Cleveland Cavaliers 2023 Early Impressions 

Cleveland Cavaliers 2023 Early Impressions 

Time Stamp: November 2, 2023 7:25 AM

Four games into the 2023-24 season are through, and it’s already been a bit of a rollercoaster season. Through the injuries, broken records and rookie debuts here’s an early impression of the 2023-24 Cleveland Cavaliers. 

Injuries

Injuries have most defined the season so far for the Cavs with Jarrett Allen, Darius Garland, Caris Levert and Ty Jerome all currently out with injury. This has led to some interesting starting lineups for Cleveland. With Garland going out the second game, Max Strus started at shooting guard (coming fresh off a game where he started at power forward). Caris Levert started at point guard when both Garland and Mitchell were out. 

Allen is out with an ankle injury and, although it was reported he went through practice this week, will still be out for the foreseeable future. Garland is out with a hamstring injury. Levert is also suffering from a hamstring injury, but his status is currently day-to-day. Jerome is out with an ankle injury and Ricky Rubio is still away focusing on his mental health. 

New players 

Of all the new players Strus has made the biggest impression. After all, it’s not often someone breaks both a franchise and an NBA record in their debut. Dropping seven threes in his first game, Strus surpassed the record for threes made in a debut with a new team. He’s scored over 20 twice, and each time also hit double-double status with 12 and 11 rebounds respectively. He’s played well above expectations.

Georges Niang, on the other hand, has been the most disappointing pickup so far. Although he was finally able to get going in the Halloween loss to the Knicks with 11 points, that’s the most he’s been able to produce this season. He has missed a good amount of shots, but that doesn’t help the Cavs much. 

Between the performances of Strus and Niang the other new players have had relatively lukewarm performances. 

Craig Porter Jr seems to be the most comfortable of Cleveland’s rookies in the league so far, scoring 10 against the Knicks and making some pretty impressive passes. He plays with confidence and seems to have a short memory when it comes to bad spots, something Emoni Bates may be better at. While Bates didn’t look quite as good as Porter Jr, he did hit a couple smooth smooth-looking shots after airballing his first few. This confidence will serve these rookies well. Although their play isn’t NBA-polished yet, their high potential and confidence should help the Cavs going forward. 

Cleveland’s play

With two-fifths of the starting lineup having missed most of the season so far, the Cavs currently sit at a 1-3 record. After winning their first game in Brooklyn, they proceeded to drop three consecutive losses to the Thunder, Pacers and Knicks.

There are some positives, though. As mentioned, we’ve yet to see a fully healthy Cavaliers lineup this season. This, aside from momentarily hindering this team’s ceiling, has allowed the new players to get more playing time than they usually would. When Garland and Allen return they’ll be joining players who are more acclimated to both Cleveland’s playstyle and playing at the NBA level. 

Despite the losses, Cleveland’s passing has looked great and will continue to be a nuisance on teams around the league. Okoro is also looking better and more confident on offense. His slashing has been big for the Cavs so far, and his ability to hit from deep is steadily improving. Okoro is averaging 12.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and two assists with a 48.6 field goal percentage.

Donovan Mitchell is also, somehow, getting better. Aside from piling on the points (average of 32 points per game so far), he’s also averaging just under five assists, which he’s dishing out with more flair than the nature boy. 

Overall, although banged up, Cleveland is putting a lot of potential on display. There are still kinks to work out, i.e. young players and consistency on both ends of the floor. Once fully healthy, and more experienced, this team should start to look like the contender they expect to be. 

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Featured photo courtesy of NBA.com
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