Cavs Back Court: Court Time for the Guards
Early today we looked at the Cleveland Cavaliers deep front court and how the minutes might be split up. With Kevin Love, Timofey Mozgov, Tristan Thompson, Anderson Varejao, James Jones and possibly even Sasha Kaun, the Cavs have an embarrassment of riches.
Now it is time to look at the Cavs back court, their point and shooting guards. The Cavs struggles in the NBA Finals were mostly related to their lack of depth in the back court, after the injury to star PG Kyrie Irving.
Irving’s return will be huge for the Cavs as will the addition of Mo Williams in his return to Cleveland. The real question becomes how are the Cavs back court going to divide up the minutes between the two positions?
Irving’s recovery from injury will create some disruption of this simple exercise in math as he may not start the season active due to his knee injury. He has been cleared for some activity already and will join Team USA but not for full activities. Its possible that he can start for the Cavs right away, important as the Cavs continue the bonding process.
During Irving’s injury Australian Matthew Dellavedova became a supernova of excitement. His style of play engaged the fans of Cleveland, annoyed opponents and made a name for himself. Unfortunately, like most legends, Delly’s production was not as great as his legend. Media narrative can do that. Yet Delly has his value and will get time on the floor.
J.R. Smith could return, no other team has even been mentioned as a possible destination for the mercurial guard. We can’t plan on his return, so how will the Cavs split up the 96 minutes? First lets look at how many minutes current Cavs played last season:
Kyrie Irving: 36.4 minutes
Iman Shumpert: 24 minutes (with Cavs)
Mo Williams: 29.4 minutes (with T’Wolves & Hornets)
Matthew Dellavedova: 20.6 minutes
Joe Harris: 9.7 minutes (only 51 games)
Sir’Dominic Pointer: 34.6 minutes (College)
(Pointer has not yet signed his contract with the Cavs. He could be traded or remained unsigned.)
Almost more interesting than how many minutes these guards play is who plays with who and at what position. Irving and Shumpert will start while Mo and Delly will be primary backups at both the 1 and the 2. Harris, if he shows better than he did in the Summer League, could be in line for a much bigger role if JR doesn’t return.
We expect either JR to return or for GM David Griffin to aggressively pursue another guard in season, the same way he did a rim protector last year. But we cannot count on that at this time. Instead, we need to predict minutes based on the guys that are Cavs players.
Irving: 30 minutes
Shumpert: 28 minutes
Williams: 25 minutes
Dellavedova: 10 minutes
Harris: 3 minutes
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Irving is likely to see less minutes this year due to Williams’ presence and concerns about his injury. Shumpert’s minutes should grow in relation to his health. Likely the team’s starter, he should the biggest increase. Williams, a starter much of last season, and Delly will see a reduction in their minutes. Harris could see more minutes but after his Summer League performance we are cautious with the second year guard.
The Cavs back court depth is thinner than that of their front court but they have players that fit roles. Delly’s defense, Williams offense and Harris’ shooting all can fit with Kyrie or Shumpert or combine to give LeBron James bench guards filling their roles. Obviously adding Smith, or another guard in trade, would put the Cavs in a great position.
How do you see the Cavs back court minutes being divided?