The Cleveland Cavaliers have made some significant changes this offseason which has their roster looking a lot different heading into the 2017-18 season in comparison to 2016-17. They made some intriguing new signings including players like former MVP Derrick Rose, Jeff Green, Jose Calderon and Cedi Osman while receiving Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder and Ante Zizic in the controversial Kyrie Irving trade. This roster refurbish had the fans asking questions, and pondering the idea of a potential starting lineup change, especially in the forward positions, but Lue has spoken up about it.
Last season, the backcourt in Cleveland was Kyrie Irving and JR Smith for the majority of the season, only when either player was out resting or injured did another player take their place. At times Iman Shumpert would join Kyrie in the backcourt. With the latest trades and signings, it is now looking like the backcourt will have a small change, and that will be having Isaiah Thomas at point guard, and JR Smith at shooting the guard. But until Isaiah recovers from his hip injury, we will likely see Derrick Rose in the backcourt to start the season with Smith.
Small ball?
The small forward, power forward and center position for the Cleveland Cavaliers has the fans discussing a lot. With the new age of basketball, many people believe the Cavs should invest in a small ball starting lineup, which would have offensive rebounding superstar Tristan Thompson demoted to the bench.
The likely small ball lineup would feature newcomer Jae Crowder at small forward, LeBron James at power forward and Kevin Love at center.
This could be a very dangerous lineup with the defensive ability of Crowder who can guard the opponents best forward, which would help against stars like Kevin Durant, Paul George and others and his ability to make shots on offense is also there.
LeBron’s strength and size have shown him to be a very valuable power forward in the past, plus he can play as a point-forward. And Kevin Love can spread the opposing teams center to the three-point line to defend his shot which is deadly from beyond the arc.
But Tyronn Lue has denied all rumors of this happening, saying “right now, Tristan’s our starter.” Lue could use the small ball lineup at some points throughout the game, but he doesn’t feel it will be a smart decision to use it as the starting lineup.
He is not ready to put Kevin Love at the center position, although he is great on offense, he may be a liability on defense and get destroyed by powerful centers like DeMarcus Cousins, Dwight Howard, etc.
Lue will feel things out first
Before making any huge decisions, Lue just wants to see how the new roster goes to start the season. Tyronn said, “I’m just thinking we’re going to run a lot more stuff through Kevin, more at the elbows, like we’ve done the last year and a half. Just trying to figure out with our new pieces and our new players and just see what works best for us.” Obviously, experimenting with Love at center is not something the Cavaliers head coach wants to do right now. He would prefer to keep Kevin at the position he has excelled in his whole career, and that’s the power forward position. And Coach Lue said, he is expecting Love to have his ‘best season’ as a Cavalier.
