Cleveland Wanted a Top-Five Defense. It Closed the Preseason Looking Nothing Like One.

The Cavaliers wrapped their exhibition slate the same way they began it: with the defense as the headline, and not in a good way. Cleveland's preseason finale in Orlando ended in a loss, and the takeaway from the night was a familiar one — poor defense sank an otherwise intriguing performance, with rookie Meleek Thomas standing out as the bright spot in an otherwise disappointing close.

Two games earlier, the story was similar. The Cavaliers' preseason opener against Boston was a 1-2 punch of bad signs: a bench-heavy Celtics group missing eight rotation players dominated Cleveland's starters, and the postgame recap read bluntly — the defense "leaves much to be desired." A 119-105 win over the Magic in between felt like a reprieve, and it came with a genuine positive. James Harden, back from ankle soreness, led all scorers with 24 points in his first preseason action and looked like he hadn't missed a step. But that was a scoring story. Cleveland's season is going to be a defensive one.

Head coach and roster aside, the Cavs have been refreshingly honest about the target. After finishing last season 15th in defensive rating, the organization has said publicly it wants to get back to being a top-five defense — and one outlet framed it as a hard number the team must hit to contend for a Finals berth.

The context for that urgency is ugly. Cleveland went 52-30 a year ago with the league's seventh-ranked offense (117.9 offensive rating) and a plus-2.8 net rating that ranked ninth. The defense (115.0 defensive rating, 15th) was the soft spot, and it became fatal in May, when the Knicks swept the Cavaliers out of the Eastern Conference Finals. New York went on to win the title.

That's the wound the offseason was designed to close. Cleveland went all-in on Donovan Mitchell and Harden, officially re-signing Harden to a three-year, $97 million extension in September after acquiring him from the Clippers at last season's trade deadline. Harden, 23.6 points and 8.0 assists per game a year ago, is expected to make life easier for Mitchell (27.9 points on 48.3% shooting) and give Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen cleaner looks inside. Mobley's 18.2 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.7 blocks remain the swing skill — if he becomes a defensive anchor, everything changes.

The addition most directly aimed at the problem is Peyton Watson, the wing Cleveland has been rumored to covet. Watson averaged 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.1 blocks across 54 games last season while shooting 41.1% from three — the exact blend of length, rim protection and floor spacing a defense-first wing needs to be useful next to Mobley.

Whether it's enough is the whole season. The market has already weighed in with apparent restraint: Cleveland sits at +2500 to win the title with a 47.5 win total, and the underlying power-rating model has the Cavs 10th with the number trending down week over week and well below last season's mark.

And the schedule wastes no time applying pressure. Cleveland opens the regular season on the road against Philadelphia — now home to LeBron James, who signed with the Sixers rather than returning to Cleveland. The story that has followed this franchise all summer will be standing across from it on opening night.

The questions are the same as they were in May. Only the calendar changed.