When the Cleveland Cavaliers traded for Donovan Mitchell last year, the move was meant to put them in the mix for the championship.
Instead, they suffered an embarrassing exit in five games at the hands of the New York Knicks in the first round. GM Koby Altman stressed they won’t overreact to this setback, however, and NBA insider Sam Amico isn’t expecting big changes.
“In other words, the Cavs aren’t like to make any major splashes this offseason,” Amico wrote. “Instead looking to add reserve help to the likes of the core of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen.”
While it is far from ideal that they had such a disappointing showing against the Knicks, it is still just the first season together for this core. They are still relatively young too and will only get better as time goes by. The focus should be on adding more quality depth, as their bench was really outclassed by the Knicks.
They could definitely use some outside shooting, as they shot just 32.7% from beyond the arc in the series. The spacing just wasn’t there for Mitchell and Darius Garland against the Knicks, who just keyed in on the two guards to shut down the Cavaliers’ offense.
Donovan Mitchell Reacted To The Cavaliers Losing To The Knicks
Following their early exit, Mitchell made it clear that it didn’t feel right to end the season in that manner and that they just got outplayed by the Knicks. The Cavaliers were the clear favorites before the series but the Knicks showed they were much the superior team once the action commenced.
No one, including Mitchell, played well for the Cavs, and big man Jarrett Allen admitted the pressure of the playoffs got to him, as he stated that the lights were brighter than he expected. Allen, who was one of the big reasons why the Cavaliers were one of the best defensive teams in the league, averaged just 9.4 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 2.4 APG, and 1.0 BPG in the series. He will learn from this though and you’d expect the Cavaliers to bounce back next season.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
