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Brian Windhorst, ESPN Senior Writer
WITH TWO MINUTES left in the fourth quarter Friday night, Cleveland Cavaliers guard Caris LeVert nailed a 3-pointer from the left corner to give his team a nine-point lead over the Chicago Bulls. Just about everyone in the building realized it was a dagger that all but assured the Cavs their 14th consecutive win to start the season.
But then, in a sudden surge, the Cavs played some of their most intense basketball of the night, moving at full speed, hoisting 3-pointers early in the shot clock, pressing the accelerator in transition and applying pressure defense.
The Bulls, their bench cleared, gave up 13 points in a blurry 80 seconds and suddenly the Cavs were up by 18 — and celebrating with each addition.
Here’s why: Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson played and coached overseas for 15 years. He knows all about the rules for international-style league cups and the importance of scoring margin and total points when it comes to tiebreakers. This was the Cavaliers’ first NBA Cup game of the season, and they followed their coach’s instructions.
And this little corner of the first month of this season underscores the entire approach of this surprise juggernaut.
These Cavs are not messing around.
They have a vision, a plan and total buy-in from a group of star players all looking to prove something led by a coach with the same mindset. It’s an attitude they will take to Boston to face the defending champion Celtics on Tuesday night for the Cavs’ biggest test of the young season in what could prove to be the most impactful NBA Cup game of the Eastern Conference group stage. The Cavs will arrive a perfect 15-0 after a 14-point win over the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday night that came with star Donovan Mitchell resting.
“This is rare,” Atkinson said. “We just have this incredible chemistry and an incredible understanding and respect for one another. It’s beautiful to watch.”
THREE DAYS AFTER the Golden State Warriors, themselves off to a surprisingly unexpected 10-2 start, were destroyed by the Cavs, including a jaw-dropping 41-point first-half deficit, Draymond Green took to his podcast for some frank talk.
“I think these Cleveland Cavaliers are serious, and I’m going to tell you why,” Green said. “That ball was humming. … My head was spinning they was moving it so fast. I think this team, they’ve got something there. … I like that team.”
The Cavs had a drawn-out coaching search in the spring, having round after round of interviews and working internally to get to a consensus with Atkinson and New Orleans Pelicans assistant James Borrego — veterans with titles as assistants and past experience as head coaches — as the final two.
Atkinson ultimately got the offer, winning over team leadership with his offensive vision.
Atkinson spent the next two months flying back and forth over the Atlantic, between France and Cleveland and Las Vegas, watching Cavs game film and reviewing stats.
On hot summer nights, in an old barracks where the French national team was training for the Olympics — Atkinson was on the coaching staff that helped the squad to a silver medal in Paris this summer — he put the fine points on a plan.
1: Play his roster. Atkinson felt like president of basketball operations Koby Altman, who had made a series of aggressive trades that had landed him Jarrett Allen, LeVert and then, the big one in Mitchell, had built a deeper team than Altman had gotten credit for.
Altman’s high first-round picks — Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, Isaac Okoro — had all hit in one form or another. He’d bolstered the team in free agency with Max Strus and Georges Niang. He’d found rotation players on the scrap heap, such as Dean Wade and Sam Merrill.
Atkinson not only thought all of them could play — including deep bench guard Ty Jerome, a 2023 free agent pickup who had missed all of the previous year because of injury and whom Atkinson knew from his years in Golden State. So he decided he was going to try to play them. All of them.
2: Unleash the offense. Two years ago, the Cavs ranked, miraculously, eighth in the league in offense, despite being dead last in pace, 24th in 3-pointers attempted and in the bottom half of the league in assist percentage. They ran a low-space, low-speed, old-fashioned offense that worked.
Last season, ravaged by injuries, they slumped to 16th in offense, but their ball movement and pace improved. What if, Atkinson thought, he could get these same players, on the right track already, to improve even more in a few impactful areas?
