How Keon Ellis and Dennis Schroder Have Made Immediate Impacts in Cleveland
The numbers back it up.
HARTSFIELD-JACKSON ATLANTA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT — The Cleveland Cavaliers have been a team that has been trending in the right direction for nearly two months at this point. Before the big roster shakeup, before the group got closer to being fully-healthy and before a true championship-level belief was injected into the locker room in human form with James Harden’s arrival.
Since Dec. 29, which was the night when the Cavs went into San Antonio and defeated a healthy Spurs team on the heels of a demoralizing loss in Houston, after a crushing loss in New York on Christmas Day, Cleveland has been home to the best team in the NBA.
From that date forward, the Cavs carry an NBA-best 19-5 record, with 14 of those wins coming against opponents that will likely play some form of postseason basketball1. They're tied for the best offensive rating in the NBA during that time, scoring 119.4 points per 100 possessions and hold the sixth-best defense, allowing 110.6 points per 100 possessions.
But the team that the Cavs were at the start of this hot stretch is much different than the one they’ve become now. From Dec. 29 through the win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Feb. 1, the Cavs ranked seventh in offense and 10th in defense. They were winning games, which really is the thing that matters2, but not necessarily doing so in a manner that looked the part of an inner-circle championship contender.
Now, they’ve become a juggernaut on both ends of the floor. That’s partly thanks to the team being healthier and to the arrivals of Harden, Keon Ellis and Dennis Schroder. It is also, to some degree, thanks to the departures of three players3 that were dragging the Cavaliers down with their performances4.
Since the debut of Schroder and Ellis against the LA Clippers on Feb. 4, the Cavs have been the best offense in the NBA, sporting a 125.1 offensive rating and the fifth-best defensive team, allowing 108.1 points per 100 possessions. If those numbers translated to the full season, it would be the best offense and the second-best defense in the NBA.
Harden has drawn a lot of attention since joining the Cavaliers, and rightfully so. He’s been very good in the five games that he’s played and has made others around him better. The burden he’s taken off of Donovan Mitchell from both a physical and mental standpoint is something that probably can’t be quantified accurately. Harden is, clearly, still figuring out where his scoring ability fits in with the Cavs, but his passing and gravitational pull has opened up new layers to what was already a very good offense.
The impacts that Schroder and Ellis have had on Cleveland’s success has looked much different than Harden’s, obviously, but is very important, too.
Ellis came to Cleveland with the reputation of a strong defender that could create havoc away from the basketball and knock down open 3-pointers. Schroder was looked at across the NBA as a bad contract that the Cavs were taking on in order to receive Ellis. He’s been far from that so far in Cleveland.
It’s a very small sample size, but both players have exceeded expectations to date. Schroder has been a stabilizing offensive force while hounding opponents defensively in a way the Cavs need and Ellis has been lived up to expectations defensively.
Ellis’ Impact
