I think Cavs certainly got better. Rose and IT were complete negatives, George Hill is a positive. Larry Nance is a fantastic bench player and can thrive in situations where teams focus their defensive attention on to other players. Rodney Hood can also be a positive.
I wonder if people didn't play well before because they weren't given enough playing time. This consolidation of minutes I think will benefit their currently rostered players and as they will have well defined roles that they all have shown in the past they can thrive in.