The Cavaliers will go the first six weeks of the season without last season’s starting small forward, Max Strus, who suffered a sprained ankle during workouts this week, the team announced.
Based on what he did in the preseason, expect new Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson to start Dean Wade at the three.
That isn’t going to feel out of character, Strus only played in one preseason game while Wade played nearly 22 minutes a night in the four he played, scoring 8.3 points a game but shooting just 31.8% from 3. Atkinson has depth to lean into on the wing with Caris LeVert, Isaac Okoro, George Niang and Jaylon Tyson all likely to see minutes.
All of this is to say that losing Strus is not good news, but the Cavaliers should be able to survive it. Cleveland is an interesting team in the East, one that has finished fourth and hosted a playoff round each of the past two seasons but is not seen as a title threat by most — my preseason rankings had them sixth in the East, looking like a solid playoff team. That could be underrating them. Cleveland has a potentially elite defense (sixth in the NBA last season, first two seasons ago with this same core), an All-NBA player in Donovan Mitchell, and if Evan Mobley steps up his offensive game they are a threat in the East. Atkinson was brought in to bring more pace and motion to the offense; we’re going to find out if that works.
If things click in Cleveland, this could again be a top-four team in the East and more of a playoff threat. Getting Struss back around Thanksgiving or early December will help with that.
