Donovan Mitchell Says Cavs Are NBA Championship Contenders When We’re Healthy | News, scores, highlights, stats and rumors

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell believes his team is a championship contender when healthy, according to comments made to Andscape’s Marc J. Spears in an interview published Friday.

“We’re championship contenders when we’re healthy. I feel like we grew in a lot of ways last year. We played a lot of different ways. During that stretch we kept going, obviously DG (Darius Garland) and Evan (Mobley) were injured. But we found something that can really help us get to the next level. So the trick is how can we continue to implement that style of play for 82 games (regular season games) and then win the last 16 games the development, that’s one of the reasons why I decided to sign, because I believe in our development and the will we have as a group.”

Mitchell, who signed a three-year, $150.3 million contract extension this offseason, averaged just 26.6 points, 6.1 assists and 5.1 rebounds per game for a 48-win team which finished No. 4 in the Eastern Conference.

The five-time All-Star guided the Cavs to a first-round win over the Orlando Magic, but Cleveland then fell in five games to the eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics in Round 2.

However, Cleveland still had a good season, reaching the conference semifinals for the first time since 1993 without LeBron James.

Mitchell clearly believes that this team, as currently constituted, is capable or more. On defense, the Cavs had fallen short for long stretches throughout the year. Only two players (Georges Niang and Jarrett Allen) suited up for more than 70 of the team’s 82 regular-season games. Evan Mobley (left knee surgery), Darius Garland (jaw fracture), Mitchell (left knee injury) all sat during the regular season and missed a total of 84 games. Allen played only four of the Cavs’ 12 playoff games due to a rib injury.

A healthier Cavs team can certainly make a deeper playoff run, although there is plenty of competition in the Eastern Conference for the team to face.

As for this season, the Cavs open the year with a road date against the Toronto Raptors on Saturday, October 23.