Why the Cavaliers are doubling down despite two straight playoff disappointments

ON THE THIRD day of training camp, the Cleveland Cavaliers took a break from the basketball court. It was Oct. 2, a humid, 87-degree afternoon in Bradenton, Florida, where the Cavs were hosting camp at IMG Academy, a multisport facility that coach Kenny Atkinson compared to an Olympic village.

Atkinson aimed to create a training camp that focused on more than basketball, breaking up the monotony that can form during a long season and giving the Cavs a chance to form bonds they will rely on throughout the season.

And so it was that he took the team onto the track in the afternoon for a cardio-focused workout. It was right near the baseball field.

Jaylon Tyson, the second-year guard who has been thrust into the starting lineup due to injuries, challenged the team's star, Donovan Mitchell, to meet him on the diamond, guaranteeing he could get a hit off him.

The entire team joined them.

Mitchell took the mound. His father, Donovan Sr., played baseball in the minors and has worked with the Mets for the past two decades, and he passed down a love for the game to his son. Mitchell played baseball through high school and insists he could have played professionally.

Tyson, after a few whiffs, finally made contact, a foul tip, but it quickly turned into a full team batting practice.

With his baseball background, Mitchell was the only player the team trusted to pitch. When it was Mitchell's turn to hit, and some members of IMG Academy available to toss, the Cavs star cranked a pair of home runs -- the Cavs' version of Shohei Ohtani, at least among a bunch of hoopers.

"Just showing off a little bit," Mitchell told ESPN. "Showing what I could do."

Mitchell is in his fourth season of showing what he can do for the Cavs. It's also Year 4 for the vaunted core of Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen and Darius Garland, a quartet that has transformed the Cavs into contenders again in the Eastern Conference.

But Mitchell has still never played in the conference finals as the Cavs have fallen short in the playoffs the past two seasons, losing in the semifinals.

In 2024, they fell in five games to the Boston Celtics, who went on to win the NBA championship. The Cavs fired their coach, J.B. Bickerstaff, that summer and hired Atkinson.

In Atkinson's first season, a 64-win blitz through the regular season and a sweep of the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs had Cleveland thinking about a return to the Finals. But then the Cavs were dispatched, again in Round 2, a five-game trouncing by the Indiana Pacers as the Cavs' lineup was hampered by injuries to Garland, Mobley and De'Andre Hunter.

This was a different type of monotony -- not something a scheduling tweak could solve.

HUNTER REPLAYED THAT series in his mind all summer, watching hours of tape to identify issues to address, holes to fill. He skipped film of the win but zeroed in on the losses.

He came to a revealing, but perhaps unsatisfying, conclusion.

"It was more mental than anything," Hunter told ESPN. "Game 1, that's the game we're supposed to win. We win that game and the series is completely different. We just kind of were mentally weak, at times, and they were mentally stronger."

The Pacers had jumped out to an early 11-point lead on Cleveland's home floor in Game 1, then closed the fourth quarter on a 20-10 run for the win.

"I don't think it was anything physical. I don't think it was any skill gap," Hunter continued. "I literally just think it was all mental."

Once again, Cleveland began the season as the favorite, per ESPN BET, to win the Eastern Conference and had third-best odds to bring home the Larry O'Brien trophy -- higher expectations than any year since LeBron James' last season with the team in 2017-18.

So Cleveland is doubling down on last season's edict -- that third-year big man Evan Mobley needs to be the center of its operation.

The Cavs achieved their most successful regular season in a decade last season by relying less on Mitchell and more on Mobley. And perhaps for good reason.

During the past two postseasons, Mitchell has put up 11 30-point games; the Cavs are just 5-6 in those games.

For the team to get to the conference finals, the Cavs recognize they need to rely less on Mitchell as their Ohtani-like everyman; create a more dynamic and diverse offense, with new role players Hunter and Lonzo Ball adding to an already solid ecosystem; and give Mobley even more responsibility.

The Cavs are 4-3 so far -- a comparatively inauspicious start; they didn't lose their third game last season until Nov. 29. Their defense remains in the top 10, but their offense ranks 26th in the league.

"Those small tests can help us for the playoffs," Hunter said. "We got a long season, and there's a lot of tests within that journey. We endure those tests, that'll get us ready. And, honestly, losing like that in the playoffs, whether it's a whole year later or not, it prepares you for that next time you face that adversity."

Mitchell also sees progress in the early regression. After racing through last regular season, he said, their task this season will be to ensure they are in a better position to succeed in the playoffs.

"Habits, man. You don't just figure it out," Mitchell said. "We still got to build. That's what this whole regular season is about. You can't look at it and say just wait until April, because all the stuff that you do in April, the foundation is laid out throughout the season."

MITCHELL GOT WORD in mid-August that the Cavs would be down two starters to begin the season.

