What happened
Cleveland is using camp to reset after falling from the league’s best defense in 2023 to 15th last season, and Sam Merrill said the group wants to return to the top five.
Merrill said the defense must keep the ball out of the paint so Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen are not forced to cover for too many breakdowns, while coach Kenny Atkinson stressed team defense and collective adaptability.
If Cleveland’s point-of-attack defense improves, Mobley and Allen should be able to anchor the rim more cleanly; the exact rotation answers for that adjustment are still undefined.
Automated brief based on the linked report. Lineup context is analysis; official starting-five labels come separately from our game data provider.
Original reporting: Cavs want to ‘get back to being a top-five defense’ — Yahoo Sports ↗