What We've Learned About the 2015-16 Cleveland Cavaliers so Far
The Cleveland Cavaliers have exceeded most expectations to begin the 2015-16 season. That is, other than their own.
While Cleveland comes in as the heavy favorite to win the Eastern Conference, it's a little surprising they already sit at the top without star point guard Kyrie Irving. Still, all hasn't been peaches and cream in The Land, as LeBron James appears more focused and less patient than ever before.
The bottom line is, we won't get an accurate read on this team until January at the earliest. Irving and Iman Shumpert have to return to the lineup. Timofey Mozgov is still very much working his way back into game shape following offseason knee surgery while Mo Williams, Matthew Dellavedova and J.R. Smith have missed time as well.
Consider this Part 1 in what will be a trilogy of the Cavaliers regular season. Part 2 will be the period between Irving's return and the trade deadline, and the third will be everything else leading up to the playoffs.
With so much left to be sorted out, here's what we know thus far.
Training Camp, Preseason are Overrated
Tristan Thompson was criticized for missing both during his lengthy contract stalemate this summer, finally joining the team right before the regular season, now $82 million richer.
Naturally, concerns over his conditioning and game shape followed. For a player that relies so much on his athleticism, hustle and activity, would Thompson come back looking like himself or balloon to Anthony Bennett-like proportions?
Luckily, it's been the former.
Thompson hasn't just looked good; he is playing the best basketball of his young career.
He is averaging a personal best 10.3 rebounds in just 27.6 minutes a night, bringing his trademark hardhat and lunch-pail attitude to the court. His 55.4 field-goal percentage, 20.7 total rebound percentage and 99.0 defensive rating have all never been better.
Despite coming off the bench, Thompson is eighth in the NBA in rebounding and the only non-starter ranked in the top 32 overall. His total rebound and defensive rebound percentages are both good for fifth in the association.
With Mozgov off to a slow start, Thompson has stepped up big in his place, improving Cleveland's defense by 11.6 points per 100 possessions of play.
While Thompson's contract may have been a distraction this summer, he's silenced everyone for now with strong overall performance.
Depth is Much Better This Year
Coach David Blatt often talks about the bench becoming an area of strength this season and that adding depth ranked among Cleveland's top offseason goals.
"We really placed an emphasis on strengthening the bench this summer, and we stressed and hope our bench would develop an identity as being a very important, integral part of the team. At least thus far we're getting that," Blatt said early in the year.
After all, this was a team decimated by injuries in the playoffs, and a lack of depth may have led to their Finals demise.
Needing a playmaker to spell Irving while also accepting a reserve role later in the year, general manger David Griffin turned to Mo Williams, once traded away from the organization just four years ago.
No one can replace Irving's dazzling ball-handling and all-around scoring ability, yet Williams has filled in admirably. He's averaged 14.7 points, 3.1 rebounds and 4.6 assists while bagging 35 percent of his three-pointers.
Williams' true value lies in his ability to take pressure off of James, who had to initiate nearly every basket after Irving and Love were both lost in last year's playoffs. The 33-year-old guard out of Alabama can handle the ball or spot up on the wing, waiting for a bullet pass from James to nail an open three-pointer.
Beyond Williams, Richard Jefferson is giving the Cavs 7.2 points on 37.0 percent shooting from deep in 23.5 minutes behind James. He's able to play three different positions while also serving a valuable mentorship role.
The end of Cleveland's bench last season consisted of Lou Amundson, Alex Kirk, Will Cherry, Brendan Haywood and A.J. Price, none of whom provided many productive minutes while on the court.
None are on the Cavs' roster this time around, and Cleveland is deeper and stronger than ever before.
Kevin Love's Shoulder Looks Pretty Good
After a nasty separated shoulder ended Love's rocky first year with the Cavaliers, an intense offseason of rehab has him back to near Minnesota-like levels.
Love fled to Park City, Utah for a few weeks this summer to train at the area's high elevations with Cavaliers' High Performance Director, Alex Moore.
These long days of hiking, weight training, paddle boarding and conditioning helped Love regain his strength and set him up for a strong beginning to the season.
After averaging 16.4 points and 9.7 rebounds during his first year in Cleveland, Love has pushed those numbers to 19.8 points and 11.8 rebounds while also shooting 40.7 percent from deep.
He appears to have cut weight as well, and he physically looks as good as we've seen Love in his pro career.
While he still floats out to the three-point arc more often than he would like, one can't argue with the success rate. Even his field-goal percentage (46.0) is the highest it's been in five years. His rebounding total is good for fourth overall in the NBA.
The Cavaliers need Love to be their go-to scoring presence down low to open up shooters on the perimeter. So far, so good.
LeBron is Done Messing Around
While James often recites his postgame comments with the calmness of a minister, it's easy to detect he's been largely unhappy with his team's start.
A 13-5 beginning without Irving and Shumpert seems good on the outside, but James' patience for winning, and the seemingly immortal Golden State Warriors, are obviously wearing on him.
James has already called multiple players-only meetings and publicly ridiculed his team's effort at times.
"All things considered, our record is pretty good, isn’t it?” James asked recently, via Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated. “Well, I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all."
While we've witnessed his superhero play over the past decade and a half, James has recently showed his dedication to the mental aspect of the game. Outside of Kobe Bryant, perhaps no player in the past 15 years has appeared to be as hungry, motivated and committed to his craft as James is now.
"The most important thing in his life is winning a championship here, and he feels incredible pressure to deliver,” Griffin told Jenkins. “He is consumed by it.”
The Cavaliers have recently stopped doing pregame player introductions, electing to spend the extra time going over plays and being the first to take the court. Players' hoverboards have been banned from Quicken Loans Arena. Even an upgrade in attire has been stressed in order to establish more of a business-like culture.
All of this has stemmed from lackadaisical effort at times, perhaps a hangover from advancing so far in the playoffs. A sense of urgency is often missing from those not wearing No. 23, as perhaps a false sense of entitlement has befallen on the locker room. A lot of this can be fixed due to better effort and preparation, something James is trying to fix.
James has always been on a mission to deliver a title to Cleveland. It's what drives him every single day.
While patience was utilized last year, now urgency prevails.
James appears more locked in than ever, a mindset all of the Cavaliers need to adopt before the playoffs begin.
Greg Swartz has covered the Cleveland Cavaliers and NBA for Bleacher Report since 2010. Follow him on Twitter, @CavsGregBR.
Stats via Basketball-Reference.com and are current as of Nov. 30.
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