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Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell revealed his thoughts on not making the All-NBA First Team when he appeared on the “Sideline Stroll with Ros” podcast on Wednesday.

“I just felt I should have been first team,” Donovan Mitchell said, via Bleacher Report Breaking News Team Writer Erin Walsh. “That’s one of my goals for next year is to be first team, and I felt like I was good enough, but obviously the media members did not, so.”

The league revealed its All-NBA teams in May. Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Dončić, Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum made the cut for the First Team. Embiid would go on to win the league’s MVP award.

Donovan Mitchell took a spot on the All-NBA Second Team alongside Celtics forward Jaylen Brown, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler and Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić. It would be the first time he made an All-NBA team in his young career. Mitchell gained 45 first-team votes, 36 second-team votes and 16 third-team votes, good enough for 349 total points in the award voting. Gilgeous-Alexander earned 407 total points and 63 first-team votes, while Dončić received 403 points and 60 first-team votes.

The four-time All-Star tweeted “FOH lol” on the same day.

Donovan Mitchell ended the 2022-23 season with averages of 28.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game in 68 games played and started. He became an All-Star starter for the first time in his career in January and the first Cavalier to take a starting spot on the All-Star team since forward LeBron James in 2018.

“I appreciate it,” Donovan Mitchell said on NBA on TNT in January. “I’m definitely blessed and humbled to be a part of this. To be a part of my fourth All-Star, and now to be a starter, man, I couldn’t be happier.”

The post Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell reveals displeasure with missing out on All-NBA First Team appeared first on Cavs Nation.

To keep the bench crew, or not to keep the bench crew.

The Cavaliers must decide if and how they will improve their bench before the 2023-24 season starts. The Cavs can turn to free agency to shore up their depth, or they can try and pull off some hopeful trades for a potential solidified starter at the small forward spot.

Five of Cleveland’s bench players are listed on Spotrac’s 2023-24 Salary Cap grid for the Cavs. Three of them, forward Cedi Osman, Lamar Stevens and guard Sam Merrill, are listed with non-guaranteed contracts. Stevens will have a club option for the 2023-24 season.

Hoops Rumors writer Rory Maher wrote he thinks the Cavs will guarantee the deal of Osman and pick up the $1.9 million team option for Stevens.

“I also think they’ll guarantee Cedi Osman’s $6.7MM salary for’ 23/24 and pick up their $1.9MM team option on Lamar Stevens,” Maher wrote. “That would give the Cavs 10 players under standard contracts for a total of about $140MM (assuming a $15MM cap hit for LeVert), pushing them over the projected $134MM salary cap.”

Should the Cavaliers bring back Stevens during the 2023-24 season? And what would he bring to Cleveland if the Cavs chose to keep him around?

Keeping the bench crew together

An NBA bench can only be complete with at least a few consistent contributors.

The Cavaliers would only benefit from keeping at least a few of their bench players from last season aboard. Forward Cedi Osman had his moments during the regular season and the playoffs. And Guard Ricky Rubio provided a veteran presence that guard Donovan Mitchell could lean on during the NBA playoffs.

“I gotta be the guy to continue to use my voice, but listen as well, and not be too naive to listen to what’s going on. Who really helped me with that is Ricky Rubio,” Mitchell said in April, via Yahoo! Sports Senior NBA reporter Jake Fischer. “It’s great that he’s here, so I can lean on him, for my mental as well, so he can kind of talk about our past experiences and help steady this group.”

Stevens ended the 2022-23 season with averages of 5.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 0.5 assists in 18.1 minutes played per game. He played in 62 games and started in 25 during the regular season before earning limited minutes in Games 3 and 5 of the team’s NBA playoffs series against the New York Knicks.

With an option of just $1.9 million, Stevens could again be a reliable option off the bench when the Cavs need him the most. He will need to work on his 3-point shot after shooting at a 31.6% rate last season, but his rebounding and toughness could make him a welcomed part of a young and blossoming Cavaliers roster.

But it’s not just the tangible parts of the game that Stevens could continue to bring to the Cavaliers.

A vocal Cavs leader

It didn’t take long for the Cavs to learn one of their most important lessons of the year.

When he helped provide a spark off the bench during a 118-114 win over the Boston Celtics in March, the Cavs took note as he spoke out during the team’s huddles and fought his way through Boston’s defense for six offensive rebounds and.

When Lamar speaks, you listen.

“That’s something you earn,” Mitchell said, via Cleveland.com Cavs reporter Chris Fedor. “I’ve only been here a few months, but you can tell as a locker room, as a group of guys, we trust in him, in his voice, his leadership.

“Not only did he do it by voice, but by example. When he’s out there competing, fighting, screaming, getting buckets, and also getting stops, you’ve gotta be out there doing the same thing.”

Stevens finished the game with eight points and eight rebounds as he quickly hustled inside to get second-chance points and hit a shot from the left corner.

Even in losses, Stevens found ways to reflect and add energy to the Cavaliers’ roster.

He did as much after the Cavs took their 5th-straight loss during a November matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks, one game before the Cavs began alternating between winning and losing streaks from November to January.

