From The Archives: What Cleveland's Draft-Pick Mess Owes To…

By the Cavaliers Nightly Desk · Wednesday, October 14

Cleveland's blowout preseason finale loss to Orlando looks rough until you measure it against the franchise's real disasters. The infamous trades that bred the NBA's Stepien Rule, and the one championship this group is still chasing, tell you more about where this team stands than one preseason score.

Cavaliers Nightly artwork — Illustration by Hoops Nightly.

Why can't the Cavaliers just trade away picks to speed up a title window?

The NBA's Stepien Rule is why. Ted Stepien bought the team in 1980 — the same year Cleveland beat Detroit 99-91 on this date — and went on to trade away so many first-round picks the league banned teams from dealing consecutive future firsts. That history is why Cleveland's 2027, 2028 and 2029 firsts are tied up in swaps, not gone outright, with only the 2030 first fully its own.

Does a blowout preseason finale loss to Orlando mean anything?

Nothing like what the franchise actually survived. Cleveland opened as an expansion team in 1970 with 15 consecutive losses, including a 92-107 loss at Buffalo on this same date that year. The 116-132 preseason finale loss to Orlando, with Mitchell, Mobley and Harden on limited run, is a rough final tune-up, not a sign of anything real.

Has this team actually been a true contender since the 2015-18 Finals runs?

Not yet, and the record says so. Those teams reached four straight NBA Finals and won the 2016 title. Last season's 52-30 finish and plus-4.1 net rating are good numbers, matching the Price-Daugherty-Nance teams of 1988-89 and 1991-92 that reached one conference finals — solid, not championship-tier, and that's still the gap this roster has to close.

What is a 37-year-old Harden still chasing in his 17th season?

The one thing this franchise has already done: win a championship. Cleveland's only title came in 2016, when LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love erased a 3-1 deficit against Golden State. Harden, now 37 and in his 17th season, put up 23.6 points and 8.0 assists a game last season — the production that gives a core built around Mitchell and Mobley a real shot at getting back there.

The verdictCleveland's history has handled worse than a preseason blowout, and the rule born from its worst mistake now shapes every pick the front office doesn't control. Whether this core joins the 2016 banner or just adds to the division-contender resume depends on what happens once the games start counting.

What is the Stepien Rule?

It's the NBA rule banning teams from trading away first-round picks in consecutive future years, adopted after Cavaliers owner Ted Stepien traded away so many firsts in the early 1980s.

When did the Cavaliers win their only championship?

2016, when Cleveland erased a 3-1 deficit to beat the Golden State Warriors in the Finals.

By the Cavaliers Nightly Desk, written from the club's data and the reports on file, with every name and number checked against them. How the desks work.