The Cleveland Cavaliers played in the Eastern Conference Finals a season ago, falling to the eventual NBA champion New York Knicks.
This season’s edition of the Cavs doesn’t look anything like that group at the moment. In fact, the Cavaliers’ starters in particular are looking like one of the worst units in the NBA.
It’s still early, but it’s not that early anymore, and the Cavs were noncompetitive for most of their Monday night game in Charlotte against the Hornets.
Cleveland was supposed to have one of the league’s best starting fives with James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Peyton Watson, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.
That quintet has been brutal, though, and it’s a problem that could define Cleveland’s season if the Cavs don’t figure it out.
Cavs Starting Lineup Problem
The misery of the Cavaliers’ starting lineup in the early going was captured in a post on X by Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, who wrote this:
“After whatever the hell tonight was in Charlotte, #Cavs starting lineup of James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Peyton Watson, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen has a net rating of -17.4 this season. The only starting lineups worse are Phoenix and Utah (since Jaren Jackson Jr. got hurt).”
Net rating is the difference between offensive and defensive rating — which is the average points scored and allowed per 100 possessions by a team.
So Cleveland’s combination of offense and defense when the starting five are on the floor is absolutely brutal. The Cavaliers are getting run off the floor in those minutes.
It’s clearly a problem, but it’s not as clear if there’s a solution.
How Cavs Can Improve
The logical truth here is that the Cavs’ best chance this season is simply for their well-compensated starting lineup to play better.
If they want to do something different and bold, though, they could bench either James Harden or Peyton Watson. They won’t be benching the other three starters.
Harden may be showing his age, but it’d be a big promotion to give someone like Meleek Thomas to start over Harden.
The Cavs have some wing options that could start over Watson, but they just got him on a big deal from the Denver Nuggets, and it wouldn’t be a good start to his tenure or confidence to bench him already.
Cleveland might be at least a little bit stuck. They’ve got to figure this out in a hurry, because it’s not good right now.
Cleveland Cavaliers Have a Serious Problem