“I think we just have to find ‘it,’” Lamar Stevens said after the loss. “We have to find that effort, that defensive intensity and what we were doing during that 8-game win streak.

“This comes down to holding everyone accountable and do what we’ve always done. We’re a defensive-first team. I think we have to find that again, along with our hunger and grit.”

Stevens could continue to bring the energy and toughness needed to instill the mentality brought about by the Junkyard Dog chain and play the Cavaliers brand of unselfish basketball head coach J.B. Bickerstaff preached about several times throughout the season.

The post 2 reasons Cavs should bring back Lamar Stevens after 2022-23 season appeared first on Cavs Nation.

It seemed like a tale of two seasons for Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen.

Allen shone brightly during the regular season on a hopeful Cavaliers squad ready to make their mark on the Eastern Conference and beyond  for the first time in nearly half a decade.

Unfortunately for him, the lights of the playoffs shone brighter.

Far brighter than even the 25-year-old Cavs center could have expected.

Cleveland fell in its five-game series against the New York Knicks behind the rebounding prowess of New York’s veteran options. The Knicks finished with 45.4 rebounds per game, while the Cavs ended with 37.2.

The interior anchor’s season ended with averages of 14.3 points, 9.8 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game in 68 games played and 68 starts during the regular season. His production slowed down during the team’s playoff series against the Knicks, where he ended with averages of 9.4 points, 7.4 rebounds and one block as he suited up for an average of 38.1 minutes per outing.

Did Jarrett Allen live up to the expectations put upon him before the start of the season? And where can the former Brooklyn Nets center go from here?

Offense

Jarrett Allen played well on offense for the Cavaliers during the regular season.

The 6-foot-11-inch center finished the year with an efficient 65.3% on 2-point attempts and 3.3 offensive rebounds per game. He logged four straight games of 20 points or more in early February, finishing with double-doubles in three of the four contests while he grabbed nine offensive rebounds in a win over the Detroit Pistons.

Jarrett Allen’s season was highlighted by a 24-point performance against the Houston Rockets, where he made eight of his 11 shot attempts and grabbed six offensive rebounds as the Cavs took a 108-91 win over Houston at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. He worked in the pick-and-roll with forward Evan Mobley and multiple Cleveland guards to earn easy buckets at the hoop while pushing past Houston’s interior defenders for put-back baskets.

The Cavaliers clinched their spot in the playoffs following the win over the Rockets, an accomplishment Allen couldn’t help but express his excitement about.

“It feels good,” Jarrett Allen said, via Cleveland.com Cavs reporter Chris Fedor. “All of our hard work over these past couple years finally paying off.”

Things changed by the time the playoffs rolled around.

The Cavaliers could not compete with the Knicks in the battle on the boards as the lights shone brighter in the postseason. Cleveland brought down 9.2 offensive rebounds per game in its series, putting it in 11th place among teams that made the postseason. Allen would still grab three offensive rebounds per game during the playoffs, including six during a Game 2 win at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

“We all know the elephant in the room – the tyrannosaurus rex in the room – is the damn offensive rebounds,” Allen said, via The Athletic Staff Writer Kelsey Russo. “It’s just something that we felt like we could have done better.

“We could have gave a little more effort in.”

Could the Cavs’ starting center anchor the interior on both sides of the floor?

Defense

Jarrett Allen proved to be a reliable defensive anchor for the Cavaliers during the regular season, working with Mobley to hold down the interior while the team’s guards remained active on the perimeter.

It was enough to earn a bold statement from Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff towards the beginning of the season.

“He’s a Defensive Player of the Year candidate every single year,” Bickerstaff said after a 117-107 win over the Washington Wizards. “I think it’s time that we acknowledge that.”

Allen finished the regular season with a defensive rating of, or how many points a player allows per 100 possessions, 108.8. His rating put him on par with New Orleans Pelicans center Jaxson Hayes, Milwaukee Bucks forward Khris Middleton and a Cavs teammate in guard Darius Garland, according to NBA.com. He allowed 30.9 points in the paint per contest, 0.1 more than Atlanta Hawks center Clint Capela and 0.2 less than Cavs forward Evan Mobley.

Jarrett Allen brought down 4.7 contested rebounds per game, or rebounds where an opponent is within 3.5 feet of the rebounder. His opponents hit 54.1% of their shots when Allen was defending the rim, 0.2% less than Washington Wizards center Daniel Gafford and 1.2% more than Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels.

But, just like on offense, Allen left much to be desired on defense during the playoffs. He grabbed 4.4 defensive rebounds per game while blocking one shot per contest before the Knicks moved on to face the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

“Quite a bit,” Allen said on how much blame he shoulders for the Knicks rebounding success, via ESPN Cavs reporter Danny Cunningham. “That’s my job to get rebounds. That’s my job to box people out.”

What now?

Every player will have something to work on in the postseason.

Like Mobley, Jarrett Allen will have to build up his strength if he takes the next step as the team’s defensive anchor for the future. He must continue embracing the skills of a modern big and his role as a pick-and-roll center for the Cavaliers, as the former Nets draft pick highlighted in late November.

