I really didn’t expect the Cleveland Cavaliers to be below .500 after eleven games, especially after reaching the Eastern Conference Finals last season. But here we are. They’re 5-6, sitting seventh in the East, and have lost four of their last five games, including Monday’s embarrassing 124-112 loss to the Charlotte Hornets.
And that last game was a warning sign, since the Hornets had lost six straight, were missing Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel, and still built a 33-point lead against Cleveland. They even had Grayson Allen scoring 27 points! Donovan Mitchell and James Harden? Eleven points each.
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We’re talking about a team that won 52 games last season, finished fourth in the East, and made it all the way to the Conference Finals before getting swept by the New York Knicks. The Cavs brought back their four main stars, added Peyton Watson, and were supposed to be one of the biggest threats to the defending champions.
Instead, they’re scoring 116.5 points per game (10th), allowing 115.0 (18th), and sitting 12th in offensive rating (115.7) and 15th in defensive rating (114.1). Their +1.5 net rating ranks 16th, which is pretty disappointing for a team with such a massive payroll to compete for a championship.
And I don’t think we can blame everything on injuries or a bad schedule. The Cavaliers have already played the Thunder twice, sure, but they’ve also lost to the Hawks and Hornets, while barely beating the Nets and Timberwolves.
So what’s going on with Cleveland? I think there are five main problems, starting with a former MVP who’s looking nothing like the player we saw last season.
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James Harden’s Start Has Been A Disaster
Let’s start with James Harden, because I think he’s been Cleveland’s biggest disappointment so far. The Cavs traded for him last season to finally get Donovan Mitchell another elite offensive creator, and the move actually worked out nicely. Harden averaged 20.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 7.7 assists in 26 regular-season games, shooting 46.6% from the field and 43.5% from three.
He also helped Cleveland reach the ECF, so the gamble of moving Darius Garland for an aging star really worked better than what they had. They brought Harden back on a three-year deal to have a full season with Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen, and see whether they could finally get past the Knicks.
Well, eleven games in, Harden is only posting 15.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 5.7 assists while shooting 36.4% from the field and 35.5% from three. That’s 5.2 fewer points and 2.0 fewer assists than he produced with Cleveland last season, while his FG% has dropped by more than 10%. His 54.1% true shooting is also way below last season’s 63.9% with the Cavaliers.
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And he’s still playing 32.6 minutes per game, so it’s not like he’s just been coasting along for the first stretch or anything like that. He’s just been plainly inefficient, a defensive disaster, and just a shadow of what we saw last year.
Against the Hornets, Harden finished with 11 points, five assists, and four turnovers on 3-of-9 shooting. He also went 2-of-7 from three, and Cleveland was outscored by 22 points during his 25 minutes.
His passing hasn’t been great, with 5.7 assists against 3.0 turnovers per game, and I think the age is starting to become a serious concern. Harden is 37, he’s played more than 1,200 regular-season games, and he clearly isn’t getting to his usual spots as easily as before.
Could he turn things around? Absolutely. But the Cavaliers need him to start getting closer to 20 points and 8 assists again, because 15 and 6 just isn’t enough for a team trying to win the East.
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Donovan Mitchell Can’t Carry This Team Every Night
I wouldn’t blame Donovan Mitchell nearly as much as Harden, but his scoring has also dropped a lot this season. Mitchell averaged 27.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 5.7 assists last year, earning another All-Star selection and making the All-NBA Second Team.
This year, he’s down to 22.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 5.5 assists, although his shooting percentages are still good at 48.0% from the field and 38.5% from three. That’s why I don’t think Mitchell’s individual efficiency is a major problem. He’s actually shooting the ball well, but he’s taking only 16.3 shots per game after attempting 20 last season.
And the Cavaliers struggle when he doesn’t have a huge scoring night, but they can still lose when he drops a masterclass. Mitchell scored a season-high 37 points against the Knicks this weekend, but Cleveland still lost 109-97. Two nights later, he finished with a season-low 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting against the Hornets, and the Cavaliers were basically out of the game by the third quarter.
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Mitchell and Harden are also combining for 6 turnovers per game, and neither one has been especially effective at creating easy shots for the rest of the team. I don’t think Kenny Atkinson needs to make Mitchell score 30 every night, since that would just bring Cleveland back to the same problem it had before trading for Harden, but the Cavaliers need to find a better balance between their two guards, because right now they’re getting 38.1 combined points from players who scored 48.4 together last season.
The Defense And Rebounding Are Still A Big Non-Factor
Having Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen should give Cleveland one of the better defensive frontcourts in basketball, but the team isn’t playing like it right now. Cleveland has a 114.1 defensive rating, ranking 15th in the NBA, basically getting another average defensive season from a team with a former Defensive Player of the Year and a very good center.
Mobley is averaging 17.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 1.1 blocks while shooting 55.8% from the field. He’s also making 50.0% of his threes, which is excellent, but his rebounding and defensive production haven’t been enough to turn Cleveland into an elite defensive team. Allen is putting up 13.1 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks on 64.8% shooting, although he’s playing only 24.7 minutes per game and has already missed two games.
