Meleek Thomas didn’t wait long to make his presence felt.
Thrown into the action midway through the opening quarter Monday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Pittsburgh native stepped into his first NBA minutes and gave the Cleveland Cavaliers exactly the kind of jolt they needed. The Cavs were flat early, unable to slow a Minnesota team that came out aggressive and made life difficult from the start.
Kenny Atkinson didn’t turn to Craig Porter Jr. for the answer. He went with Thomas.
Thomas didn’t look overwhelmed by the stage. He played with the same certainty he carries himself with away from the floor, attacking without hesitation when the ball found him on the perimeter and cutting with purpose whenever the lane opened. He finished with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting and buried two key threes in the third quarter as Cleveland fought back into the game and regained the lead.
“We didn’t have energy, we’re flat, we’re playing the wrong way, we weren’t doing the right things. For him to be the spark in his first game of the year is not normal,” Donovan Mitchell said. “That speaks to his confidence, his concentration, attention to detail.”
Mitchell didn’t stop there.
“He was a big part of why we ended up getting this win,” Mitchell said.
That trust has been building for a while. Thomas and Atkinson have both made clear that his path to minutes would depend heavily on what he brought defensively, and that has pushed him to spend as much time sharpening that end of the floor as possible. Sometimes that means leaning on veterans for answers, and Thomas has leaned on Mitchell in particular.
“He texts me all the time saying, ‘All right, what about this clip?’” Mitchell said.
“He says, ‘Why’d you rotate here? Why did I do this?
Should I do this?’ This morning, he was working on shows.
Like, what rookies are working on shows?”
Atkinson had already noticed that bond before the season.
“I think Donovan has taken a special liking to Meleek,” Atkinson said before the season. “He almost feels like, ‘I have to build that relationship, build that trust,’ and then coach them up.
“Player development coaches get way too much credit. It’s having really good, smart vets that elevate guys.
We do our little part, and I think we try to put them in the right places. It’s really the coaching from your best players that elevates younger players.”
There’s a natural connection between Mitchell and Thomas in how they play, especially in the way both arrived as score-first two guards with plenty to prove. Mitchell wasn’t a locked-in starter at the start of his career with the Utah Jazz, but he showed early that he was headed toward something bigger.
Thomas is only at the beginning. But Monday gave a glimpse of how the Cavaliers view him, and how he views himself.
“For them to take me under their wing and give me all of the game and just constantly help me, constantly stay in my ear, it just goes to show that they see the potential that I see in myself,” Thomas said. “It means the world to me.”
That confidence isn’t new to him, either. What happened against Minnesota simply put it on display.
“Confidence really don’t come from nobody else,” Thomas said. “It’s either you got it, or you don’t.
You got heart, you got dog in you, or you don’t. And I got everything that I need.
It’s just a matter of time before it’s shown.”
In Other News...
Cavs Showed Fight In Atlanta But One Concern Still Followed Them
The Cavaliers brought plenty of early energy to Atlanta on the second night of a back-to-back road trip, but it still wasnt enough to escape with a win in a 114-111 loss to the Hawks. Cleveland looked lively at the start and kept itself in position for much of the night, with coach Kenny Atkinson continuing to mix in bench players as part of his development plan, but the effort faded as the game wore on and the defense started to slip.
Donovan Mitchell had a pair of late chances to pull Cleveland even and missed both, leaving the Cavaliers to absorb a loss that felt familiar in all the wrong ways. James Harden added 24 points in one of his better performances since joining the team, but the bigger concern was the same one that has haunted stretches of this season: when the pace slows and the margin tightens, the Cavaliers still have to prove they can get the stops that matter most. [Read more 🡒]
Cavaliers Keep Collapsing And Kenny Atkinson Has A Growing Problem
The Cavaliers uneven start under Kenny Atkinson has already turned into a recurring theme, and the frustration is no longer just about one bad night. After another loss to Atlanta, Atkinson acknowledged the teams inconsistency and defensive issues, with the early-season pattern centered on Cleveland giving away control after building leads. For a group that wants to establish itself as steady and tough to play against, the repeated breakdowns have become a real concern.
Atkinson has been especially focused on the details that keep slipping away, from rebounding to the kind of defensive lapses that let opponents hang around. The timing makes it worse, too, because the Cavaliers are headed into a stretch of tougher matchups that will ask more of them than they have shown so far. Until they clean up the same errors that keep costing them, every lead feels a little more fragile than it should. [Read more 🡒]
Ty Jerome Just Gave Cavaliers Fans A Needed Breather
Ty Jeromes first stretch away from Cleveland has already given Cavaliers fans plenty to think about, and not all of it has been easy to watch. After leaving in free agency and landing with Memphis, he has been the kind of former rotation piece a fan base keeps tabs on, especially when the roster conversation circles back to what the Cavs gave up by letting him walk.
A recent game against Portland offered at least a brief exhale. Jerome was part of a Grizzlies win, but his night was quiet enough to soften some of the sting for Cleveland supporters who have been second-guessing the decision. It is still early in his new chapter, and one off night does not settle the larger debate, but it did give Cavs fans a little room to step back and wait on the next turn. [Read more 🡒]