For the Cleveland All-Stars, a new world is opening up. Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen, who played their first All-Star Game at home, also discover and participate in a new sensation in Ohio: winning without LeBron James.
The first was born in 2000, the second two years earlier and for them, as for many young players, the theorem is simple: when LeBron James plays in Cleveland, the franchise wins matches, playoff series and is part of the best teams in the league. When he’s not around, the Cavaliers are in the underworld of the NBA.
The proof: without the quadruple NBA champion and MVP in its workforce, Cleveland has not played in the playoffs since 1998! And to find such a successful season without “LBJ”, like the one the Cavs are currently experiencing, more than 60% of victories, we have to go back to 1993…
“It’s the rebirth of Cleveland”believes Darius Garland for the Plain Dealer. “Each of us wants to create our own legacy. Putting Cleveland on the map without LeBron James means a lot to us. It’s a new feeling, a new face. “
Evan Mobley also talks about “Brand New Riders” when Jarrett Allen advances another feeling for these young wolves. “We are very proud”explains the kingpin. “It’s obvious that the situation has changed for Cleveland: we don’t have LeBron but we are one of the best teams of the season. We show, we even demonstrate, that the Cavaliers are back. At last. “
LeBron James’ second departure forced executives to think long-term
The Cavaliers had never recovered from the departure of LeBron James in 2010 and it was only his return, in 2014, that had put the franchise back in the spotlight. Because having the “King” in its workforce means thinking in the short term (by dropping Draft choices to recover veterans) and as soon as he moves away, some other players sometimes leave the ship, and for the franchise in question, then everything has to be rethought.
There, the leaders have been doing the work since 2018, to raise the bar. Even if losing the MVP of the 2020 Finals was logically very hard to take.
“When LeBron left, it was a downfall for us as a franchise”recognize, for ESPNGM Koby Altman. “We had nothing solid in terms of culture, bases. We wanted to keep winning, but we hadn’t prepared anything for it. So we set up our program: the Draft and helping the players progress. We had to change the culture: it’s not just the victories that count, but also the steps forward with the young people. “
With Darius Garland, Evan Mobley or even Collin Sexton and Isaac Okoro, the Cavaliers have indeed made good choices at the time of the Draft since 2018. Then, they were clever by integrating at the right time in transfers, such as when they took advantage of James Harden’s “trade” to Brooklyn to recover Jarret Allen.
“We are a group of young people who are very hungry”announces Isaac Okoro. “We have this thing, this hardness, we are ready to show the league that we are among the best teams. We don’t think about being a team without LeBron. We just think about trying to win matches. “
Except that winning matches in Cleveland, without LeBron James, was very complicated. So until this season…
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Darius Garland | 47 | 34.6 | 47.7 | 37.8 | 91.1 | 0.5 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 8.0 | 3.7 | 1.2 | 0.1 | 1.7 | 20.3 |
| Jarrett Allen | 50 | 32.6 | 66.6 | 10.0 | 70.2 | 3.6 | 7.4 | 11.0 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 16.2 |
| Collin Sexton | 11 | 28.8 | 45.0 | 24.4 | 74.4 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 3.3 | 2.1 | 2.8 | 0.9 | 0.0 | 2.3 | 16.0 |
| Evan Mobley | 50 | 34.1 | 50.3 | 26.5 | 67.2 | 1.9 | 6.2 | 8.1 | 2.6 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 14.9 |
| Kevin Love | 50 | 22.3 | 42.6 | 39.3 | 85.4 | 1.2 | 6.2 | 7.3 | 2.1 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 14.3 |
| Lauri Markkanen | 38 | 30.2 | 43.6 | 34.2 | 86.3 | 1.1 | 4.2 | 5.3 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 1.8 | 13.6 |
| Caris Levert | 4 | 31.0 | 39.7 | 28.6 | 75.0 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 3.8 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 13.2 |
| Ricky Rubio | 35 | 28.3 | 36.0 | 33.5 | 85.4 | 0.4 | 3.7 | 4.1 | 6.6 | 2.7 | 1.4 | 0.2 | 2.2 | 12.9 |
| Cedi Osman | 46 | 23.0 | 42.0 | 35.6 | 64.0 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 2.0 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 1.9 | 10.8 |
| isaac okoro | 43 | 28.8 | 46.4 | 31.6 | 77.8 | 1.0 | 2.1 | 3.1 | 1.9 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 2.6 | 9.0 |
| Malik Newman | 1 | 7.7 | 60.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 8.0 |
| Rajon Rondo | 13 | 21.4 | 40.3 | 36.6 | 84.2 | 0.2 | 3.2 | 3.5 | 4.7 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 7.2 |
| Dean Wade | 43 | 19.3 | 46.2 | 37.6 | 63.0 | 0.7 | 2.5 | 3.1 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.7 | 5.5 |
| Brandon Goodwin | 16 | 15.9 | 38.8 | 37.5 | 50.0 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 2.4 | 3.1 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1.4 | 5.3 |
| lamar stevens | 41 | 14.3 | 47.5 | 29.5 | 62.5 | 0.7 | 1.5 | 2.2 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 5.0 |
| justin anderson | 3 | 15.5 | 50.0 | 33.3 | 75.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 4.3 |
| Tre Scott | 2 | 5.7 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 3.0 |
| Denzel Valentine | 22 | 9.3 | 37.1 | 40.9 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 2.9 |
| Dylan Windler | 37 | 9.3 | 42.9 | 38.9 | 77.8 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 2.5 |
| Luke Kornet | 2 | 7.4 | 20.0 | 0.0 | 66.7 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 2.0 |
| Kevin Pangos | 24 | 6.9 | 32.6 | 23.1 | 75.0 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.6 |
| Rj Nembhard | 7 | 6.2 | 45.5 | 0.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.6 |
| Ed Davis | 19 | 7.5 | 64.3 | 0.0 | 37.5 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 1.1 |
| Tacko Fall | 11 | 5.3 | 41.7 | 0.0 | 28.6 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 2.1 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.1 |
