With the Cavaliers 2020-21 regular season in the books, Cavs.com takes a month-by-month look back at how it all unfolded with today's focus on the final month-and-a-half of the campaign.
May 27, 2021
This year’s draft lottery, set for June 22, is shaping up as one of the most consequential in recent memory. There’s a little more hanging in the balance than usual. Start with the quality prospects at the very top of the class and consider the various teams hoping to obtain or keep protected draft picks, and the usual intrigue that surrounds lottery night feels magnified. After the NBA conducted draft tiebreakers this week (and with the early-entry deadline a few days away), we’re inching closer to a concrete picture of what to expect on July 29.
Reprising an annual thought exercise the first version of this column ran in May 2020, before the draft was delayed multiple months I turned back to Tankathon.com’s trusty simulation tool to play around with potential lottery scenarios. We still have time to think about the possibilities, and this process often leads to useful takeaways about what to expect. For the sake of brevity, I’m not going to spend much time
CLEVELAND (AP) â The Cavaliers lost another one.
After dropping 13 of its last 14 games and going 22-50 in a regular season loaded with injuries, Cleveland lost a tiebreaker on Tuesday to Oklahoma City and will have the No. 5 position in next month’s draft lottery, one spot below the Thunder.
The teams finished with identical records this season, prompting a âcoin flipâ that didn’t go the Cavs’ way. The drawings were conducted by NBA executive vice president Kiki VanDeWeghe at the league office in Secaucus, New Jersey, and overseen by the accounting firm Ernst & Young.
The league decided five other teams among those with identical regular-season records: Chicago (31-41) won a tiebreaker with New Orleans and Sacramento; Charlotte (33-39) won a tiebreaker with San Antonio; New York Knicks (41-31) won a tiebreaker with Atlanta; Dallas Mavericks won a tiebreaker with the Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers; and the Clippers (47-25) won a tiebreaker with Denver.
Reasons for 14 non-playoff teams to look forward to the future
The offseason offers plenty of perspective and opportunity for non-playoff teams to take a step forward.
Michael C. Wright
May 25, 2021 1:09 PM
LaMelo Ball (left) and Stephen Curry are out of the playoffs, but their teams have a bright future.
It’s gratifying to bask in every single moment over the course of a best-of-seven series for fans of the 16 teams currently fighting through the opening round of the 2021 playoffs.
Fans of the 14 lottery-bound teams, meanwhile, can’t help but ponder the future.
Fortunes change fast, though.
Case in point: the current playoff field features five teams Washington, New York, Atlanta, Memphis and Phoenix that weren’t playoff teams in 2020.
May 24, 2021
With the playoffs underway, offseason preparation has begun in earnest around the NBA, with the draft and free agency looming. Here’s a look at what’s to come for the 14 teams that missed the playoffs.
Houston Rockets (17–55)
Key free agents: None
2021 draft picks: Own first (if 1–4) OR Miami first via swap; Portland first; Milwaukee first
The post–James Harden Rockets became what one might have expected: a fast-sinking experimental testing ground for young talent that finished with the league’s worst record. There were multiple silver linings for the franchise, which we can start with Christian Wood immediately delivering on what looks like a bargain contract, Jae’Sean Tate emerging as a legit rotation player and the acquisition of 20-year-old Kevin Porter Jr. as a valid reclamation project but there was mostly a ton of losing. This was the organization’s worst season since 1982–83, when the Rockets went 14–68.