Tyronn Lue should experiment with who starts and finishes games for Cavs

The Cleveland Cavaliers have a plethora of options to choose from in regards to who should start and finish games.

These Cleveland Cavaliers have the makings of a championship team and that change seemingly happened overnight. Their roster is one of the deepest, if not the deepest in the entire league.

Consequentially, Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue would be wise to experiment with different five-man combinations to start and finish games during the final stretch of the regular season.

Before the trade deadline, the Cavaliers had big problems with their starters. Chemistry did not seem to be on display consistently, and that hurt the team considerably. LeBron James, Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, J.R. Smith and Kevin Love (along with Tristan Thompson thereafter) did not get it done when Thomas returned from injury. Even before that though, the starters had their ups-and-downs.

The narrative was just clearer when I.T. came back.

There was a lack of ball movement and too many turnovers in key stretches of games with Thomas in the lineup, and giveaways are bound to happen with James’ usage rates anyhow. On the defensive end, the starters were an absolute nightmare prior to the trade deadline.

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On the season, Cleveland’s starters have the worst defensive rating in the NBA, per NBA.com. It’s not as if the bench’s defense has been outstanding, either, but it was at least competing and effective in spots on that end. Cleveland’s bench is tied for 15th in defensive rating. Not surprisingly, the starters are just 19th in plus-minus, and the bench is fifth, again, per NBA.com.

With the roster changes to the Cavs, there won’t be as much of a difference in the key statistics between the starters and bench, which is a welcome change for Lue and company.

Clearly, Cleveland is a much, much different roster now with the arrival of Jordan Clarkson, George Hill, Larry Nance Jr. and Rodney Hood via trades. People tend to make a big deal out of the starting and reserve roles but that is a work in progress going forward for Lue, who still has to factor in that Love is still waiting in the wings as he recovers from a broken hand.

I don’t believe it matters much who starts or comes off the bench. What matters is that this reshaped roster starts to establish its chemistry. Clearly, the logical move for Lue is that the two-man combinations of Hood-Hill and Clarkson-Nance should be on the floor together as much as possible, given that those players have been on the same squad before.

Throughout the first two games of this post-deadline Cleveland shakeup, those two-man combinations have been outstanding, and LeBron has been reinvigorated as both a ball-handler and cutter playing off their energy and productive high-screen actions. It’s early, but the trio of Clarkson-Nance-Hood has had the best plus-minus of any three-man lineup thus far for the Cavs, according to nba.com.

The amount of pressure those three have put on two of the best defenses in the NBA in these two games is a great sign for what’s to come with the Cavs’ offense for the foreseeable future. As one could imagine, having LeBron on the floor with you usually leads to plenty of air space and better overall statistics to boot. Given this team’s better versatility both offensively and defensively, this Cleveland team has had light-years different results than they posting even just a short time ago.

It’s not just the new guys that have been getting it done, either. The starting lineup of Hill-Smith-Cedi Osman-James-Tristan Thompson has been a steady group to get the team going off on the right foot. They are not setting their opponents’ hair on fire from the opening tip, but they are providing a low-risk scenario for the new-look bench mob featuring Clarkson and others.

That lineup with James starting at the four the last two games has a plus-minus of plus-6.2, which is ninth in the league. That’s a heck of a lot better than Cleveland’s starting units with players such as Crowder and Thomas were producing earlier this year, and there’s no reason that solid production can’t keep coming from here on.

Osman has provided James an opportunity to play more at the four spot, which has consistently proved to be a mismatch, as KJG’s Quenton Albertie discussed in a recent article. Along with Osman’s offensive effectiveness on the wing and competitiveness in pick-and-roll defense, Smith’s been much more assertive on both ends, and has warranted his starting minutes this month, as KJG’s own Jared Hesketh demonstrated recently.

That being said, it might be in Lue’s best interest to consider tweaking who starts and comes off the bench for the Cavs before the regular season concludes. In the coming weeks post-All-Star break, why not start games with Clarkson and Hill in the backcourt to pair with Osman-James-Thompson?

Smith seems to be Lue’s permanent starter at shooting guard. However, I don’t see why it’s sacrilegious to simply try him off the bench in spots. J.R. has been a spark-plug at other points in his career.

Basketball, and the playoffs specifically, is all about matchups, and occasionally it might be smart to tweak things a bit. The regular season is a good time to try that approach with a brand-new rotation featuring new faces. Hood seems to be a great reserve chess piece with his effortless shooting ability, along with Nance as an athletic big, but why should Lue’s starters already be set?

Gregg Popovich is the best coach in the NBA because he has never been afraid to adjust his lineups to keep an opponent off-balance. That’s my thought process in relation to Smith potentially coming off the bench against certain teams. In addition, with Love out, Green starting at times for Osman might be a solid move.

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Green is one of the best overall athletes Lue has on this team and he’s been one of the few players that has been effective all season long. Since the arrival of the “New Four,” “Uncle Jeff” has been utilizing his athleticism to finish cuts off of actions from James, Hood, and Nance and he’s been good defensively.

Along with a tweaking of the starters, Lue might want to try a few other combinations to end tight games before Love returns.

Against the Oklahoma City Thunder, he had Clarkson, Smith and Nance on the floor down the stretch. They responded well and Smith made the play of the game with an assist to Nance down the floor while going out-of-bounds to seal the win.

Nonetheless, the Cavs have their options with players to go to in crunch time, as long as LeBron is on the floor calling the shots. Nance’s rim-protection and roller skillset matched up with James makes him the Cavs go-to center in the closing stretches (even at times with Love at the four), but there’s nothing stopping Lue from switching up who plays at the guard spots and sometimes on the wing.

ATLANTA, GA – FEBRUARY 09: Kyle Korver /

The Cavs could throw in Kyle Korver’s shooting at the two spot next to Hill in the backcourt to free up driving lanes and lobs inside, and put him on an off-ball offensive player on defense, where he’s capable. Along with that, the Cavs could leave Clarkson in there next to Rodney Hood at the two (a 6-foot-8 sharpshooter and occasional playmaker), and put in Green at the three for defensive/driving purposes.

To summarize, there’s no reason the Cavs shouldn’t get a multitude of players getting experience in crunch time, because that would prove invaluable in the postseason. It could also play well in the locker room, as Lue would be instilling confidence in a long list of players. Eventually, near the end of the season (and when Love is back), they can nail down a set five of guys who would get those clutch minutes.

That’s where LeBron’s leadership and basketball IQ generally take over, anyway.

When Love is back, he will almost certainly warrant those starting and closing minutes, especially because he’s having his best season in Cleveland in terms of PER and currently has the best true shooting percentage of his career overall, per Basketball Reference.

Bron’s chemistry with Love makes it likely that he will be on the floor to start the game, and end it, when scoring is needed to win tight games, even with his injury concerns. Initially, I was for Love maybe coming off the bench to work his way back in, but his pedigree speaks for itself.

Moreover, if Lue would be smart here, he’d tinker with the Cavs’ lineups throughout games. We’ll see if he does, or if he has a set rotation already nailed down post-All-Star break.