The Cleveland Cavaliers haven’t been at full strength this season, but that hasn’t stopped them from pacing the Eastern Conference. The East has been refreshingly competitive through the first 20-plus games, but no team has taken advantage of Cleveland’s disadvantages.

Iman Shumpert missed the season’s first 21 games with a wrist injury and Kyrie Irving has yet to take the floor following a knee injury suffered in June’s NBA Finals. Despite the absence of their starting backcourt, the Cavaliers entered Wednesday with the best record in the East and the fourth-best point differential in the league.

“I think considering what we had to deal with in the preseason and the fact that we’ve played the first quarter of the season without our starting backcourt, we’ve done a pretty good job in terms of competing and positioning ourselves,” Blatt said Tuesday night.

“We’re not yet where we want to be. With Shump coming back and Kyrie soon to come back we’ll go through another period of adaptation and putting that all together, but overall we’ve been pretty good.”

Almost to a man the Cavaliers scoff at their 16-7 record, but they’ve been better than pretty good. They’ve maintained an elite offense -- a 107.6 ORtg, fourth-best in the league -- without their All-Star point guard and a top-third defense (102 DRtg) without their best perimeter defender.

A lot has been made of Kevin Love’s play, but Matthew Dellavedova, Mo Williams, Richard Jefferson and James Jones have given David Blatt much-needed production on the perimeter.

Williams, who was an All-Star with the Cavaliers during his first tenure, has averaged 13.1 points, 4.1 assists and 2.7 rebounds while shooting 48% from the floor. It’s no surprise that he’s played his best basketball alongside LeBron James. He doesn’t draw the defensive attention Irving would, but you have to respect his shot and his passing is underrated.  He’s flirting with a career-high in eFG% (54.5) and is on pace to surpass his Win Shares total from last season by the end of the month.

Jefferson, another offseason addition with a perceived lack of tread on his tires, has logged respectable minutes. His advanced stats aren’t kind, but he’s shooting 52.9% from two-point range and has been solid defensively.

Two familiar faces, Dellavedova and Jones, have contributed as expected. Dellavedova, the darling of last postseason, is among the best three-point shooters in basketball (45.7%) and is averaging career bests in points (11.1) and assists (6.9). The Cavaliers are +13 per 100 possessions with him on the floor, better than the on/off numbers for LeBron or Love.

Jones, a consummate pro and LeBron’s “favorite player of all-time,” has been steady as ever. He hits threes and plugs holes whenever Blatt asks.

Blatt hinted at an adjustment period when his roster is back at full strength, but the biggest concessions will be made behind the scenes. There are a lot fewer minutes to go around when Irving and Shumpert are in the rotation.

“They’re gonna play, they’ll just be moving back a little bit perhaps in the number of minutes,” he said. “That’s a unit that we played with last year a great deal and when we were all healthy we got along and were playing pretty good. Guys were satisfied with their role and their minutes, so I’m not too worried about that.”

Jefferson and Williams weren’t part of the Cleveland team that got red-hot in the second half last season, but the players brought in to play around LeBron, Irving and Love knew they were signing up for bit parts in a much big-budget production.

“We are all competitors at heart and all want to play, but we all know what this team was built to do and what we’ve here for,” Jones told RealGM. “We’re not here for individual gain or accolades. We’re all here to put the best team on the floor so we can chase and potentially win a championship. It’s not a hard conversation when you have professionals in the room. We know the guys coming back will play -- they are the youth, they are the future -- and they know we’ll be here to support them and pick them up when they need it.” 

At full strength, the Cavaliers are far-and-away the class of the East. Any chance their competition had to steal home court in the postseason has passed. They weathered the early season storm and have the reserves to deal with hiccups that may manifest down the line.

“Our record is reflective of who we are without Shump and Kyrie,” Jones said dismissively. “They are a very big part of what we do. We did a solid job of trying to develop some continuity and growth without them in the lineup, but without them we’re not whole and we’re not who we are. It’s good to have and be getting them back. Hopefully we can build on the momentum we’ve generated so far this season.”

The Cavaliers can downplay their start all they want, but the truth of the matter is they could very well have found themselves several games back if the best of the rest pounced on the opportunity.

The Chicago Bulls haven’t hit the ground running under Fred Hoiberg and Derrick Rose doesn’t look like he’ll ever be the same. The Toronto Raptors have quality wins but have missed DeMarre Carroll and Jonas Valanciunas. The Charlotte Hornets and Indiana Pacers have been up and down.  The Miami Heat can’t afford to lose one of their stars to injury and the Boston Celtics don’t have one. Those teams are separated by two or fewer games in the standings while the Washington Wizards and Milwaukee Bucks have been huge disappointments.

The East will belong to Cleveland from here on out.

“Trying to be the No. 1 seed in the East without them isn’t something we really thought about because we knew we weren’t going to be without them [for the entire season]. A lot of times you try to guess, or project, who you are or what you are, but you can’t tell until you go through the journey. With them, we feel like we can be the best team in the Eastern Conference.”