\n<\/p>\n
The Cleveland Cavaliers opened the season as the favorites to come out of the East, and oddsmakers still have faith in them, as they still have the second-highest odds, just trailing behind the Knicks<\/a>. However, if you\u2019ve watched the Cavs at all this year, they have not looked the part of an NBA Finals contender.<\/p>\n As of today, Cleveland is sitting in the play-in game as the seven seed in the East and trail the Detroit Pistons by 5.5 games. They have the 12th-best point differential in the NBA, 10th in net rating, 10th in offensive rating, and 11th in defensive rating.\u00a0<\/p>\n The stats match the eye test: the Cavs have felt very average and have needed to lean on Donovan Mitchell far more than in seasons prior. Last night\u2019s 17-point come-from-behind win against the lowly Wizards was a culmination of all the problems facing the Cavs at this point in the season.<\/p>\n Mitchell needed to play hero ball to beat the worst team in the league, scoring 24 points in the 4th quarter. The bench only mustered 13 points, and Darius Garland continued his early-season struggles with an ugly 0\/11 game from behind the arc. Most importantly, the effort remains a massive problem. Outside of Mitchell and Evan Mobley, the team looked incredibly flat. Even Jaylon Tyson didn\u2019t seem to be playing at his normal high-energy level.<\/p>\n Cleveland has been one of the more injured teams in the league this year<\/a>, with Jarrett Allen, Darius Garland, Max Strus, Sam Merrill, and a few others missing significant time.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to truly judge how this team will perform in April, but the effort we\u2019re seeing so far is disappointing, to say the least. Kenny Atkinson has been very vocal about the lack of effort shown on a night-to-night basis, and Donovan Mitchell was the most animated I\u2019ve ever seen him during last night\u2019s comeback. He\u2019s seemed very frustrated in a Cleveland team he\u2019s bet on to take him to at least a conference finals, a point he\u2019s never reached at this point in his career.<\/p>\n This early-season adversity may be what the Cavs need. Over the past few years, the Cavs have peaked way too early in the season and fallen apart in the playoffs. Could this be the year that the Cavs surge after the All-Star break instead of their typical late winter swoon?<\/p>\n Hopefully, as the year goes on, the effort issues will be fixed by a healthy 10-man rotation, but what will turn around is the three-point scoring. Outside of Mitchell, the shooting has been way below career averages, and that\u2019s something that normally levels out over the course of a season.<\/p>\n 3PT Shooting Percentage 2024 vs 2025:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Donovan Mitchell: 36.8% \u2192 39.4%\u00a0<\/p>\n Evan Mobley: 37% \u2192 35.2%\u00a0<\/p>\n Darius Garland: 40.1% \u2192 26%\u00a0<\/p>\n De\u2019Andre Hunter: 40.5% \u2192 31%\u00a0<\/p>\n Dean Wade: 36.0% \u2192 28.9%\u00a0<\/p>\n Lonzo Ball: 34.4% \u2192 26.3%\u00a0<\/p>\n Larry Nance Jr.: 44.7% \u2192 30.3%<\/p>\n