The relative aggressiveness of the Cleveland Cavaliers this offseason has not gone unnoticed. The Cavs had some very clear needs entering this offseason and have made moves in order to address them. These efforts caught the attention of Dan Favale of Bleacher Report as he named Cleveland as one of the six teams that improved the most this offseason.
Favale notes that the Cavs had two goals they needed to accomplish this offseason.
“upgrade their shooting on the wings without torpedoing the defense, and deepen the front-line rotation behind Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.”
Dan Favale on Cleveland’s needs
Bringing in Max Strus and Georges Niang were Cleveland’s way of addressing those needs. While neither player is anything resembling a star, that is not what the Cavs needed at this point in time. Cleveland has their primary stars in Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland while Evan Mobley is working his way towards getting to that level. Finding the right players to complement their already established players was what Cleveland sought out to do and it appears that they have done just that.
Ideally Strus slides right into the starting five while Niang can be a meaningful contributor off the bench. This would result in Isaac Okoro being bumped from the starting rotation and into a bench role where he appears to be a better fit. It would also allow Niang take on a role that the Cavs attempted to have Dean Wade fill late last season. Wade turned out not to be the answer for the problem they were looking to solve, resulting in Cleveland looking for external help in Niang.
What it comes down to is whether or not the Cavs made meaningful attempts to improve their team where they needed it. Favale believes that they did and should be able to take a step forward in the Eastern Conference this season. Now it is up to the Cavs to do their part, by living up to this new level of expectations.
