Cleveland Cavaliers: Derrick Rose will suffice in Isaiah Thomas’ absence

With LeBron James, the Cleveland Cavaliers don’t fret about the regular season, and even with Isaiah Thomas out, backup Derrick Rose should excel.

Derrick Rose has played with dominant players like Jimmy Butler and Kristaps Porzingis throughout his NBA career, but with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he will get the chance to play almost every game with the legendary LeBron James.

LeBron James, in his first stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers, had to go into battle every night with Mo Williams leading the point. No disrespect to Williams, but he is not quite the talent that MVP-winner Derrick Rose is. The only aspect of Williams game that is better than Rose is his outside shooting. Rose, however, can make that up with his incredible athleticism. In his first season with LeBron, Williams averaged a career-high 17.8 points per game. Hopefully, that same success follows Derrick Rose in his first season with the King.

For the Cavaliers to have a successful first half of the season, Derrick Rose must be his old self. He must be able to stay injury-free. If not, the Cavaliers will have to resort to Jose Calderon at point guard. That is not preferred. Last season, Rose managed to appear in and start 64 games, more than he played in the three seasons from 2012-2015.

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Rose scored in volumes last season, averaging 18.0 points per game. This was just a bit under Kyrie Irving, who averaged 25.2 points per game and is wildly considered to be a top 5 or at least 10 point guard in the NBA. In four consecutive seasons, Rose averaged over 1.0 threes per game. The Cavaliers will need his shooting to be a factor after trading Kyrie Irving who made 2.5 threes per game last season. If he can stay on the floor and retain his once above-average shooting ability, then Derrick Rose should be able to help the Cavaliers win at least 40 games before Isaiah Thomas returns.

The next question is when will Thomas return. One of the newest Cavaliers, Thomas, according to The Atheltic, might be out until the All-Star break.

"No one is willing to put a timeline on when Thomas might return to the court. The fact he isn’t running yet certainly is not a good sign. One source with experience dealing with the type of hip problems Thomas is facing predicted it could be January or even the All-Star break before Thomas returns to game action. That doesn’t leave much time for a new player to establish chemistry and rhythm with a team trying to compete for a championship."

The Cavaliers must learn to excel with Rose leading the charge because Thomas’ hip injury could nag him even after cleared to return. For the most part, the Cavs have had an injury-free last couple seasons. But, the cards are set for several key players to struggle, and that could be a dagger for the Cavaliers this season.

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Monitor both Rose and Thomas’ injuries throughout this upcoming season because they could be telling for the Cavaliers success.