CLEVELAND — As the late, great Michael Stanley would say, "Cavs basketball, tonight's the night!"
Yes, the Cavaliers officially begin action Wednesday on the road against the Toronto Raptors. They are coming off a season in which they won a surprising 44 games and made it to the NBA's play-in tournament, and following the acquisition of All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell, 2022-23 has become one of the team's most-highly anticipated campaigns in recent memory.
Everybody's excited, including us here at 3News! Here's how some of our staff members predict the Cavs will do this season:
Nick Camino
- Final record: 55-27, 4th in Eastern Conference
- Playoffs?: Lose in Eastern Conference Semifinals
- Team MVP: Darius Garland
- Unsung hero: Dean Wade
- Additional thoughts: "The Cavaliers are finally building this thing the right way. Yes, in my own fantasy world, I'd still take LeBron James back in Cleveland. However, if that dream is unrealistic, this is how you build" through the NBA Draft, smart trades, and free agency.
"The Wine and Gold finally appear to be on track to building this team through those various channels. They took a huge step in their rebuild last season making the NBA play-in tournament, and now they have accelerated their schedule even more by adding three-time All-Star Donovan Mitchell. The next step is winning a playoff series, and I think the Cavs do that this upcoming season."
Ben Axelrod
- Final record: 49-33, 5th in Eastern Conference
- Playoffs?: Lose in Eastern Conference Semifinals
- Team MVP: Donovan Mitchell
- Unsung hero: Dean Wade
- Additional thoughts: "The Cavs should make a big jump from last season — it just might not be reflected in their record. But for as tough as the Eastern Conference is, I think the Cavs are well-equipped to handle the rigors of the regular season and should put themselves in a position to not only make the playoffs, but also advance to the second round. All things considered, that would be a sizable step forward for a franchise that hasn't been relevant without LeBron James in nearly 30 years."
Laura Caso
- Final record: 59-23, 3rd in Eastern Conference
- Playoffs?: Lose in Eastern Conference Finals
- Team MVP: Donovan Mitchell
- Unsung hero: Evan Mobley (more of a breakout star)
- Additional thoughts: "The Cavs are going to rock it. They should be very good with a chance to be great!!"
Dave 'Dino' DeNatale
- Final record: 52-30, 3rd in Eastern Conference
- Playoffs?: Lose in Eastern Conference Finals
- Team MVP: Darius Garland
- Unsung hero: Evan Mobley - "He's hardly unsung, but he will make a huge step this year."
- Additional thoughts: "The Cavs would have been in the top six even without Donovan Mitchell. His acquisition turns this team into a legitimate contender to win the East. As long as they stay healthy, it should be a fun season for the Cavs at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse."
Matt Wintz
- Final record: 48-34, 3rd in Eastern Conference
- Playoffs?: "They'll make it to the Eastern Conference Finals against the Bucks before falling in a tight six-game series."
- Team MVP: Evan Mobley - "Not the popular choice, but he's going to have a big season."
- Unsung hero: Ricky Rubio - "After returning from injury last year, he'll hit a few clutch shots during crucial games off the bench towards the end of the season."
- Additional thoughts: "The Cavs will continue to build momentum coming off last year's success and the taste of a playoff atmosphere during their play-in game with Atlanta. They will come out of the gates hot, but will be challenged by injuries during the latter half of the season that they'll have to overcome. With the emergence of a deep bench having to carry the load, they'll still fall into the third seed in the Eastern Conference and will have a successful playoff push to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they'll run into a tough Milwaukee Bucks team that's peaking at the right time.
"This will be a great building season in terms of chemistry as well as playoff experience that will push them into NBA Final contention beyond 2023."
Tyler Carey
- Final record: 48-34, 5th in Eastern Conference
- Playoffs?: Lose in Eastern Conference Semifinals
- Team MVP: Darius Garland - "An elite point guard can take you very far in the NBA, and I feel like Garland has what it takes to be right up there with Mark Price and Kyrie Irving in Cavs lore."
- Unsung hero: Jarrett Allen - "Only because I feel like he doesn't get talked about enough. There's a reason the Cavs gave him that big extension last year: He's that good."
- Additional thoughts: "It's been mentioned a hundred times, but the Cavaliers have not made the playoffs without LeBron James since 1998, and haven't won a postseason series without the 'Kid from Akron' since '93. I believe they break that string this year, and though I also think there will be natural growing pains, the arrival of Donovan Mitchell has accelerated what already appears to be a successful rebuild. Make it happen, Cavs!"
