While the new season has only just finished loading 20 percent, the Cleveland Cavaliers' experience has been like a roller coaster.
A week ago, the Cavaliers defeated the Celtics 91-89 and managed to reach the top four in the East with this victory. Bench point guard Ricky Rubio has repeatedly played amazing performances, and the other veteran in the team, Kevin Lofour, has also played remarkablely.
A good start makes people have a lot of expectations for the "dark horse" of the knight. It seems that the Cavaliers are on the right track and are expected to become a new force in the East this year.
With injuries on the horizon, they suffered three straight defeats and have now fallen to eighth place in the East.
On November 17, the Cavaliers officially announced that fast-moving detective Show Evan Mobley would miss a 2-4 week game due to a ligament strain in his right elbow.
On November 20, according to the famous NBA reporter Shams Charania, the team's starting guard Colin Sexton underwent meniscus tear repair surgery on his left knee, thus reimbursing the season. Sexton left the field injured in the middle of an away game against the New York Knicks on Nov. 8 and has missed six games since then.
Sexton has played 11 games so far in the new season, averaging 16.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. Unfortunately, the team won 2 and lost 4 of the 6 games he missed. In addition to Sexton and Mobley, Cavaliers center Jarent Allen and power forward Laurie Markkanen both missed the game with injuries.
So, can the Cavaliers withstand injuries from multiple starters?
If it's been a few years, such injuries may not be enough to worry the Cavaliers, because the Cavaliers are still in the rebuilding period at the time, and winning or losing games is not the focus of management. However, things changed at the beginning of the season, and so far the Cavaliers have unexpectedly finished eighth in the East with a record of 9 wins and 8 losses. Since LeBron James moved to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018, the Cavaliers' current win-over-50 percent win rate has reached a new high. Last year, the Cavaliers opened with 8 wins and 7 losses before falling quickly. Now they are behind the defending champions Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers and Atlanta Hawks, so they could fall to 12th place in the East at any time. The Cavaliers want to be able to return to the playoffs early, and in this way, the Cavaliers should be quite unhappy up and down.
While Mobley should make a comeback sometime in December, the Cavaliers won't let Sexton come back, which is a tough test for their outside depth.
To be on the safe side, the Cavaliers and Sexton took conservative care of meniscus surgery. For a player like Sexton with a torn meniscus, there are some possible outcomes. Occasionally, small tears can be treated with rest and rehabilitation, as happened in the playoffs last season with Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid. Embiid returned from injury within a week.
A more common scenario is the need for surgery. That's why the same injury causes come up with two very different timelines. Meniscal resection is the removal of damaged parts of the meniscus, allowing players to recover in a matter of weeks without having to wait months.
Depending on the location and size of the tear, what Sexton should also receive is a meniscus repair. Because it retains the meniscus, it works better in the long run, but the recovery process is much longer. Last year's league-watching james Wiseman underwent meniscus repair surgery in April, and the Golden State Warriors have yet to be allowed to return to the field.
Sexton and the Cavaliers did not complete an early renewal of their rookie contracts before the Signing Deadline on Oct. 18 this year. In the summer of 2022, Sexton will become a restricted free agent, and Sexton's scoring average this season, although it is a career low, is "because the team's overall depth is further", so undergoing meniscus repair surgery allows him to better maintain his long-term value.
With Sexton leaving coinciding with the date when starting wing Isaac Okoro had just recovered from a hamstring strain, Cavaliers coach J.B. Bixtaft was able to replace Sexton directly with Ocorro without having to make major changes to the rest of the rotation. Now that Sexton's season is out, the importance of new signing Rubio has been magnified again, and his first year with the Cavaliers was simply too good.
Despite playing as a substitute, Rubio averaged second in the team in 32.6 minutes in the four games that Sexton was absent. Earlier than expected, the Cavaliers' strongest lineup already included Rubio and another point guard, Garland, a combination that provides more organization and size in the backcourt than Garland and Sexton.
The Cavaliers' biggest hidden danger is: What if another peripheral contributor falls? The Cavaliers also got a season of rebounds from substitute forward Osman's form, reaching his career-best 41 percent three-point shooting rate this season after shooting a disappointing 31 percent three-point shooting in 2020-21. In addition to this group of teams, the Cavaliers need to squeeze rotation time on Dylan Wendler (who has a good shooting percentage in the limited time), Lamar Stevens or the new Valentine.
Finally, Maubley. Generally speaking, it is relatively rare for a rookie to suffer an injury that directly affects the team's record, but Tanhuaxiu has used these dozen games to prove that he is the exception. Mobley quickly established himself as one of the league's most well-rounded defenders, defending the outside line against a space-type number four or switching defenses, as well as a strong basket keeper in the penalty area.
Mobley's contribution on the defensive end is the hardest to replace. He currently averages 14.6 points, 8 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.6 blocks and 1 steal per game. Neither Markkanen nor Loaf can provide a rim-guarding performance similar to Mobley's.
When Mobley was the main defender, his opponent shot just 52 percent from within 5 feet, and he was the tenth best of the players who guarded the basket for at least 10 times. This is compared to 60% and 67% of the figures of Lefour and Markkanen, respectively. Last season, Love and Markkanen were 73% and 60%, respectively.
The weakness of the two of them is magnified when starting centre forward Allen is not on the court, and during this time Love could serve as the team's center forward. Under Bixtaugh's rotation arrangement, Aaron and Mobley almost always have one person on the pitch. This arrangement is to prevent their own forbidden areas from becoming sieves.
Team insiders said Mobley would not make a comeback any time soon. In a recent interview, Bixtaugh talked about Mobley's situation.
Bikstaff said: "If you can't recover quickly, then you have to wait until you are fully recovered before coming back." This involves wound healing as well as enduring pain, and our team will not do anything that is risky to his future. ”
Mobley's absence has been a tough time for the Cavaliers, who recently suffered a losing streak before heading into a tough fixture. Over the next two weeks, the Cavaliers will take on the Brooklyn Nets, Dallas Mavericks, Miami Heat and Phoenix Suns. During this time, only home against the Orlando Magic can get a brief respite. At its best, the Cavaliers' record in the coming weeks hovers around 50 percent, and when Mobly returns to the starting lineup, he may be able to perform better. This is already a big requirement for the knights who have been at the bottom for several consecutive years.