Garland's toe surgery, after the end of the playoffs in June, was going to sideline him for the start of the season, and then Mitchell learned Max Strus needed to repair a fracture in his left foot.

Mitchell had taken his own break from basketball after the second disappointing playoff loss. He got engaged to R&B singer Coco Jones in July. He dove deeper into his Mets fandom, joining New York shortstop Francisco Lindor for an hour sit-down on his podcast. The playoff loss stung, and he wanted to clear his mind.

But then the news hit that in addition to being down two starters, the Cavs' leading bench scorer, Ty Jerome, signed with the Memphis Grizzlies in free agency. Mitchell's real offseason began.

"Understanding that hey, this happened and we f---ed up," Mitchell told ESPN. "Now it's like, 'OK, how do we not f--- up the next time?"

He soon connected with Mobley.

Injuries played a role in the consecutive playoff exits. Mitchell himself missed the final two games of the 2024 conference semifinals against Boston. In the series against the Pacers in 2025, Garland missed the first two games; Mobley and Hunter missed Game 2; and Mitchell was hindered by an ankle injury by the end of the series.

Mitchell is coming off a season in which he posted a 30.9% usage rate, his lowest since his rookie season in 2017-18. But during the playoffs, in part because of the injuries around him, it skyrocketed to 37.2%, the highest of any player in the playoffs and one of the highest in his career.

"Me and [Mobley] had a conversation, it was like, 'Hey, last year he took a step,'" Mitchell said. "That's his first year really having the ball like that. Now it's like, 'Hey, I'm not open ... it's you. That offense creation is coming from you. That's what we expect out of you.' But with that comes great responsibility, too."

Mobley, 24, averaged career highs in points, field goal attempts, 3-pointers, and free throws last season, in addition to winning Defensive Player of the Year. It earned him an appearance in the All-Star Game and his first All-NBA nod, but the Cavs still think they are only tapping the surface with his potential.

"He's handling the ball even more," Atkinson said. "He's got to be a playmaker for us, and you're going to see an increase in usage again. But I want that balance -- between perimeter and getting him the ball inside and getting him the paint."

Mobley's usage rate is up to 24.7% so far this season, a marked increase from the 23.2% he posted in the 2024-25 season. And he has taken on even more of the playmaking responsibilities. He's averaging a career-best 4.4 assists per game.

"I just got to keep taking that on," Mobley told ESPN, "Taking the challenges."

Those challenges remain in question. After shooting 49.1% last season, the second-best mark in the league (behind Denver's 50.6%), the Cavs have started this season shooting 44.5%, 24th in the NBA. They're making the same number of 3s, but they're needing four more shot attempts per game to get there.

And Mitchell has scored 33.7% of the Cavs' points this season, the highest in his four-year tenure in Cleveland, and he's creating many of his own shots off the dribble. According to ESPN Research, 81% of his made 2-pointers have been unassisted, and he's getting more points than ever from midrange, 13.6% of his points compared to 9.9% last season.

"I don't have the exact answer for you right now," Mitchell said before the season. "That's going to have to be a feeling. A lot of that, too, is where [Evan's] at or where Dre's at and just being ready for whatever comes.

"It's easy to say, 'Oh, you kind of revert back -- but sometimes the situation calls for it. People were hurt, it's not just 'f--- it, here I go.'"

It's why Mitchell has leaned so heavily on Mobley, trying to instill both the confidence and aggressiveness in the Cavs' youngest star.

"I had to find that at his age early on when I first got into the league," Mitchell said. "It's a process. You're seeing him being aggressive, which we'll take. Now it's like how am I being smart with that as well?

"I'm in his ear nonstop. ... 'Hey, you're a threat, or there's a pass here, or stop passing the f---ing ball, there's no way player X should be able to guard you.' He has it himself, not saying it's all me. It's reinforcing that."

The Cavs also know that a reinforcement is on his way.

Garland, still their best playmaker, is close to making his season debut, Atkinson said last week. Garland went through training camp with the Cavs' G League team and has fully recovered from his toe injury.

Ball, for his part, has already helped push the team's 10th-ranked pace, and he has recorded at least one steal in each of the past five games he has played.

"[This team] literally has everything that you can want in this league," Ball told ESPN. "Especially the way our bigs are now. We've got modern bigs, so for me, it's just coming in and doing my job."

Inside the organization, though, the Cavs know their season hinges on that one young, modern big. They've been impressed by Mobley's willingness to own more of the offense, in addition to anchoring the defense. They know it might be the key to another deep playoff run.

"If you watch him this offseason, he's been locked in," Cavs president Kolby Altman said before the start of the season. "He is really serious about taking that leap to being a top-five player in the league. ... He's grown, he's still 24 years old, but now he's becoming a grown man in terms of his body, his emotions.

"I think he's ready to take that next step. I say it all the time: As he goes, we go."