The Cleveland Cavaliers are back home in Northeast Ohio after spending six days of training camp in Bradenton, Florida.
Pleased with the combination of team-building activities and on-court execution, Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson has his focus areas for the wine and gold as the preseason opens Tuesday night against the Chicago Bulls.
“We obviously have our identity, our basic principles,” Atkinson said at Cleveland Clinic Courts on Monday. “See where we are with that, our tweaks, see where we are, how they're translating. And then, there's a conditioning factor. We obviously have minutes scripted for our guys, so it's kind of those three things that we're looking at.”
Atkinson added that he expects healthy Cavs starters to play Tuesday but with limited minutes.
Lonzo Ball reveals management plan
While avoiding specifics publicly on Cavs Media Day, it looks like Lonzo Ball and the organization are on the same page about keeping the veteran guard fresh this season. Ball shared Monday what the conversations have been like with Cleveland regarding playing time.
“Back-to-backs are off the table for right now,” Ball said. “It doesn't mean it's off the table for the whole year, but definitely to start, I won't be doing back-to-backs. And then, my minutes are probably gonna be around 20 minutes to start and take it from there.”
Thus far, coaches and teammates have been raving over Ball's upcourt vision and defensive prowess. It appears that the move from Chicago to Cleveland is going well.
“I think I've seen, just playing against them, stuff that I already knew,” Ball said. “They play as one on both sides of the ball. Obviously, it helps having Ev [Mobley] and J.A. [Jarrett Allen] cover stuff up on defense. But it's been a pretty smooth transition. I've been shooting threes, running the break, doing what I do normally. I haven't really changed anything. It's been pretty simple.
“I think my role is pretty much the same wherever I go: play defense, push the break, hit open shots and don't turn the ball over. It's pretty simple. I've been playing basketball a long time. I haven't really changed my game at all.”
Cavs rookie Tyrese Proctor is enamored by Ball's IQ and what he can pick up from him.
“He sees the floor so well,” Proctor said. “He passes the hell out of the ball, too. So I think just being able to watch when he's on the court, just little things he does. And then, when I'm guarding him, the same thing, just seeing what he does on the floor and just talking to him off the court.”
Tyrese Proctor knows he can help right away
Kenny Atkinson said yesterday that a #Cavs vet told him that Tyrese Proctor “looks like he belongs.”
More on the second-round rookie ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/uYLSu5sS8v
— Spencer Davies (@SpinDavies) October 2, 2025
Ball spoke highly of Proctor and third-year guard Craig Porter Jr. when ClutchPoints asked about their work together this summer.
“They've been great,” Ball said. “They've been wanting to learn. On the court, they're early-in-the-gym-last-people-to-leave type guys. They brought a lot of energy to training camp, didn't look out of place at all. My advice to them is to just keep playing hard and act like a sponge out here, and I think they've been doing a great job of that.”
Proctor's first week of NBA training camp went as expected, but he believes he and Porter got a head start on things because of the offseason in the gym.
“We got a lot of concepts down in the summer,” Proctor said. It allowed training camp to be a little bit easier in terms of the playbook. Then, it was just reading the floor and playing our game.”
Last week, Atkinson spoke of how a veteran told him Proctor “looks like he belongs.” The 6-foot-5 Aussie attributes that to the talent he's played with in college at Duke and how long he's been playing basketball.
“I mean, just not overcomplicating anything,” Proctor said. “I'm just playing my game, making the right reads, making winning plays, allowing the guys that have been here a long time to help and just help me understand the flow of things and let them do what they do really well as well.”
Making winning plays will be his calling card, which includes picking up full-court defensively and drilling threes. Proctor also shared that he's grown close to Donovan Mitchell since arriving in Cleveland, spending time with him in Spida's home state of Connecticut and his alma mater at Louisville.
