2019-20 Timeline Review and Preview: Cleveland Cavaliers.

The next team in our series is the Cavs, who shockingly, were horrible again. Before the season was suspended, they went 19-46, matching their win total from the previous season. The only highlights of their season were that they had a coaching change and they made a big trade, for no damn reason whatsoever. They didn’t make many trades or signings before the start of the season besides signing their rookies.

As an extra treat for you guy, I decided to leave a link to a separate timeline which will include all the big moments made by their coach John Beilein this season. I must give him credit, for the short tenure he sure had an impact, not a great one, but a very funny one (in hindsight at least). The article was made by Wajih Albaroudi from CBS Sports, give it a read because it perfectly captures the chaos that the players were going through.

Now, let’s have a look at their timeline to see what when these events occurred and to summarize their season.

May 13th: John Beilein, former Michigan Wolverines coach, is hired to be the new coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, signing a five-year contract. In his 12-year tenure at Michigan, Beilein became well decorated, which includes leading them to two NCAA Division 1 Championship games (2013, 2018), two Big Ten tournament championships (2017, 2018), and winning two Big Ten regular-season championships (2012, 2014). Hearing about all the behind the scenes problems he created during his first season made this signing not only very puzzling but also very idiotic in hindsight.

Preseason.

 

June 20^th NBA Draft and Rookies

The Cavs had two 1^st round picks (5^th and 26^th) and selected Darius Garland (PG) and Dylan Windler (SG/SF) respectively. They also ended up signing undrafted free agent Dean Wade and acquiring the drafts rights to the 30^th pick, Kevin Porter Jr. (SF) through a trade with the Detroit Pistons

Trades:

 

June 26^th: The Cavaliers acquire Kevin Porter Jr. from the Detroit Pistons in exchange for four 2^nd round picks: Utah’s 2020, Portland’s 2021 & 2023, and Miami’s 2024 and cash considerations.

Free Agency Signings:

 

They didn’t sign anybody. Whether it was due to their cap space, their lack of interest in free agents, or the fact that nobody wants to come to Cleveland when Lebron isn’t there. My guess was all of the above.

 

October 22^nd: 2019-20 Season begins

Fun Fact: their last four victories all came against teams that are in the Orlando Bubble (Miami, 76ers, Nuggets, and Spurs). Besides this, they had nothing much of note in terms of victories during the regular season.

 

Mid-Season

Trades

 

December 23^rd: Cleveland trade Jordan Clarkson to the Utah Jazz in exchange for Dante Exum, and two 2^nd round picks (2022 from Spurs and 2023 from Warriors). This was probably done more so for the draft capital as it now common knowledge that Exum is made of glass.

February 6^th: Cleveland trade John Henson, Brandon Knight, and a 2023 2^nd round pick to the Detroit Pistons to acquire Andre Drummond. Honestly, this trade still confuses me, why did the Cavs want him anyway? Was this the best offer that the Pistons got for Drummond? So many unanswered questions.

PS: Damn I feel it for Andre man, he’s a good player and he just got traded from one horrible franchise to another for basically a bag of Doritos and a can of Coca-Cola. He deserved better. 

 

Signings (I’m not counting rookie signings.)

 

February 8^th: Alfonzo McKinnie signed a 4-year $7.3 million contract. He was previously waived by the Warriors, claimed by the Cavs, waived and then signed a 10 -day contract with them. All within four months. Wow.

They also signed Jordan Bell for the rest of the season, that’s it. An uneventful season for the Cavs, at least in terms of basketball.

February 18^th: John Beilein steps down from the head coach position of the Cavs. He said he no longer felt suited for the job and at least he got something right as an NBA coach. He had a record of 14-40 and was replaced by J.B. Bickerstaff who lead the team to a 5-6 record.

March 10^th: The league is suspended.

 

Season Silver Linings

 

Collin Sexton improved in his 2^nd year as he moved to the SG position, which more suits him. He scored 20 points on extremely good efficiency. I think he has perennial All-star potential.

Kevin Porter Jr. showed a lot of promise in his 1^st year especially in limited minutes, has the potential to be a good scorer and an okay defender. He should start of Cedi next year at the three so we can see if he will be a long-term piece for them.

 

Review

 

We all knew that the Cavs weren’t going to be good, but I don’t think we expected them to be this bad AND have all this turmoil. Beilein is just another coach that’s been added to the “Great in College but sucks in the NBA” (which is a ling list btw.) Besides the development of Sexton and the potential of Porter Jr and Garland, this is once again a throw-away and forgettable season for The Cavs.

 

 

2020-21 Preview.

 

Although they were 2^nd in terms of odds of getting the 1^st pick, they tragically fell to the 5^th pick in the NBA 2020 Lottery (unlucky lad). With that in mind, I think they must focus on either the point guard or the forward positions. I don’t think Sexton or Garland, are good playmakers and I think finding a true playmaking guard well help open the offense up more. If not, getting a nice 3&D player at either forward position is always a good option, preferably a PF as Kevin Porter Jr. should be given a fair chance to show his ability when given more minutes.

In terms of free agents, they do have a lot of expiring contracts like Tristan Thompson, Ante Zizic, and Matthew Dellavedova. Andre Drummond could opt out of his player option, but considering that is $28 million, uncertainty due to the pandemic and the fact he was just traded for the equivalent of a half pack of cigarettes, I bet he opts in. Also considering that we don’t know much about how the cap space will be affected due to COVID-19 I don’t see the Cavs committing themselves to any long-term contracts, especially since they would have to sign Sexton in 2021.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this 2^nd installment in the series, the next team I will be doing will be the Minnesota Timberwolves.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/john-beilein-out-as-cavaliers-head-coach-a-timeline-of-what-went-wrong-in-cleveland-for-former-michigan-coach/ (Wajih Albaroudi’s article).