, I think, exactly averaging 24 a game. Yeah, that actually was a good thing because so many other players were stepping up on the offensive load that Mitchell didn’t really need to do that. This year, he’s had to. Yeah, this year he’s had to. I mean, he’s leading the league in three-pointers made. He’s having a great season, like honestly a career year, but that’s not necessarily what you want for this Cavs team, and obviously a big part of that has to do with injuries. Like, maybe their three-point percentage will go up when you get Garland fully healthy. Sam Merrill can shoot the ball well, guys. But so far, they have not been the lineup. Overall, the team’s not shooting well. Mitchell’s had to carry the load. So, overall, like for the Cavs, they’re not like Clippers level bad. Like, that’s not the point we’re trying to make here. You’re not hitting the panic button yet, but they’re arguably the most talented team in the East. The only team you can make an argument for that’s more talented is the Knicks. And so far at 1411, that’s just a massive disappointment. You got to factor in the injuries, but at the same time, the Garland one is concerning because it’s been reoccurring. It’s from last season. He’s still not healthy. The schedule does, you know, get easier. You got the Wizards tonight. You play the Hornets in this stretch. You play the Bulls twice. Then you play the Pelicans before the schedule gets tougher. starting on Christmas Day versus the Knicks. Yeah, they got like a two week stretch to like, you know, build a buffer before their schedule really starts to pick up. But at the same time, you’re losing the [ __ ] Blazers who are struggling and injured. You’re losing the Warriors who had no one playing. You’re getting whooped by Pat Spencer. You can’t beat those teams. That doesn’t give a lot of confidence you can even beat a team like the Wizards or the Hornets or the Bulls. Yeah. I mean, Cavs fans though, if I was to give you a reason to be optimistic, like even as bad as you’ve been shooting the three so far this year, your offense is still borderline top 10. And honestly, like outside of shooting the three so far this year, they do pretty much everything else well on the offensive end. They still shoot the ball well from two. They don’t turn it over. They’re nearly top 10 in assists. They’re top 10 in offensive rebounding. Only thing you can really say negative about them, they don’t get the line a ton, but that’s cuz they shoot 44 threes a game. So that’s not exactly, you know, a big revelation or anything. So honestly, if they can just get over this slump they’ve had to start the year, and you got to hope it’s a slump and not a trend, right? If it’s a trend, they’re in trouble. If it’s a slump though, if they could even just get their three-point shooting from 22nd to 12th, you know, they could probably get their offense back into the top five of the league. You know, it’s not going to be as good as it was last season, but if you get your offense back into the top five, I certainly think that’s good enough to compete in the Eastern Conference. Yeah, I think they at least got to finish like top four, get home court. The thing is, if you’re in the playoffs, anything could happen in the Eastern Conference. You got a chance. Yeah. Like maybe the Celtics get back Tatum, especially with how well they’re playing, they might rush him back and like try to make a run at things. The Knicks are playing a little bit better, but like the Pistons, they’re still inexperienced, so who knows? So, I say like if you can get healthy, if you can get the team back, anything could happen, but if they don’t, this this could be one of those seasons you look back and you’re like, damn, we wasted a massive opportunity. That’s the video, guys. What do you think of the Cavs so far this season? I’d love to hear what you have to say in the comments down below. If you enjoyed the video, consider leaving it a like as it really does help us out. And while you’re here, why not check out some of our other videos as well. And don’t forget to subscribe to Synthetic Sports.

Last year the Cleveland Cavaliers were the best team in the Eastern Conference during the regular season. They won 64 games, their 2nd most in franchise history but were shockingly beaten in the 2nd round by the Indiana Pacers. This season, despite high expectations, the Cavs are currently 14-11 and struggling. So what’s gone wrong in Cleveland?

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