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And against Charlotte, that patched Hornets team grabbed 17 offensive rebounds while Cleveland managed only four. They also finished with 49 total rebounds compared to the Cavaliers’ 32, and Ryan Kalkbrenner grabbed 15 boards by himself.
In that department, the Cavaliers are allowing opponents to grab 13.2 offensive rebounds per game while getting 10.8, so even when they force a miss, they’re giving up too many second chances.
And the problem isn’t limited to one game: Cleveland allowed the Thunder to score 117 and 124 points in their two meetings, gave up 125 against Minnesota in a narrow win, and allowed 121 against Brooklyn.
I think Mobley and Allen can still become one of the best defensive frontcourts in the league, but the guards and wings need to do more to help out. Having two shot blockers doesn’t fix bad perimeter defense or poor rebounding from everybody else.
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The New Rotation Isn’t Working Yet
Cleveland made what I thought to be one of the best moves during the offseason, sending Max Strus away and bringing in Peyton Watson from the Denver Nuggets. Watson was coming off his best NBA season, averaging 14.6 points and 4.9 rebounds, so adding a 24-year-old forward who could defend multiple positions made sense, but he’s been very disappointing offensively.
Watson is averaging 11.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.7 assists while shooting only 40.6% from the field and 21.6% from three. He’s made just eight of his 37 3PA, which is a major problem when he’s starting next to Mobley and Allen. Cleveland needs somebody who can punish teams for leaving him open, and Watson hasn’t done that yet.
The bench hasn’t been much better, with Sam Merrill at 7.7 points while shooting 32.6% from three, Mario Hezonja putting up 8.5 points on 28.6% from deep, and Jaylon Tyson playing only five games because of injury.
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Merrill also missed the last two games after hurting his right elbow against the 76ers, which leaves Cleveland without another player who can help their two main creators with his outside shooting, and I think the injuries obviously don’t help them at all at this early stage of the season.
On the other hand, Meleek Thomas has actually been one of the few good surprises, averaging 13.0 points on 47.8% from three in eight games. The rookie scored 18 points with four triples against Charlotte, leading the Cavaliers in scoring while the starters struggled. Tyrese Proctor has also been efficient, shooting 52.4% from three in limited minutes, but he’s averaging only 6 points.
I don’t think the Cavaliers need to make a trade immediately or completely change the bench rotation this early, but they definitely need more consistent scoring from their wings, because too many of their secondary guys are shooting below 35% from three.
Kenny Atkinson Needs To Try Something Different
I think Kenny Atkinson deserves some criticism here, especially when the numbers suggest he’s getting much better results from certain players than others. Cleveland has outscored opponents by 6.7 points with Mitchell on the floor, but has been outscored by 10.6 without him. Harden’s numbers are almost the opposite, with the Cavaliers getting outscored by 5.8 points during his minutes and winning by 15.6 when he’s sitting.
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And it’s not just those two. Cleveland has a +11.5 net rating with Merrill playing, compared to -5.6 without him, while Allen is at +5.3 during his minutes. Meanwhile, Watson is at -4.6, and Thomas Bryant has an awful -15.0 net rating. It’s only eleven games, so I wouldn’t make huge decisions based on these numbers alone, but I’d definitely start changing some rotations.
I’d try more minutes with Mitchell running point, especially considering how well those lineups have performed. And once Merrill and Jaylon Tyson are healthy, I’d give them bigger roles instead of keeping the same rotation. Tyson has played only five games, but Cleveland has a +13.4 net rating with him on the floor, another number worth watching.
Atkinson won Coach of the Year in 2024-25, and I still think he’s a good coach. But the Cavaliers have enough talent to experiment without blowing up their roster, and I’d much rather see him try different lineups now than spend another month waiting for everything to fix itself.
Can The Cavaliers Turn Things Around?
I’m not selling all my Cavaliers stock after eleven games, but I also don’t buy the idea that everything will magically improve because Mitchell and Harden have big names and even bigger contracts this season.
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Cleveland is 12th in offensive rating, 15th in defensive rating, and 16th in net rating. Those are average numbers across the board, and that’s exactly what its 5-6 record looks like. The good news is that Mitchell is still shooting efficiently, Mobley is making half his threes, and the Cavaliers have already beaten the Timberwolves and 76ers. They’ve also shown how good their offense can be, scoring 136 points against the Bucks and 127 against Minnesota.
But Harden needs to start scoring again, Watson has to improve his outside shooting, and the entire team needs to rebound and defend better. The next game against the Knicks on Wednesday is another chance to see where Cleveland stands, especially after losing to them in the ECF last season and again on Saturday.
For me, this isn’t a championship-level team right now, and I wouldn’t put it in the same conversation as the Thunder or the best teams in the East until something changes.
The Cavaliers have enough talent to win 50 games again. But if Harden continues shooting 36.4% from the field and the defense stays around the middle of the league, I think another disappointing playoff run is much more likely than a trip to the NBA Finals.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
