Donovan Mitchell meets with the media following practice. Rob Lorenzo/ESPN Cleveland
Game Observations: Cavs lose to Philly but Donovan Mitchell fits in
You must have an active subscription to read this story.
Click Here to subscribe Now!
Danny Cunningham covers the Cavs for ESPN Cleveland and TheLandOnDemand.com
The Cavs opened the 2022 preseason with a 113-112 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. It was the first time that Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland shared the floor together in game action on any sorts, even if the result doesn’t matter in the end.
Mitchell looked good in his Cavs debut and seemed to be as comfortable as could be on the floor with a group of new teammates. He finished with a team-high 16 points in 19 minutes, all of it coming in the first half. Mitchell also added in five assists. This wasn’t something that necessarily needed to be confirmed, especially by a meaningless preseason game, but Mitchell is a real deal and someone that will truly help to elevate this team beyond where it’s gone without LeBron James on the roster.
The starting lineup for the Cavs did look different than it should on opening night. Aside from Jarrett Allen starting with Mitchell and Garland, the team started Kevin Love in place of the injured Evan Mobley at Caris LeVert at small forward. The Cavs don’t seemed concerned that Mobley will miss any regular season time, and we’ll have more on the starting small forward position below.
The starting five didn’t play at all in the second half, and the Cavs went with a 10-man rotation in the first half. While the names will be flexible, it’s difficult to see things going much deeper than 10 guys on a regular basis once these games count for real.
As for other notes from the box score, Dean Wade led the team with 23 minutes off the bench. He scored 11 points and collected five rebounds. He was 3-of-6 from the floor, with all but one of those shot attempts coming from behind the arc. Isaac Okoro also saw a good chunk of time off the bench as well. He played 18 minutes in the loss and scored seven points.
Getting up threes
One of the things that could help to improve the Cavs offensively this season is shooting 3-pointers at a higher frequency. Last year, the Cavs were a relatively middle of the pack team in both attempted 3-pointers and 3-point percentage. The Cavs ranked 22nd in the NBA in the former and 15th in the latter. The team attempted 32.8 shots from beyond the arc per game, a far cry from Minnesota’s league-leading 41.3 attempts from deep.
One of the things that should help to organically raise the average number of attempts is adding Mitchell into the mix. Last year Mitchell attempted 9.8 3-pointers per contest and hoisted from deep four times – making three of them – in 19 minutes of play in the first preseason game in Philadelphia. The Cavs as a team shot 20 3-pointers in the first half while using a 10-man rotation of guys that all realistically have a chance to crack the lineup on opening night. It’s also fair to say that this number may have been juiced a little bit due to Love being in the starting lineup in Mobley’s place.
The insertion from Mitchell alone should be a big boost to the attempts from deep. It’s not just that he shoots them at as high of a clip as he does, but it’s also that he’ll be replacing some combination of LeVert or Okoro in the starting backcourt. This isn’t to say those guys won’t be starting at the small forward spot – we’ll get to that in a minute – but Mitchell will be in the spot they occupied.
Last season, LeVert attempted 3.5 3-pointers per game while Okoro attempted just 2.3 of them. Putting Mitchell’s production into that spot will make a huge difference towards how this offense looks.
Update on the starting small forward
One of the things that has been the talk of training camp has been the team’s search for a starting small forward. Four of the five starting spots are set in stone, between Allen, Mobley, Mitchell, and Garland. The fifth spot has a number of guys competing for it.
LeVert was the first guy to have his name penciled in as a starter. He played 14 minutes – all of them coming in the first half – and scored seven points on five shots. Of the starting five, LeVert had the lowest minute total, but there’s no reason to think that should be read into.
Over the course of training camp, Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff has been asked a number of times about that battle, and one of the things he’s said is that he believes different guys can give different looks in that spot. What LeVert could provide as the starting small forward is different than Okoro, and different than Wade, and so on.
With that said, it’s also something that’s about fit, which Bickerstaff mentioned to the media in Philadelphia prior to tip off on Wednesday. Of the group of guys that are in consideration for the starting spot, Wade might be the one that fits in the best.
