Analyst Poses Troubling Question for Cavaliers

Are the Cleveland Cavaliers flirting with trouble in spite of their incredible start this NBA season?

Mar 31, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley (4) and guard Darius Garland (10) react after a foul call on Mobley during the second half against the New York Knicks at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images / Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

The Cleveland Cavaliers have gotten off to an incredible start this season, taking NBA fans everywhere—even in Ohio—by surprise.

Not many expected the Cavaliers to genuinely contend for a championship this year, but here they are, boasting the best record in basketball in mid-December.

But is what Cleveland is doing sustainable?

Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes poses that very pointed question, particularly when it comes to shooting three-pointers.

He wonders when regression is coming.

"Even if we grant Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell the benefit of the doubt and assume they'll continue burying triples at better than 40.0 percent clips, several other Cavs simply can't sustain their current success rates," Hughes wrote. "Caris LeVert, Isaac Okoro and Ty Jerome are all canning at least 45.0 percent of their treys and none has a career three-point percentage north of 37.0 percent."

Right now, the Cavs are shooting 39.9 percent from downtown as a team, which ranks No. 1 in the league. For comparison's sake, they finished just 19th in the NBA in long-range shooting last season.

So, is it possible that the Cavaliers are living and dying by the three a bit too much and that they are due for a rude awakening at some point?

The modern landscape has definitely drifted toward high volume three-point shooting, so attempting a lot of treys is not necessarily a bad thing.

But Cleveland currently has seven players shooting 40 percent or better from deep this season, which seems a bit lucky. Keep in mind: the 73-win Golden State Warriors—who broke the NBA with their perimeter shooting—only had three such players during that famed 2015-16 campaign.

We'll see if the Cavs can maintain their red-hot marksmanship.