Stephanie Haney
- Final record: 50-32, 3rd in Eastern Conference - "None of this play-in tournament nonsense, like last year. (Side note: I think we've had more than enough of these New York teams messing with our post-season vibes!)"
- Playoffs?: "They’re going all the way, baby! NBA Finals bound!!"
- Team MVP: "Jarrett Allen is going to do big things for us!"
- Unsung hero: Kevin Love - "We’ll all be distracted by the shiny, new, young players and this veteran will probably not get the attention he deserves. Gotta show love to Kevin Love!"
- Additional thoughts: "This is going to be another exciting year for Cavaliers basketball! It's a great time to be a Cleveland sports fan!"
Chris Beeble
- Final record: 48-34, 5th in Eastern Conference
- Playoffs?: "Lose in second round to Bucks."
- Team MVP: Darius Garland - "He will end the year averaging a 20-plus points and 10-plus assists, a double-double per game. He'll have more of an ability to play off the ball with Donovan Mitchell in the backcourt with him and it'll unlock another layer to his already near-elite level"
- Unsung hero: Caris LeVert "I think most people would have considered it a big surprise a month ago if you would have told them he would be the Cavs starting 3 to start the year. But all he's done throughout training camp is impress his teammates, coaches and any sicko glued to their television for pre-season basketball. Do yourself a favor. Go to YouTube and look at highlights from his time with the Brooklyn Nets. He went through a cancer scare a few years ago and hasn't looked the same since his time in Brooklyn. If he returns to that form, he could send the Cavs already potent offense into the 'scary' realm."
- Additional thoughts: "I expect growing pains early in the season as they work Mitchell and whoever will take the bulk of the minutes at the three into the lineup. LeVert and Okoro feel like wild cards to the team's overall success this season. If LeVert can play on a level more toward his Brooklyn form, if Okoro can take a leap (whatever that leap can be for a guy in his position on the team) and become the "3 and D" guy this team is sorely lacking, that adds a whole new level of depth they didn't have last year along with Donovan Mitchell.
"While we’re on the topic of 'leaps,' I expect another one from Evan Mobley, but I don't think it'll be as big on the offensive end as some are expecting. It'll be more so on the defensive end where he will take more responsibility, as the Cavs' starting unit got much smaller with the addition of Mitchell and subtraction of Lauri Markannen."
Mike Polk Jr.
- Final record: 46-36, 6th in Eastern Conference
- Playoffs?: "Cavs win first round and lose in second. A good learning experience will be shared by all, lifelong friendships will be forged, and camaraderie shall abound. "
- Team MVP: "If you thought that the leap Darius Garland took last year was a steep one, just wait until you see the kind of sophomore monster Evan Mobley is about to become. All the young gent did his rookie year was defend every position and average 15 and 8 nightly despite not yet being old enough to order a White Claw. Now he's got a year of experience under his belt, new talent to take some of the scoring pressure off of him, and we even drafted his brother so they can hang out and stay out of trouble and watch movies and do puzzles and stuff. He's gonna be transcendent."
- Unsung hero: "Isaac Okoro will be the most pleasant surprise on the Cavs this year. Whether I genuinely believe this to be true or not is irrelevant, because according to the wildly popular self help book "The Secret," positive energy attracts positive things into your life, and we can use the power of positive thinking to achieve anything one can imagine, so I'm putting that into the Universe. Isaac Okoro is going to be great and the Cavaliers have no issues at small forward whatsoever. Your move, universe.
- Additional thoughts: "This is going to be a fun, extremely likable, extremely watchable basketball team. They're good guys, easy to root for and the fellas can play. They're green and they haven't done anything yet, but that's part of the fun for us. We get to watch them succeed and struggle, get knocked down, and get back up and grow up right in front of our eyes.
"This is a special team at a special moment. Enjoy the ride, my fellow Cavs fans, and appreciate the show."
Anna Meyer
- Final record: 54-28, 3rd in Eastern Conference
- Playoffs?: Lose in Eastern Conference Finals
- Team MVP: Donovan Mitchell
- Unsung hero: Evan Mobley
- Additional thoughts: "The Cavaliers enter the 2022-23 season with lots of hype surrounding the team after an impressive offseason filled with many remarkable roster moves. The buzz around the Cavs in the upcoming season seems to feel like a new era of basketball in Cleveland is on the horizon."
Emma Henderson
- Final record: 55-27, 2nd in Eastern Conference
- Playoffs?: Lose in Eastern Conference Semifinals
- Team MVP: Donovan Mitchell
- Unsung hero: Cedi Osman
- Additional thoughts: "I think we'll make the playoffs this year and make a really good run for it all! We're still a young team so a little more experience might be helpful to go all the way."