How the Cavs Changed Overnight Without Changing Much At All

The Cavs went from a middle-of-the-pack offense to one of the best in NBA history. Here's how opposing head coaches say the Cavs are different offensively.

Over a decade ago, the Golden State Warriors could have traded future Hall of Fame guard Klay Thompson to Minnesota in a deal that would have brought back future Hall of Fame forward Kevin Love to Golden State and paired him with Stephen Curry. 

The Warriors opted against it, and the biggest move they made that summer was replacing head coach Mark Jackson with Steve Kerr. Golden State’s roster wasn’t entirely unchanged, but there was no major move. They were opting to run things back with the same core of players eliminated the previous two years in the first or second round of the playoffs. 

Instead, Golden State changed how that group of basketball players played basketball, particularly on the offensive end of the floor.

Sound familiar?

When Cavs president of basketball operations Koby Altman decided to forego any significant changes to the roster this offseason, it was a bet that new head coach Kenny Atkinson could bring enough change to the roster. It was a belief that a new voice coming from the bench could maximize how Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell fit together, as well as Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. 

Just as Kerr did once upon a time in the Bay Area.

In the 2014-15 season, he cranked up the tempo for the Warriors and the offense went from middle of the pack to the second-best in the NBA. 

This season is still in the “small sample size” stage, but the end of that is nearing. We’ve also seen enough basketball to judge who teams are and how they operate. We know enough to say the Cavs are playing drastically different from what they were doing before on the offensive end of the court. 

Atkinson’s new offensive system transformed Cleveland’s offense from middling to one of the best statistical units the NBA has ever seen. Last year, the Cavs had an offensive rating of 114.7, which ranked 16th. Currently, Cleveland has an offensive rating of 123.0, according to NBA Stats. If kept for the entire season, that’d be the best offensive rating for a team in NBA history. 

So, what exactly has changed if not for the roster? I’ve spent the last few weeks asking coaches who have had to face the Cavs what differences they’ve seen.