There’s been a change to the starting lineup for the Cleveland Cavaliers before tonight’s game against the Sacramento Kings. Iman Shumpert will be making his second start of the season.
Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue has announced a change to the starting lineup before their game against the Sacramento Kings. Iman Shumpert, who started in the preseason for the Cleveland Cavaliers while J.R. Smith was out with a contract holdout and against the Indiana Pacers on November 16th, will start against the Sacramento Kings tonight.
In the preseason, Shumpert averaged 5.0 points, 2.8 assists and 1.0 steal in 18.6 minutes per game. He shot 40.0 percent from three-point range in those games and carried that shooting stroke into the regular season, shooting 66.7 percent from three-point range in October and 41.7 percent from three-point range in November.
He shot 36.2 percent from three-point range in December. He’s made 16.7 percent of his three-point attempts this month.
Shumpert didn’t hitting a shooting slump after it was announced that J.R. Smith would be out for three to four months as he recovered from a right thumb injury. He hit the slump, in my opinion, in a December 13th game against the Memphis Grizzlies. At that time, the Cleveland Cavaliers began using Kay Felder and Jordan McRae more and as a consequence, Shumpert looked out of whack in the second unit. Shooting streaks being effected by rhythm, Shump has been in a slump since he lost his rhythm in that game, no matter who he’s playing beside.
Lue is the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers and there’s no doubt he’s noticed that Shumpert has been out rhythm for a while. DeAndre Liggins, while said to not have done anything to be placed in the second unit according to Lue, has been out of rhythm too. After shooting 45.5 percent from three-point range in December, he’s been clanking threes off the rim to the tune of a 28.6 percent conversion rate from deep. Perhaps that’s why Lue believes switching the roles of the two Chicago natives would help them both.
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Shumpert is more ready and willing to be a spot-up shooter, especially in the corners, than a reluctant shooter in Liggins. With so many three-point threats in the second unit, Liggins can use his court vision and passing acumen to be more of a playmaker within the second unit. Lue also said that LeBron James will play more in the second unit, and so Liggins will still have to be ready to shoot. Nonetheless, he can operate as a cutter in the second unit more than he could in the starting lineup because the starting lineup isn’t full of catch-and-shoot specialists.
It remains to be seen how this works out for the Cavs, though getting James in a lineup with Kyle Korver as often as possible doesn’t seem to be a bad decision at all. Neither does starting Shumpert in place of Liggins, as Shumpert is the more accomplished three-point shooter and still able to stick to opposing point guards like Gorilla Glue.
With so many playmakers on the court with him, good shots should be easier for Shumpert to come by and he should have plenty of space to shoot.
Tip-off is at 10:30 EST.
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