Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell against the Utah Jazz. ESPN Cleveland/Rob Lorenzo.
It's time to raise the expectations for the Cleveland Cavaliers
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Danny Cunningham covers the Cleveland Cavaliers for 850 ESPN Cleveland and thelandondemand.comThe Cleveland Cavaliers are a little more of a third of the way through the season and sit 10 games above the .500 mark at 21-11. By all accounts, this season has been a rousing success to date.
As things stand on Tuesday, the Cavs are in third place in the Eastern Conference, with a 1.5-game lead on the Brooklyn Nets. There’s also a 2.5-game gap between the Cavs and the fifth-place Philadelphia 76ers. That difference represents having home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs versus having to start off a playoff run in an opposing building.
Prior to the season, a fair barometer of whether or not this season was a success for the Cavs was if they were good enough to avoid the NBA Play-In Tournament. Last season, the Cavs won 44 games and finished eighth in the Eastern Conference, meaning they had to fight their way into the playoffs. The team lost a road game in Brooklyn and had its season ended at home by the Atlanta Hawks in a winner-take-all game. Avoiding that fate again in what figured to be a loaded Eastern Conference would have been thought of as a success.
Now, as the team is 32 games into the year, it’s fair to adjust expectations a bit. At the time of this writing, not just are the Cavaliers in third place in the Eastern Conference, they have the third-best record in all of basketball. Finishing just outside the play-in wouldn’t be thought of as an unquestioned success anymore. This team has proven to be too good to be satisfied finishing sixth in the Eastern Conference.
Their sights should be set on having a top-four seed when the playoffs arrive, if not having top-two seed.
It’s not as if the Cavaliers are just squeaking out all of their wins, either. They own the best point differential and the best net rating in the entire NBA. They’re outscoring opponents by 6.5 points per 100 possessions.
The Cavs are doing that with the NBA’s best defense, allowing just 104.4 points per game and an offense that hasn’t quite reached its peak. The All-Star backcourt of Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell has only played 23 games together and has another level that’s yet to be unlocked, even if Mitchell has played at an All-NBA level.
This isn’t to say that the Cavaliers should be considered among the favorites to win The Finals come June. It’s far too early to say that. It’s not too early, however, to say that this team is one of the five best teams in the NBA.
Even though the Cavaliers have beaten the Boston Celtics twice – both wins in overtime – that’s a team with a better record that’s coming off an appearance in the NBA Finals. Saying the Cavs are a better team right now wouldn’t be accurate.
Similar can be said of the Milwaukee Bucks, who the Cavs square off with on Wednesday night in Cleveland. It wouldn’t be shocking if the Cavs finished with a better record than the Bucks when the season comes to an end in April, but the Bucks have the best player in the world right now in Giannis Antetokounmpo and championship experience.
Other than those two teams, it’s hard to find another team that’s clearly better than the Cleveland Cavaliers right now.
Maybe the Brooklyn Nets, winners of nine of their last 10 games and drama free for the last few weeks will continue their ascension up the Eastern Conference standings and steer clear of any off the court distractions for the rest of the season. It’s not something that would be deemed overly likely, but it’s certainly something that can’t be ruled out, either.
Maybe the New Orleans Pelicans, another young team in the Western Conference that’s loaded with star power can stay healthy enough to put together a run at 50 wins and make a case as the best team in the other conference. The same could be said of the Memphis Grizzlies.
Maybe the Denver Nuggets, featuring two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic find themselves at the top of the standings in the near future with a claim that they belong in a championship caliber tier.
Maybe the Philadelphia 76ers featuring former NBA MVP James Harden and MVP hopeful Joel Embiid can remain healthy enough to catch their stride and make a real run at a championship. Something that fanbase has been waiting for since former general manager Daryl Morey started ‘The Process’ back in 2013.
Or, maybe the Cavaliers are just better than all those teams, the same way they have been so far this season. Only time will tell. Maybe they're not the third-best team in basketball. Maybe they're not even the fourth-best, but right now, it's hard to see them anywhere below fifth.
What time has already told, however, is that expectations for the Cavs should be raised to a level higher than they were two months ago.
