Team: Cleveland Cavaliers.
2021-22 season: 44 wins and 38 losses.
Main renewal/transfer: renew Garland & Dean-Wade in advance, sign back to Rubio, sign Robin-Lopes & Neto, select Khalifa-Diop (show No. 39), isaiah mobry (show No. 49) and Luke Travers (show No. 56);
Main Losses: Sexton, malcanin, Abaki (show 14).
Last season, the Knights gradually rose and once ranked among the top three in the east. Garland and jarert-Allen were selected as All-Stars for the first time in their career. Evin mobry showed outstanding performance and ranked second in the best rookie selection. The Cavaliers finally won 44 games in the regular season, 22 more than the previous season. However, in the play-off, the Cavaliers lost to basketable nets and the Eagles one after another and failed in the playoffs. Injuries are one of the main reasons why the Cavaliers finally missed the playoffs. Their main generals-Garland, Mobley, Allen, marcanin, Okolo, Rubio and Sexton, etc. have all suffered from injuries. In the new season, injuries are still the theme that Knights (teams) need to face, and keeping healthy will be particularly critical.
In this off-season, Donovan-Mitchell and Knicks have been flirting for months, but the Knight successfully won the three-time All-Star defender halfway. The kacheng team gave out the exchange qualifications of Sexton, malcanin, Abaki, three first-round signatures and two first-round signatures. From the perspective of chips, Knights are not a loss, their three young cores-Garland, Mobley and Allen are all staying in the team, which helps the team to hit higher goals.
In fact, it is not difficult to see the purpose of the knight to make this deal. Mitchell is a defender who is good at scoring, which is what they need. The Cavaliers had a close relationship with their weak attack after losing Rubio last season. The team relied more on Garland’s play at the critical moment, and the attack pressure of this new all-star surged. However, Mitchell has entered the playoffs every season so far, and the average score in the playoffs is higher than that in the regular season. In the playoffs, he also played the highlight moment and had two performances of 50 + in a single game.
On the other hand, the competition in the Eastern District is increasingly fierce. If the Knights do not strengthen, the difficulties in the new season will only be more. In addition, the core lineup of the team has been decided, and it is time for the results. If the first round of signing is left, it is difficult to have a lot of time to train even if potential newcomers are selected. At such a glance, Altman made the deal easy to understand.
After the transaction gets Mitchell, the Knight’s first start and later will consist of him and Garland. In the 4 preseason games, Knight coach bikstav had 3 games to start with Michelle and Garland, and both of them were high on the war-free card in the last game. Due to the small number of samples in the preseason, it is still too early to determine the chemical reaction level of Mitchell and Garland. Compared with the compatibility of the two all-star defenders, the Knight’s biggest question at this stage is the No. 3 candidate for starting.
From the current lineup of the Cavaliers, Okolo, Dean-Wade, Lewell, Osman and Stevens are all likely to take the third place in the first place. In the last two preseason games, bikstav chose to let Okolo play first. The No. 5 show in 2020 is good at defense, and the three-point projection level during preseason is also good, but his height is only 1.98 meters, and 68% of the time last season was the scoring guard, the small forward is more like a cameo. In view of the short height of Mitchell and Garland, if the Okolo of 1 meter 98 is allowed to start, the double tower defense pressure of Allen and MOBI will be even greater. Therefore, the No. 3 first-mover candidate of the Knight is still uncertain.
In this offseason, in addition to the Mitchell deal, Knight and core defender Garland completed an early renewal. The new contract was $0.193 billion for 5 years, up to $0.231 billion for 5 years (provided that the designated rookie clause or rose clause is triggered next season). Garland played outstanding last season, with an average of 21.7 points and 8.6 assists in the game. He was selected into the All-Star team and stayed in Cleveland with a renewal of the top salary. It was a two-way choice.
In addition, Knight renewed the Insider Dean Wade in advance with a three-year contract of 18.5 million dollars. Wade played 51 regular season matches last season, 28 of which started and performed well. He was one of the members of the three-high lineup system of coach bikstav.
For the knight, it is necessary to sign back to Rubio. Last season, before the left knee anterior cross ligament was torn, Rubio played 34 games for the Cavaliers. The team’s record was 20-14, ranking fifth in the east. Rubo could sort out the Knight’s attack and help Garland and Mitchell share the pressure of holding the ball. Even after serious injuries, the Knight still offered Rubio a contract of more than 1,800 million dollars in three years, which was enough to prove the importance he attached to the Spanish guard. Of course, Rubio is still in the recovery phase and has not yet been able to determine the time for his return, and the knight is not in a hurry to let him return.
(Mobry brothers, left for brother Evan mobry, right for brother Isaiah mobry)
After the transaction got Mitchell, the Knight’s strength and competitiveness were also improved, and it was a realistic goal to go further into the playoffs. Of course, in the highly competitive Eastern District, the level of this knight remains to be tested by the competition.