At the beginning of the season, I spoke to four cavalier players who could push the Cleveland Cavs over the top—and the Cavs surely did with or without these players. At a surprising 50-10 season, the Cavaliers have run through the wall of expectations. Here, I’ll look at the four players I thought could push the Cavs over the edge and where I think they’ll end up at the end of the season.
Donovan Mitchell
The star of the Cavaliers hasn’t been depended on as hard as before because of the plethora of great stars on the team. Even with most of his stats declining from the past years, he earned another all-star. This can be attributed to his playing time decreasing by 4 minutes on average per game at 31.4 mpg. Still, I believe he hasn’t declined at all, in fact, I believe he has improved a little bit. His 3-point percentage has taken a 3 percent jump at 39.5 percent—a commonality between all Cavs players this year. Another notable improvement is his turnovers decreasing to only 2.0 turnovers per game. Per usual, Donovan Mitchell has been a mainstay on the offensive side of the ball and has shown up whenever called upon. Grade: A
Isaac Okoro
With Kenny Atkinson adopting a more distributed minutes approach and the Cavaliers being so deep, Isaac Okoro was one of the players most impacted minutes-wise. Known as a defense specialist, his minutes dropped from 27.3 mpg last year to only 19.4 mpg this year. As a result, his points have taken a hit, decreasing by 3.2 ppg this year at 5.8 ppg. Still, his defensive versatility and increasing percentage at the 3-point stripe have earned him a respectable grade from me. He’s built on the past year in terms of three-point shooting as he sits at 39.6 percent this year from three. Isaac Okoro, won’t be as impactful this year, but I believe it plays his role well as a 3&D specialist. Grade: C+
Sam Merril
Man, I had high hopes for Sam Merril. He’s known for threes and a silky-smooth jump shot, yet this year has been both hot and cold for him. His best was against the Mavericks, where he had 27 points, going 9-13 on threes. But his lowest has been prevalent more often, as his three-point percentage has dipped low—to 35% on 5 attempts a night. Sam has been one of the few disappointing players on this electric Cavaliers team and although I’m not ready to give up on Merril, his time is lessening. Grade: D
Caris Levert
As we know, Caris Levert was shipped off to Atlanta this year involving a trade that netted star Deandre Hunter. As of now, this trade has been worth it with Deandre Hunter being a main candidate for sixth-man player of the year and just dropping 32 points in his last game against the Trailblazers. Levert on the Cavs, however, has had a similar fate to Isaac Okoro, seeing his minutes and points per game drop, but his 3-point percentage skyrocket to 40%. Levert wasn’t the answer for him as a defender, but with Hunter entering the fold, I believe the Cavs got a lot better. Grade: B-
