{"id":86337,"date":"2024-07-18T10:15:50","date_gmt":"2024-07-18T14:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=86337"},"modified":"2024-07-18T10:16:30","modified_gmt":"2024-07-18T14:16:30","slug":"cavs-offseason-grades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/18\/cavs-offseason-grades\/","title":{"rendered":"Grading The Cavs Offseason So Far"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Following a Conference Semifinals defeat to eventual champions in the Boston Celtics. The Cleveland Cavaliers entered this offseason with major question marks. The Cavs have been relatively quiet, with most of their main moves being in-house, but they don&#8217;t seem to be done. So let&#8217;s grade their first two months of the summer.<\/p>\n<h2>Grading The Cavs Offseason So Far<\/h2>\n<h3>Extending Donovan Mitchell<\/h3>\n<p>By far the biggest move the Cavs made or will make this offseason was keeping hold of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mitchdo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Donovan Mitchell<\/a>. Extending Mitchell was the primary focus of the Cavs front office heading into the summer. Finally, despite all the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nba\/knicks\/news\/donovan-mitchell-re-opens-path-long-term-contract-trade\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">rumors<\/a> saying otherwise, the five-time All-Star signed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spotrac.com\/nba\/player\/_\/id\/23608\/donovan-mitchell\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">3-year 150.3 million<\/a> dollar deal in early July. Keeping hold of Mitchell guarantees Cleveland a top-15 player and main member of their current core.<\/p>\n<h3>New Additions<\/h3>\n<h4>Kenny Atkinson<\/h4>\n<p>After the season ended the Cavs first move of the offseason was <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/16\/cavs-head-coach-jb-bickerstaff-hits-hot-seat-after-playoff-elimination\/\" target=\"_self\">firing head coach J.B. Bickerstaff<\/a>. Bickerstaff was replaced by former <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/24\/cavaliers-hire-warriors-assistant-as-head-coach\/\" target=\"_self\">Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson<\/a> in late June. The move came as no surprise, after the Cavs playoff exit it felt as though Bickerstaff&#8217;s time was over in Cleveland. The hiring of Atkinson will certainly change the dynamic of the Cavs offense and bring in a fresh pair of eyes after five years with Bickerstaff. Atkinson has all the looks of being an improvement on Bickerstaff.<\/p>\n<h4>Jaylon Tyson<\/h4>\n<p>In the first round of this year&#8217;s NBA Draft, the Cavs took Cal wing\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tysonja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaylon Tyson<\/a>. Tyson has impressed thus far at the Vegas Summer League and it seems like he will be a rotational piece this season. Tyson is the only addition to the Cavs roster so far this offseason. However, he fills a need for a wing defender who can create his shot and will be a good fit in Cleveland.<\/p>\n<h3>Potential Moves<\/h3>\n<h4>Evan Mobley<\/h4>\n<p>After extending Mitchell it is clear the Cavs are focused on maintaining their current core four. Evan Mobley is the only one of the four yet to sign an extension with Cleveland. Over the past week or so, ESPN&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/WindhorstESPN\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brian Windhorst<\/a> reports that both sides are close to an agreement. Mobley is eligible for a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/11\/cavs-to-give-evan-mobley-224-million-contract\/\" target=\"_self\">5-year 224 million dollar deal<\/a> this summer which would keep him with the Cavs for the prime of his career.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The Cavaliers are expected to reach an agreement soon with Evan Mobley on a max extension, per <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WindhorstESPN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@WindhorstESPN<\/a> (<a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/O9fVHL7xd3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/O9fVHL7xd3<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Mobley would join Cade Cunningham, Scottie Barnes and Franz Wagner as players from the 2021 draft class to receive rookie-scale max deals. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/XB65tg2cRC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/XB65tg2cRC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Evan Sidery (@esidery) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/esidery\/status\/1811410934595797161?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 11, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h4>Cam Johnson<\/h4>\n<p>Among possible summer recruits, none have been more linked to the Cavs than Brooklyn Nets wing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/johnsca02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cam Johnson<\/a>. Johnson has been in trade rumors since the Nets traded their star <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bridgmi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mikal Bridges<\/a> to the Knicks recently. They would be able to acquire Johnson via a sign and trade. Any such trade would likely include wing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/o\/okorois01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Isaac Okoro<\/a> whose future is also in doubt. Adding Johnson to this roster would be an immediate improvement. Johnson has career averages of 11.7 points, and 3.9 rebounds while shooting 39.2% from three. Changing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/n\/niangge01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Georges Niang<\/a> and Okoro with Johnson and Tyson could be the boost the Cavs need to be contenders.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The Cavs could show interest in Cam Johnson, per <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChrisFedor?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@ChrisFedor<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Cavs love Cam Johnson. If he is available from the Brooklyn Nets, the Cavs will be involved in those conversations. There&#8217;s no doubt about that. The question becomes, do they have the pieces to satisfy what\u2026 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ce5YUZFo7H\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/ce5YUZFo7H<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheDunkCentral\/status\/1806006265841328602?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 26, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>The Last Word<\/h3>\n<p>Overall, when a small market franchise can re-sign their star player it can never be considered a disappointing offseason. However, the Cavs have yet to fix a roster that showed major flaws in the postseason just a few months ago. Major free-agent targets are already off the board, leaving it difficult for Cleveland to add any major contributors. The Cavs front office has their work cut out for them leading up to October. But, if they can add Johnson in any capacity this offseason would be a huge success.<\/p>\n<h4>Grade: B<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following a Conference Semifinals defeat to eventual champions in the Boston Celtics. The Cleveland Cavaliers entered this offseason with major question marks. The Cavs have been relatively quiet, with most of their main moves being in-house, but they don&#8217;t seem to be done. So let&#8217;s grade their first two months of the summer. Grading The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5174,"featured_media":86437,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,9,62,4721],"tags":[1899,900,49280,236],"class_list":["post-86337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-cavaliers","category-nba","category-trade-rumors","tag-cameron-johnson","tag-donovan-mitchell","tag-jaylon-tyson","tag-kenny-atkinson"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5174"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}