The Cleveland Cavaliers may not be done tinkering with their starting lineup.
Although they began the year running out both Derrick Rose and Dwyane Wade in the backcourt with Kevin Love at center, head coach Tyronn Lue elected to pivot fewer than five games into the season. Ahead of Tuesday night’s win over the Chicago Bulls, he moved Dwyane Wade to the bench, shifted LeBron James to point guard and put both J.R. Smith and Tristan Thompson back in the starting five.
Will this change hold?
Lue isn’t sure.
From Cleveland.com’s Joe Vardon:
“With D-Rose out and Isaiah out, it’s tough,” Lue said. “If you don’t have a point guard on the floor, it’s tough to win games no matter how great LeBron is. It wears him down having to handle the basketball, have to defend and then make every play. But tonight we needed that and going forward just have to see.”
It technically doesn’t matter where Lue plays LeBron. He’ll be bringing the ball up the floor and monopolizing the team’s offensive touches no matter what. His position only matters on the defensive end.
Cleveland shouldn’t want 32-year-old LeBron matching up against superstar point guards on a regular basis. He’ll do it during the playoffs, but he shouldn’t have to do it now, when the season isn’t yet two weeks old. The Cavaliers could switch assignments so he gets more time on traditional wings or power forwards, but the latest starting five doesn’t allow for much of that. They’d essentially be asking Jae Crowder to cover floor generals full-time, which isn’t fair to him. They ideally need one more switchy wing defender in the starting fold to make that bounce-around model work long term.
This change is more pivotal to the backcourt rotation in the long run. Wade is now coming off the bench, which ensures the Cavaliers’ won’t have to play him and D-Rose, when he’s healthy, at the same time.
Of course, once Isaiah Thomas comes back and presumably forces Rose to the bench, Cleveland will be dealing with the same issue. But Lue will welcome that dilemma.
