After winning 51 games and finishing as the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference last year, the Cleveland Cavaliers are off to a sluggish start to the 2023-24 NBA season. Cleveland is just 3-5 through the first couple of weeks of the new year and sits at 11th in the East. A lot of things have not gone the Cavs' way through the early goings of the NBA season, but its drop-off on defense has been the most notable concern so far.

Donovan Mitchell has been carrying the offense so far with Darius Garland missing a handful of games to begin the year. Caris LeVert has stepped into a steady role off the bench and has emerged as the second-leading scorer of the team thus far. Third-year big man Evan Mobley is in the midst of a solid campaign, averaging a double-double (15.8 points and 10.8 rebounds) through the first eight games of the season. While those three have been the standouts for the Cavs, the team as a whole will need to pick up the slack.

It certainly doesn't help that the Cavs have been dealing with several injuries to start the season, particularly to some of their best defenders. Jarrett Allen sat out the start of the year due to a bone bruise in his left ankle. Now, Isaac Okoro, the Cavs' best perimeter defender, has missed the last couple of games due to left knee soreness. Okoro doesn't have a timetable for a return, but if he misses more time, the Cavaliers' defense will suffer even more.

Cavs' biggest disappointment this season: Defense

Cleveland's defense isn't what it used to be from a season ago. That was very evident in the team's most recent loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night. The Cavs let Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander pop off for 43 points, one point shy of his career-high. They allowed OKC to shoot 51.2 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from beyond the three-point line. In addition, they also let the Thunder score 60 points in the paint.

The Cavaliers' defensive decline can be summed up with the fact that they went from having the No. 1 defensive rating in the NBA last season to No. 15 this year. They also went from holding their opponents to 106.9 points per game last season, which topped the NBA, to 112.1 points this year, which is 14th in the Association.

Cleveland was also third in opponents' points in the paint last year, but are down to ninth this season. The Cavs also went from being a top-six team in transition defense to middle of the pack this year.

The Cavaliers have already given up three 120-point games in just eight games this season. They gave up a total of eight last year, two of which were overtime games.

As mentioned, the Cavs placed an emphasis in improving their offense this offseason. They added guys such as Max Strus and Georges Niang in free agency this summer to address their outside shooting deficiencies. But doing so has sacrificed some of Cleveland's defensive strengths. In particular, getting Strus meant they needed to trade Lamar Stevens, who was one of their best perimeter defenders off the bench.

Cleveland is still one of the best teams in running guys off the three-point line. They still rank in the top five in opponents' three-point attempts. However, playing their primary point-of-attack defenders less has made the Cavs' interior defense more vulnerable, even though they still have one of the most imposing frontcourts in the league in Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.

As mentioned, health has also been an issue for Cleveland and this has played a part in the decline of its defense. It remains to be seen if they can go back to being one of the best defensive teams in the NBA when they finally get healthy.