Cleveland Cavaliers Earn Surprising Praise In These Intriguing Rankings

The Cleveland Cavaliers have a lot of doubters heading into next season, but there are some who are optimistic about the team for the future.

Mar 4, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland (10) and guard Donovan Mitchell (45) celebrate in the second quarter against the Detroit Pistons at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports / David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Cavaliers have been good the last couple of years, but not great. They have collected a grand total of 99 regular-season wins during that span, winning one playoff series.

Progress? Sure. Satisfactory? Not if you value legitimate title contention.

The Cavaliers are one of the more intriguing teams to monitor heading into the 2024-25 NBA campaign, especially after doubling down on their core by extending Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen this offseason.

But how close is Cleveland to actually being able to make a push for a championship?

If you listen to Bleacher Report's Dan Favale, not too far.

In a piece where Favale ranked all 32 NBA teams based on their championship windows for the next three years, he placed the Cavs seventh.

Favale cites the success the Cavaliers "core four" of Mitchell, Mobley, Allen and Darius Garland had playing together two years ago as a big reason for his positive assessment.

"The Cavs outscored opponents by 10.2 points per 100 possessions, across a much larger sample, when the Big Four played together in 2022-23," wrote Favale.

He went on to state that Cleveland's needle was "clearly trending in an upward direction" thanks to its talent and continuity.

Favale even had the Cavs ranked ahead of the New York Knicks, who are widely considered one of the top challengers to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference.

It may not be a question of talent for the Cavaliers, but a matter of fit. The frontcourt pairing of Allen and Mobley has been doubted by some, as has the backcourt tandem of Mitchell and Garland.

We'll see if Cleveland is able to demonstrate any sort of real progress next season. If not, the Cavs may need to make some changes.