By beating the Oklahoma City Thunder in a battle between the teams with the best records in the league, the Cavaliers made a bold statement about their arrival as a serious contender.
Last season, we believed there was a title contender buried deep inside the Cleveland Cavaliers.
They just needed one (or both) of these conditions to be met.
- Condition No. 1: Orchestrate a trade that would split up the Big Four and create a roster with more lineup balance.
- Condition No. 2: Use their twin tower big men, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, to form one of the greatest defenses of the 21st Century.
Yet, here we are today as the Cavaliers sit at 32-4, fresh off a 129-122 victory against the 30-win Oklahoma City Thunder – the team that our prediction model gives the highest chance of winning the NBA Finals at this point.
And guess what? The Cavs have *checks notes* made no such trade, and are a good, but not all-time great, seventh in defensive TRACR (D-TRACR).
What’s going on here?
Simple, the team that finished outside the top eight in offense in each of the last two seasons brought back the same team and turned it into the most dynamic, fast-paced, and versatile offense in the association.
Dynamic
While the Cavaliers brought back a nearly identical roster, they did make a change at head coach – bringing in Steve Kerr’s lead assistant Kenny Atkinson.
After helping the Kerr win a fourth title with the Golden State Warriors, Atkinson has arrived in Cleveland and completely revamped the team’s Xs and Os with the same dynamic movement principles he helped emphasize at his old job.
Take the first play from the Thunder game, for instance.
At first glance, it seems relatively simple: a middle pick-and-roll followed by a kick out from the roller after the defense collapses in the paint. But upon further examination, it is so much more.
First, Darius Garland receives a screen from Dean Wade to get Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – the weakest defender on the floor for the Thunder – guarding the primary action. Then, Allen comes up to set a screen so that Isaiah Hartenstein – the best rim protector on the floor for the Thunder – is away from the paint he’s supposed to be safeguarding.
Since Hartenstein had to momentarily leave his post, reinforcements had to arrive to help on the Allen roll. Oh, and remember Wade? Yeah, after setting that screen on SGA, he filled to the opposite corner so that he’d be ready to receive a pass from Allen and drain an uncontested 3.
J.B. Bickerstaff is a great coach (see his current work with the Detroit Pistons), but he isn’t the elite offensive tactician that Atkinson is. A great way to measure how good a coach is at calling plays is by looking at how well those teams do after timeouts (since those are almost always pre-designed).
Last season, the Cavaliers were second to last in efficiency on these plays. This year, with Atkinson, they are all the way up to 13th.
Fast-Paced
In a game that has a finite amount of time in each possession, the most efficient offense takes place early in the shot clock. The reason for this is that the longer into the possession you go, the more time the defense has to get themselves set (note: this was the whole theory behind the Seven Seconds or Less Phoenix Suns).
Atkinson has the Cavaliers playing faster than ever. According to NBA.com, the Cavaliers were 12th in frequency of shots taken with between 18 and 15 seconds left in the shot clock. This year, they are first in that category.
The Cavaliers don’t have a nonstop moving locomotive like Tyrese Haliburton to race up and down the court. So, they rely on the hit-ahead pass to spring them forward.
After all, the ball travels faster than any human being.
It also helps that the Cavaliers are such a deep team that they don’t have to play anyone more than 31 minutes per game (Donovan Mitchell). So, everyone is always fresh and able to sprint up and down the court.
Versatile
Speaking of depth, despite having what we’ve, in the past, called a misfitting roster, the Cavaliers are chock full of talent. And Atkinson has found a way to work through the team’s weaknesses to allow it to feel the full benefits of its strengths.
The Garland-led pick-and-roll is enough to keep any offense afloat for a season (first clip in the montage below). Mitchell-led pick-and-rolls may be even more dangerous (second clip). When they are bored of running the show, Caris LeVert (third) and Ty Jerome (fourth) can step in and do the same. Max Strus is a streaky shooter who the Cavaliers can run off quick-hitting actions (fifth). Allen and Mobley are confident short roll decision makers (sixth and seventh clips).
Speaking of Mobley, he’s been initiating more offense this season, which gives the team yet another button to push (eighth clip). The list goes on and on.
The Cavaliers currently have six players averaging double figures and nine players with at least 7.0 points per game.
Now, it wouldn’t be fair to gloss over some of the bounces that have gone in the Cavaliers favor. Particularly, the bounces they have had from downtown. One year after being a middle of the road 15th in 3-point shooting (36.7%), the Cavaliers are now first (40.5%).
If/when this team starts to regress from 3, the offensive production will decline to a degree. But given all the internal changes that have been made and all the buttons Atkinson is pushing, it will likely still be strong enough for the Cavaliers to contend for an NBA title this season.
Research support provided by Stats Perform’s Chase Weight. Check out our NBA, NFL, college basketball, FBS and FCS coverage. And follow along on Instagram, Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and X for more.
