5 things that went wrong for Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2020-21 NBA season

#3 The Cleveland Cavaliers did not have an adequate defense in the 2020-21 NBA season

Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics drives the ball to the basket against the Cleveland Cavaliers

Apart from three-point line struggles on defense, the Cleveland Cavaliers allowed the second-highest field-goal percentage to opponents in the regular season. Guarding the three-point line is definitely a necessity for any team in the modern NBA, especially for one that does not have an adequate offense.

For the Cleveland Cavaliers, the 2020-21 NBA season was torture in terms of defensive efficiency. The team ranked only 28th in Defensive Rating in the entire NBA, allowing 114.4 points per 100 possessions to its opponents.

Moreover, the Cavs allowed a 48.4% shooting efficiency from the field to rivals. Though they showed nice disruptions on occasion, ranking 12th in turnovers forced on opponents, the Cavs only ranked 21st in blocks per game. This was despite having Jarrett Allen in the paint for 51 games.

#2 The Andre Drummond saga

Andre Drummond with the Cleveland Cavaliers early in the season.

Andre Drummond ended the 2020-21 NBA season with the LA Lakers after he signed with the team through the buyout market. He was reportedly looking to have a chance to play deep in the NBA Playoffs. While that did not work and he might now be signing with another team for next year, it all started with the Cavs.

Drummond started the year with the Cleveland outfit. But as he was playing in the final year of his five-year, $127-million deal signed with the Detroit Pistons in 2016, the Cavs chose to offload him in the middle of the season.

Drummond played only 25 games for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2020-21 campaign and the team even decided to sit him out until his future was decided. Before the Cavs' buyout of his contract and his debut with the LA Lakers, Drummond spent 47 days inactive in the middle of the year.

He averaged 17.5 points and 13.5 rebounds for the Cavs in his 25 appearances last year, and his departure from the team was certainly not pretty. Drummond could have potentially helped the Cavs achieve a marginally improved end to the season. However, the team decided to make Jarrett Allen their future option at the center position after he arrived from the Brooklyn Nets in the James Harden trade.

Ultimately, Drummond left and the Cleveland Cavaliers did not receive anything in return.

#1 The Cavs' dismal three-point shooting

Darius Garland #10 of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

As mentioned before, the Cleveland Cavaliers struggled to defend the three-point line during the 2020-21 NBA season. However, the team's offense also failed to make an impact in terms of three-point shooting, making the 3P line simply a disastrous area for the Cavs.

The team ranked 30th in the NBA in three-point shooting percentage after making only 33.6% of their threes in the regular season. The Cavs were also 29th out of 30 NBA teams in three-pointers made per game with 10, while ranking only 28th in three-pointers attempted per game.

The Cleveland Cavaliers had only four qualified three-point shooters (Darius Garland, Collin Sexton, Dean Wade and Cedi Osman) among the league's top shooters in terms of three-point percentage (155 players).