“Every night it’s something different,” Allen said in late November, via Bally Sports Cleveland. “Tonight, (Jusuf) Nurkic is a bruiser. Me, I’m a pick-and-roll type of guy, runs to the basket. Evan (Mobley) is a jack of all trades. Joel Embiid, he does everything. At this point, it’s every single night a big has some special thing that he does, so I don’t really think it’s prototypical anymore.”

Along with Mobley’s continued improvement, one can only hope that Cleveland’s frontcourt duo will help guide the team to continued runs in the postseason and elevate their backcourt stars for the foreseeable future.

Final Grade: B

The post Cavs’ Jarrett Allen 2022-23 season in review, grade appeared first on Cavs Nation.

Another year, another round of Cedi Osman trade talks.

The 28-year-old forward’s trade discussions went as far back as November this season, when he was named the Cleveland Cavaliers’ top trade candidate for the 2022-23 season by HoopsHype.

“When the Cavaliers expressed interest in acquiring Suns forward Jae Crowder, Cedi Osman’s name came up in the trade talks, league sources told HoopsHype,” wrote NBA HoopsHype writer Michael Scotto. “It’s not the first time, nor the last, his name will likely come up in trade talks leading up to February’s trade deadline.”

The Cavs chose to stand pat at the trade deadline, keeping Osman on board before signing a veteran guard in Danny Green just a few days later. Green and Osman would share minutes in the Cavs’ 5-game playoff series against the New York Knicks in Games 2, 3, 4 and 5.

On Wednesday, the talks resurfaced yet again.

Hoops Wire Senior NBA Writer Sam Amico wrote the Cavs had a decision to make on Cedi Osman in a Wednesday article.

“Actually, the Cavs do love Osman,” wrote Amico. “They just have to decide how much by June 29. That is when the guaranteed date for the $6.7 million on Osman’s contract sets in. If the Cavs decline to guarantee Osman’s deal … well, let’s just say he probably won’t return.

“There are plenty of members of the organization who think Osman will in fact be playing for the Cavs next season, at least at the start. There’s another segment that strongly believes the Cavs are ready to move on.”

Should Cleveland keep Osman as the 2023 NBA offseason rolls around? And how would he fit with the Cavs if they do?

The case for Cedi Osman

It would be hard to imagine a more recent Cavaliers roster without Cedi Osman.

Osman is a holdover from the tail end of the 4-year battle between Cleveland and the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals. The 28-year-old forward lasted through every one of the Cavs’ rebuilding years between their Finals trip in 2018 and their near-run to the playoffs in 2022.

The 6-foot-7-inch still found a role of his own after Cleveland traded for guard Donovan Mitchell and fought its way into the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, picking up 77 appearances and two starts during the 2022-23 season. He averaged 8.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game during his sixth listed season with the Cavs. He shot at a comfortable 37.2% from the 3-point line on 4.1 attempts per game and hit as many as seven 3-pointers during the regular season.

Osman had productive minutes in the playoffs. He consistently played in 14 minutes or more during the postseason and as many as 23 during the team’s Game 2 win over New York, according to Basketball Reference.

Osman’s experience, 3-point shooting and time spent with the franchise can make him a valuable part of a budding Cavaliers roster.

But will that be enough to keep him on the team after this season?

The case against Cedi Osman

Osman’s contract may be the easiest thing to point out when trying to find a reason to offload the long-time Cavalier.

Osman signed a 4-year $31-million contract extension to stay with the Cavaliers in 2019, locking him down for the foreseeable future after he scored 13 points and brought down 4.7 rebounds per game during the 2018-19 season.

“I really feel like I’m home,” Osman said in 2019, via Cleveland.com Cavs reporter Chris Fedor. “I just really wanted to stay where I belong. I love being here, I love the organization. I’m just happy here, with the coaches, with the organization, with my teammates, we have a great brotherhood in here.”

Osman is listed with a $6.7 million non-guaranteed deal on Spotrac for the 2023-24 season. The contract becomes fully guaranteed on June 29. He will become an unrestricted free agent in 2024 if the Cavs choose not to re-sign him.

The non-guaranteed figure would make him the 6th-highest paid player on the Cavaliers’ roster for the 2023-24 season, putting him just ahead of Cavs guard Ricky Rubio and $1 million more than forward Dean Wade.

Should the Cavs keep Cedi Osman?

Osman’s future role on the squad will depend on whether the Cavs will try for any changes at the small forward in the offseason.

Cleveland could try finding a more solidified starter at the small forward spot. They could try to sign a shooting specialist at both wing spots or attempt to pull off some extra maneuvers for forwards like Royce O’Neale or Kelly Oubre.

If the Cavs can’t find a better role player at the three, it may be beneficial for them to hold off on a hasty trade involving Osman and wait until Cleveland at least has the option to bring in an upgrade at the three. He was inconsistent during the playoffs, but Osman’s shooting and minutes off the bench impacted a tightly-knit Cavs rotation.

Either way, with the Eastern Conference Finals still raging on between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat and with the NBA Draft still a month away, the Cavs have plenty of time to figure things out.

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