Cavs competition gets better as Knicks add Towns

The rest of the East continues to improve as the Cavaliers bank on internal development.

The Karl-Anthony Towns trade stunned both fanbases. The New York Knicks sent Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, and a protected first to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Towns. The move from Minnesota could be motivated by financial reasons as they’re well into the second apron.

The Knicks have now turned into a completely different team than the one that bullied the Cleveland Cavaliers in the playoffs two seasons ago. The imposing front court of Randle and backup Isaiah Hartenstein is gone. Mitchell Robinson, who is expected to be out until midseason, will now be moved to the bench. The defensive-first team that traded spacing for offensive rebounds is gone. In its place, is a modern starting lineup with three interchangeable wings and one of the best shooting bigs in the league. How does this affect the Cavs?

The Cavaliers are now one of just two teams in last season’s Eastern Conference playoffs who don’t play with a four or five-out offense. The other is the Orlando Magic, but that could be changing with the much-needed addition of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. The Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers, and Miami Heat play four-shooter lineups with one of their offensive engines as the only non-shooter. The other three teams, now including the Knicks, play completely five-out (depending on how you feel about Josh Hart’s shooting).

Five-out lineups have hurt the Cavs when they play both bigs. J.B. Bickerstaff’s defenses relied on shutting down the rim with his two centers at the expense of the three-ball. The undersized backcourt that you don’t want to leave on a defensive island played into this strategy. That system doesn’t work nearly as well when one of those centers should stay connected to Towns at the top of the arc.

Using their size as an advantage hasn’t been something the Cavs have consistently done well since starting their two-center lineups. This has shown in the inability to grab offensive rebounds despite being bigger than most of their opponents. Kenny Atkinson mentioned on Media Day that he wanted Evan Mobley to become a better offensive rebounder. This is a way to press your advantage on teams like the Knicks and Sixers who play smaller power forwards.

You win playoff series on the strength of your best five-man unit. We don’t know how much the Knicks starting lineup has improved, but it should conceptually be better than it was last season. The same is true for the Sixers and Magic. All three are likely first-round matchups for Cleveland. This is where the Cavs need to get better.

The Cavaliers didn’t improve their starters. They’re banking on internal development which is putting a lot of the potential credit or blame at the feet of Atkinson. That might not be enough to keep pace in a continually improving conference.