Every NBA season starts with a series of surprises, and the Cleveland Cavaliers are the clear leaders so far when it comes to the biggest one. The Cavs shot out of the gate with a serious winning streak, which is currently at 13 games and counting.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. Boston’s competition in the early going was supposed to be the Knicks and 76ers, with the Bucks as an outlier if they could get Damian Lillard back on track. Instead the Cavaliers look like the new “Beasts of the East,” but they won’t face their biggest test until next week’s showdown in Boston against the Celtics.
Cleveland’s major move wasn’t about adding players
Going into the season, it was easy to write off the Cleveland Cavaliers as Eastern Conference also-rans. The only roster issue they addressed securing the services of star guard Donovan Mitchell with a three-year, $150 million extension, but this wasn't really headline fodder when the Knicks traded for Karl-Anthony Towns and Philly added Paul George.
But Cleveland did make one move that’s proving to be more important. The Cavs had some significant chemistry problems under J.D. Bickerstaff, and when he was fired they made a brilliant hire with Kenny Atkinson.
Atkinson was definitely an under-the-radar choice, but his NBA bona fides are legit. The way he turned around the Nets in Brooklyn was remarkable, until GM Sean Marks decided it was a good idea to let Kyrie Irving run the franchise together with his best bud Kevin Durant and soon-to-be frenemy James Harden.
We all know how that worked out, but Atkinson learned his lessons in Brooklyn well. He nearly got the head coaching job in Charlotte, but when similar control issues surfaced, Atkinson passed on that gig and went to work as an assistant for Steve Kerr.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are playing with speed and pace
Atkinson clearly learned some lessons during his Golden State stint, too. He has the Cavaliers playing fast, but they’re not the new Pacers. They have size and they play defense, too, and the Cleveland coach seems to have solved the riddle of how to use Evan Mobley, whose potential as a mobile big was under-utilized by Bickerstaff, to say the least.
The Cavs don’t play five-out basketball, not with Jarrett Allen anchoring the middle as a rebounding force. They do have plenty of firepower at guard, though, with Mitchell and Darius Garland finally playing well together. Isaac Okoro seems to have settled in as Cleveland’s defensive stopper, which is especially important against wings who can score.
The rest of the Eastern Conference is a dumpster fire
Part of the reason the Cavs are getting so much attention right now is because the Eastern Conference is basically awful at the moment. The Celtics are 9-3, but the Magic are the only team over .500, and the Knicks, Bucks and 76ers are currently struggling, to put it mildly.
That will change, of course. The East may be a bit of a muddle right now, but at least two or three of these teams will figure it out in the coming weeks. Orlando will get Pablo Banchero back in January when he recovers from a torn oblique, and the Knicks will be dangerous when they find their new identity. It would be foolish to predict what’s going to happen with the rest of the pack, but Cleveland won’t be cherry picking easy wins when these turnarounds happen.
What will next week’s test against Boston tell us?
Big picture-wise, not much. Boston is currently waiting for Kristaps Porzingis to return to the lineup, and Jaylen Brown is struggling to stay in the lineup after straining his hip flexor. Cleveland’s size will give Boston problems, but the Cavs may also struggle with Boston’s five-out lineup, especially if the Celtics get hot from beyond the arc.
But this is still an important game. The Cav's winning streak won’t last, and they may even lose against the Bull or Hornets as they mark time before heading to Boston. But Cleveland played the Celtics tough despite losing their playoff series in just five games last year, and next week’s contest could tell us a lot about what Kenny Atkinson will bring to the table in this early battle of contenders.