Cleveland did everything right in the regular season. They won their first 15 games and were the #1 seed in the East the whole time, ending the regular season with a 64-18 record.
With new head coach Kenny Atkinson running the show, the Cavs dramatically changed their offensive system.
NBA Seconds per possession rankings:
2023/24: #20 | 14.7 sec/poss
2024/25: #4 | 13.7 sec/poss
They played super fast and attempted a ton of 3pts (#4 vol% 3pts) while being a great shooting team as well. Their two best players on offense (Mitchell and Garland) had a lot of usage on offense and despite that, they didn’t commit a lot of turnovers (#4 best mark).
The result of this system was amazing with the Cavs becoming the best offense in the league last season. On the other hand, on defense, Cleveland was once again (fourth year in a row in the top 10) a legit unit with the highlight being their excellent rim protection which propelled Evan Mobley into winning the defensive player of the year award.
With such excellent play during the entire regular season, Cleveland went into the playoffs with legit title aspirations. They quickly crushed the Heat in a 4-game sweep, but then they were eliminated by the Pacers in 5 games.
It is important to note that some of their best players were injured or at least limited. Darius Garland was hampered by a toe injury and was abysmal in the playoffs with 42.0% FG and 28.6% 3pts while missing 4 of the 9 games the team played in the postseason. Also both Evan Mobley and De’Andre Hunter missed one game against Indiana in a contest where the Cavs allowed the Pacers to make an incredible comeback.
Cleveland’s front office decided to renew their trust on the team for the upcoming season as when they were all healthy, the Cavs were a legit elite team. They traded Isaac Okoro to Chicago for Lonzo Ball and added some depth to the frontcourt by adding Larry Nance Jr. It was expected that Ty Jerome would leave the team in free agency after his good season and indeed he joined the Grizzlies.
With both Boston and Indiana weakened this season, Cleveland is clearly the #1 favorite in the Eastern conference. However, Garland is still recovering from toe injury while Max Strus is also expected to miss at least the first month of the season after undergoing foot surgery. Injuries will then affect their start of the season, let’s hope they don’t also affect them late in the year just like last season.