Cavs Star Reveals Why He Would Prefer This Year's Slower Start to Last Season's

Last season, the Cleveland Cavaliers were the talk of the town. They had one of the greatest starts to a season in NBA history. They ended the year as the number one seed in the Eastern Conference with an incredible 64–18 record. The expectations for the Cavaliers were sky-high.

Then some players got injured, and the team flamed out early in the playoffs. Everyone wondered how good the team really was.  

This season, the Cavaliers didn’t come out of the gate nearly as hot. As of Wednesday, they are 12–7, only the fourth seed in the East. They’ve shown flashes of the brilliant team from last season, but have also looked less dominant.

Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell recently said that he actually prefers the start the Cavaliers are having this year to their dominant start last season. 

“With 15–0, you always are going to say, ‘We’re going to learn, we’re going to learn’… but are you if you’re going out there winning by 20, winning by 25, sitting in the fourth quarter? I think now we’re having to gut some wins out, having to have tough losses, seeing different coverages, seeing teams guard you differently, and this is all without DG [Garland] and Max [Strus]. So when we get them back, continue to take those steps… Obviously, you want to go 15-0. But for myself and for us as a team, I’m OK here because this is showing us so many different lessons within the first 15, 16 games.”

This is an interesting perspective. Mitchell doesn’t seem too concerned that his team isn’t winning at the rate they were last season. They’ve dealt with some injury issues, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. The team may have learned that dominating the regular season at the expense of playoff health isn’t always worth it.