Last season, the Cleveland Cavaliers emerged as an exciting young team and made their presence known by trying to secure a playoff spot. Led by their two All-Stars, Jarrett Allen and Darius Garland, and youngster Evan Mobley, the Cleveland Cavaliers had a 44-38 record. They did not make it out of the play-in tournament, though, but made an interesting move to assure that they will next season.
In one of the more surprising trades this offseason, the Cleveland Cavaliers acquired Utah Jazz star guard Donovan Mitchell. With the addition of Mitchell, Cleveland became a much stronger team and will make some noise in the East, so let’s look at three reasons why the Cavaliers made the right choice with this trade.
Reason #1: Donovan Mitchell fits the Cleveland Cavaliers’ timeline.
By adding Mitchell to their team, the Cavaliers rounded out their young roster by adding a third All-Star. Now, they have a core made up of 26-year-old Mitchell, 24-year-old Jarrett Allen, 22-year-old Darius Garland, and 21-year-old Evan Mobley.
Besides his talent, his age is what makes Mitchell such a good fit for Cleveland. He fits into their timeline and championship window, but also offers the team some experience that the other young stars still need to gain. Whereas most of the Cavaliers’ roster has not been in a playoff game yet, Mitchell has averaged 28.3 points in 39 playoff games so far. This is actually the seventh-best playoff average in league history.
Despite that, Mitchell has had a somewhat disappointing playoff history with Utah. Now, he is part of a talented young core with other stars to share the scoring burden. Utah was a good team but never destined to make it to the conference finals. In Cleveland, Mitchell finally has a real chance to make it past the second round and has a brighter future than he had in Utah.
All of Cleveland’s four young stars are under contract for several years, and over that time they will get a taste of winning. They may not be contenders just yet, but they are a playoff team. There are still better teams in the East, like the Milwaukee Bucks, for example, but with some time, Cleveland has the potential to beat them and take the conference by storm.
Reason #2: Donovan Mitchell will improve the Cleveland Cavaliers’ offense.
Last season, while Cleveland’s roster was diminished by injuries, Darius Garland was the lone engine behind their offense. When he sat, the rest of the team struggled to create for themselves and score. Mitchell can take some of that load off of Garland by contributing scoring and playmaking.
Last season, the Cavaliers had a great team defense but ranked only 20th offensively, which they are aiming to improve with Mitchell on the court. Mitchell is one of the most explosive scorers in the league and can always find a way to get a bucket. He is known for his high-scoring performances, athletic drives, and highlight dunks.
Mitchell’s drives to the basket are hard to guard, but he also has a pretty good kick-out game, which should work well with Garland or Kevin Love open behind the arc. Besides that, Mitchell will also be able to run strong pick-and-rolls with Allen and Mobley. With this new addition to their roster, the Cavaliers will have to figure some things out, like spacing and usage, but they have many new options and a new force behind their offense now.
Reason #3: Mitchell and Garland in the backcourt
Garland is one of the most promising young guards in the league. He is a reliable playmaker with great vision who can score on several levels and really grew into his role as a centerpiece of the Cavaliers’ rebuild last season. Garland was also a first-time All-Star and averaged career highs with 21.7 points, 8.6 assists, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.3 steals.
Mitchell, on the other hand, has been an All-Star three times so far and averaged 25.9 points, 5.3 assists, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.5 steals last season. Combined, those two can really cause some trouble for opposing defenders. That said, Mitchell will have to adjust to his new role because he was the focal point of Utah’s offense and the lone young star there.
Now, he will have to share the spotlight with three other rising stars. Once this is sorted out, however, Garland and Mitchell will form a formidable backcourt duo. When Garland had a chance to share ballhandling responsibilities with Collin Sexton and Ricky Rubio before they were injured, it brought out the best in him.
With Mitchell, he has a superior backcourt partner who will attract a lot of defensive attention and take some pressure off Garland. Mitchell has become a good passer, but he is not quite as good as Garland yet because he has always been a scorer first and a passer second. Having such a talented point guard as a backcourt partner will allow him to just focus on scoring sometimes and let Garland handle the facilitating.
Both Garland and Mitchell will be able to do what they are best at and support each other on the court, despite the fact that both of them are ball-dominant players and have quite similar skill sets. One problem is, however, that both of them also have similar defensive deficits that will be on full display when they share the court.
Last season, the Cleveland Cavaliers ranked fifth in defensive rating throughout the league, and they do not want to fall too far behind that. Mitchell and Garland should put in some work to improve their individual defense and make the lives of their teammates easier. However, Allen and Mobley will be there to support them and clean up most stray scoring attempts, but they cannot rely on the two big men to do all of the defensive work.
Garland and Mitchell have some kinks to work out, but they have the potential to become one of the best scoring duos in the league.