The Cleveland Cavaliers are the defending Eastern Conference champions and currently own the best record in their conference at 23-9 but that doesn’t necessarily mean they have looked like a true NBA title contender this season. Injuries certainly haven’t helped with Kyrie Irving and Iman Shumpert both missing significant time but even with those two back, the Cavaliers still look like a team with a lot of work to do. They’re just 2.5 games up on the supposedly-flawed Chicago Bulls for the top spot in the East and the Miami Heat are only three games back. In order to challenge for a championship, the Cavaliers will have to work on these four weak links before playoff time:
Three-Point Shooting
The Golden State Warriors proved the importance of three-point shooting during last year’s NBA title run. The Cavs would be smart to tear a page out of that book. While they weren’t as good as the Warriors (and still aren’t) when it comes to their shooting numbers from beyond the arc, the three-ball was still a weapon for them as they finished fifth in the NBA with a 36.7% three-point shooting percentage. Fast-forward to this season and Cleveland ranks 14th in the NBA with a 35.2 three-point shooting percentage. Their three-point attempt numbers remain down as well. Irving’s return to form should help them in that department but players like Kevin Love, Mo Williams and J.R. Smith have to be better as well in order for the Cavaliers’ three-point shooting to improve come playoff time. We’ll see if getting Irving back will help them in this regard as he can penetrate and create more space for the shooters on the perimeter.
Mozgov’s Regression
Timofey Mozgov was one of the breakthrough players in the Eastern Conference for Cleveland last season but he spent six weeks in the summer recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery. Although most of us assume that to be a minor procedure, it’s clearly affecting him as he has struggled to produce this season. Mozgov’s year-over-year points per game are down from 10.6 to 6.6, his rebounds per game are down from 6.9 to 4.1 and his field goal percentage is down from 59.0% to 49.3%. Mozgov was a key catalyst in the Cavs turnaround last season (early in the year) and he was dominant for them during last year’s playoff run but he has been a weak link so far this season. He simply needs to be better moving forward. The other option, of course, is that the Cavaliers are going to have to start playing around with other lineups – one of which will include Mozgov on the bench with Tristan Thompson starting at center.
Scoring Depth
Mo Williams did a decent job filling in for the injured Irving throughout the first couple of months of the season and Iman Shumpert continues to work his way back from injury after missing significant time as well but scoring depth still appears to be a weak link for Cleveland this season. The Cavaliers were decimated by injuries a year ago but even still they could have benefited from upgrading their bench, which now features Williams, Mozgov, Shumpert, Richard Jefferson, Shawn Marion and Matthew Dellavedova. There is no doubt that LeBron, Irving and Love represent a talented big three but the depth on this unit still appears to be a weak link.
Urgency & Consistency
Cleveland went to the NBA Finals a year ago and some regression early on might have been expected but they have been far too inconsistent early on and for a team that is absolutely loaded with talent they simply have to be better overall. LeBron James called out his team earlier in the season for the lack of urgency they had played with but not much has changed since and they can’t afford for this to be a situation where they play below their potential all year and then try to turn it up in the playoffs. The Cavaliers still own the best record in the Eastern Conference but a lack of urgency and consistency has been an issue for them this season.
