Cleveland Cavaliers: 5 keys to a successful 2017-18 season
By Tony Pesta
4. The Bench
This has been a problem for a while. The Cavs’ bench has a tendency to randomly disappear at times, especially in the finals. This season should be completely different though.
Assuming that Isaiah Thomas will be the starting point guard when he is healthy, Rose should bring some much-needed leadership off the bench. Add that with the acquisition of Jae Crowder and Jeff Green, and the Cavs bench should be able to hold their own.
One reason the bench is so important is it takes pressure off of the starters. It is obvious when you watch last year’s NBA Finals that Kyrie Irving and LeBron James looked gassed towards the end of the series. LeBron, in particular, was forced to be on the court at all times, or risk his team falling out of the game.
This extra firepower will be vital to the Cavs’ success this year. If the bench can come into the game and have a positive impact, it will allow the starters to finally take some rest during the playoffs and most regular season games.
The Cavs bench seems much improved, on paper at least. But it will be important to see how effective the second unit can actually be.