The Cleveland Cavaliers just had their most successful playoff run since 2018. Yet, they have more questions than answers this offseason. Even if they went to the Eastern Conference Finals, it's clear they're not close to a title. The Boston Celtics know the feeling, as they basically went through the same thing back in 2017.
Ironically, that was against the Cavaliers. More importantly, they didn't just beat the Isaiah Thomas-led Celtics. They tore them limb from limb. Boston had their most impressive season post-Big 3, and even then, the Cavaliers took great pleasure in annihilating them.
It may not have been a sweep, but one could easily argue the Cavaliers let one slip simply because they weren't taking the Celtics seriously. If it hadn't been for Kevin Durant joining the Warriors to form the most stoppable NBA team ever, the 2017 Cavaliers would be remembered more fondly.
Cleveland made two things clear to Boston that year: they were head and shoulders (maybe even their entire torso) better than them, while also making it painfully clear how far the Celtics were from truly contending.
Boston responded accordingly, assembling a pretty talented team by adding the likes of Jayson Tatum, Kyrie Irving, and Gordon Hayward the following offseason. No, it didn't work, but no one disagreed with their choices at the time, especially after what the Cavaliers had just done to them.
The point is that the Celtics understood that the IT era had run its course. It was fun, but it was time to get serious. Now, the Cavaliers find themselves in the same position the Celtics were once in.
Cleveland is in a deeper hole than Boston was
The Celtics were a fun team back then, but it's not like they utilized pretty much every asset at their disposal to get to where they were. They still had cap space, draft assets, and valuable players on team-friendly deals to get even better, so that's what they did.
The Cavaliers don't really have much going for them. They've already exhausted all the draft assets they had in the cupboard and don't have many ways to get better. They could compete with the Celtics in the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes, but even if they do, it's not a given that they would win.
Even worse is that, besides that, there's not really a whole lot of options for them. It's clear Donovan Mitchell is not your best player if you want a title. That's not to say he can't be a second-in-command, but we have enough evidence to conclude he simply isn't that guy.
After him, Cleveland doesn't have anyone on their roster better than him. It'd be drastic to suggest that the Cavaliers are out of options, but it's hard to think of how many they still have.
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