Answering Your Cavs Questions: Oct. 27, 2023

Spencer Davies answers Cleveland Cavaliers' fans questions before the team's home opener vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Welcome to Cavs Questions! In this daily mailbag, Spencer Davies will respond to fans’ curiosities surrounding the Cleveland Cavaliers throughout the duration of the 2023-24 season. In order to submit yours, simply send your questions on X to @SpinDavies or via email at spindavies22@gmail.com.

Opening night in Cleveland is here! The Cavs are preparing to take on an Oklahoma City Thunder bunch that isn’t so sneaky anymore in the front half of a back-to-back set at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse to tip off the wine and gold’s regular season at home. Saturday night, the Indiana Pacers will be in town, but let’s get to questions before Friday evening’s matchup.

What’s an individual player matchup you’re most looking forward to tonight vs OKC. I know that’s a team full of players you’ve liked for years. - @BobbyDigital2

Bob, you’re not wrong. I have been an unabashed Thunder fan from afar for a while now, partly because player development is my favorite aspect of basketball and partly because Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a damn stud with MVP qualities. (I’m also fascinated by Aleksej Pokusevski regardless of his role and believe Kenrich Williams may be one of the most underappreciated players in basketball.)

Matchup-wise, I won’t be contrarian about something for once: Let me see Evan Mobley vs. Chet Holmgren in a battle of limbs. They’re both freakishly long and have such great defensive instincts; what happens head-to-head?

Evan vs Chet tonight

Here's what Evan himself had to say about the matchup #Cavs pic.twitter.com/k6ramTROsy

— 𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛 𝙶𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗 (@Spencito_) October 27, 2023

Though Mobley isn’t the most "imposing" big man in the league, he’s 20 pounds heavier than Holmgren and could use that to his advantage in the paint. He wasn't able to find a good rhythm on that end of the floor in Brooklyn due to foul trouble, so he'll be aiming for a bounce-back night.

Meanwhile, Chet can shoot the ball better and has a leg-up with his ball-handling despite his rookie status. Both have quick hands and smarts to switch and lock up on D. Color me intrigued.

What surprised you the most about J.B.’s rotation in Game 1? @Greg_Boose

Looking back, it was interesting that J.B. Bickerstaff went nine deep in the first quarter and that those were the only guys he played the rest of the way. Of course, both scenarios likely go along with Mobley’s early foul trouble and a lack of Dean Wade and Jarrett Allen. 

Really, it’s that he didn’t go a tad deeper and only went to Ty Jerome for five minutes. It’s understandable, however, given how the Donovan Mitchell-Caris LeVert pairing worked. They tried out Darius Garland running with the twos with Mitchell getting rest as well.

Oct 25, 2023; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) brings the ball up court against the Brooklyn Nets during the first quarter at Barclays Center / Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

I also was surprised that the Cavs started Isaac Okoro and played Max Strus up a position off the bat instead of going with LeVert at the 3 since we know Cleveland loves its three-guard sets. It turns out that it didn’t really matter because each of those guys ended up playing critical minutes in the fourth quarter, and Okoro wound up clamping Cam Thomas at the end of the game to cap a great night at the office.

I’ll be curious to see how Wade fits into the mix with how good of a preseason he had and what the team’s offensive profile looks like with Allen back on the floor.

What will be the BIGGEST factor as to why the Cavs will be successful this season? What do you think the ceiling is for this team? - @jj_sports_talk (IG)

My biggest factor has remained consistent since the offseason: Pace and space. While Bickerstaff doesn’t want them to just go out there and run without a purpose, he does want the team to have a burst after defensive stops and rebounds — and especially following turnovers. The Cavs have some fast dudes to play a transition game and beat other teams in a foot race like that, so they need to utilize it the way we saw in the first half in Brooklyn.

Strus and Georges Niang truly change the outlook of this team just because they provide a skill set the team has lacked for a long time. It makes a drastic difference to have shooters threatening to fire away at any time on the perimeter. Defenses have to worry about them, which opens up the middle of the floor for driving lanes. Garland and Mitchell make their money in attack mode, so it relieves some pressure off them. And if teams decide to double, then they’ll pay from deep courtesy of the newcomers.

Niang is mostly a standstill perimeter guy that will not be bashful since he's a career 40 percent three-baller. Strus offers that and more, constantly creating havoc and forcing his matchups to chase him around the half-court. Kyle Korver-esque, as Mitchell said. Floor stretchers matter!