So all of training camp was spent encouraging speed, quick-decision passing and movement. Pass then move. Move then pass. And whatever you do, do it fast. A lot of guys were going to play. Everyone, including franchise player Mitchell, was going to play less than before. So expend more energy in the minutes.
This was a sales pitch — and not a hard sell. And there was something else. Over the past two years, Mitchell, Allen, Mobley, Okoro, Strus, LeVert and Niang all signed contracts collectively worth more than $600 million. Garland’s $190 million max deal signed in 2022 also kicked in, so the team was largely paid, helping to set a mood for the brand of selflessness Atkinson wanted to install when he came home from Paris.
“This is a selfless team and has been since we got together,” Mitchell said. “Kenny has been phenomenal with us on it, and he’s continuing to trust us.”
Now the Cavs rank No. 1 in the league in offense. They’ve soared to No. 7 in pace and might go higher; they lead the league in games played and haven’t had consecutive off days yet all season, and it has showed in recent games. They are third in total 3-pointers and first in 3-point percentage. They lead the league in its most basic form: baskets.
“They’re moving the ball so crazy!” Green said on his podcast.
“I was thrilled when Draymond said that. It’s Warriors-esque, you know?” said Atkinson, who was an assistant with the Warriors the past three seasons, including a return to their bench after accepting and then dropping out of the Hornets’ coaching vacancy in 2022.
“That type of ball movement is beautiful to watch.”
3: A new role for Mobley. A big part of the Cavs’ coaching search was listening to candidates’ plans to get more from Mobley, who was a defensive star from his first weeks in the league but had underachieved on offense. The conventional wisdom was to get Mobley to stretch the floor with long-range shooting, something he didn’t always show a great interest in.
Atkinson, instead, wanted him in a Green-style role, encouraging him to bring the ball up the floor after getting defensive rebounds (Mobley is in the top 25 in the league in the stat). And then secondly, Atkinson envisioned Mobley being a distributor and hub in the half-court offense, just as Green has been with Warriors for a decade-plus. As a result, Mobley’s usage rate is up 15% and he’s scoring a career-high 18 points per game.
It was part of a larger overall strategy that Atkinson sought to implement. His team had elite perimeter scorers in Mitchell and Garland (both in top 15 of 3-pointers made) and elite interior scorers in Allen and Mobley (both in the top five in dunks). And in between, a series of players who could connect them.
“I knew from the beginning that this was a group that liked each other and enjoyed playing with each other,” Atkinson said. “We have good passers and good connectors. I like that word, connectors. Ty [Jerome] is a good connector, Georges Niang is a good connector, Dean Wade is a connector. So you’ve got your major scorers, but the guys around them can pass the ball. And that’s what you’re seeing that the ball really moves. We know where to get it. We make quick decisions.”
JEROME AND LEVERT are both having the best seasons of their careers in bench roles, and on Sunday, Jerome lit up the Hornets, tying his career high with 24 points while starting in place of Mitchell. Wade can defend both forward spots and centers depending on the matchup. Strus was the Cavs’ No. 1 long-range shooter last season, and he hasn’t even played yet because of an ankle injury.
The Cavs’ depth, their offensive speed and Mobley’s continued development have blended together — giant checkmarks in Atkinson’s plan — in ways that have surpassed even the team’s expectations.
Atkinson admitted he doesn’t think the Cavs can continue running this hot on offense and expects shooting percentages to cool closer to the mean. But in the same breath, he pointed out that the Cavs’ shot quality is outstanding almost every night.
Mitchell, who is on his way to a sixth straight All-Star season, has found himself taking a similar stance.
He has been on three teams that have won 50-plus games in Utah and Cleveland and still hasn’t seen the conference finals. He warns his teammates to keep thinking big picture but can’t help feeling the moment himself.
“It’s great to be part of history. You don’t want to take that for granted,” Mitchell said. “At the end of the day, though, it’s continuing to be this team throughout [the season]. It’s great we’re winning, the vibes are great. But will we be this team in January, February, March and April? That’s been my message.”
