Ty Lue’s tinkering with Cavs rotations are causing more harm than good

Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue has been playing players out of position all season. This plays a factor in why they continue to suffer injuries.

Besides the recurring drama, a common theme with the Cleveland Cavaliers this season is injuries.  This is common, but this season, in particular, the basketball gods have shown no mercy with the Cavalier’s health.

The biggest blow that injuries took to the roster was when Kevin Love was injured as the team’s center in a game against the Detroit Pistons:

Love was found to have broken his hand, the injury bug’s next victim was Tristan Thompson, who suffered an ankle sprain against the Denver Nuggets. Thompson is expected to be sidelined for a few weeks while recovering from his injury.

Soon after in their game against the LA Clippers Rodney Hood (back), Cedi Osman (hip), and Kyle Korver (foot) suffered injuries as well.

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At this point, it seems like the Cavaliers cannot get healthy and should clean house with the training staff. But, before they let go of America’s #2 hospital, there may something else causing harm.

The main reason the team cannot stay healthy is the fact that Tyronn Lue has played players out of position this season, which result in injuries.

With Love,  Lue was hell-bent on starting him at center with Jae Crowder at power forward (Love’s natural position). Ever since then, it has been a flop, especially on defense, with Love as the team’s starting center.

The problem is, while Love is a natural power forward, he does not have the physique to play center. But Love has been a consummate pro with the Cavaliers and never questioned Lue’s decision and just kept playing.

Eventually, the toll of Love playing center ran its course and played a part in why he broke his hand. Now, the team’s All-Star forward is out until nearly the playoffs and have struggled without his offense.

After Love was sidelined, perhaps Lue would have thought to stop playing players out of position. In the team’s game against the Clippers, Rodney Hood, a natural two, was forced to defend Tobias Harris or DeAndre Jordan on rotations. Harris and Jordan are not twos and it played a part in his back injury.

After Hood was sidelined, Lue sought out Korver to fill the void and he too was burned and injured his foot. Finally, Lue asked sparkplug Cedi Osman to help and he suffered a painful sounding injury along the way:

Even with the team losing so many players to ailments, they also have players suffering from nagging injuries because of Lue. This is mostly seen with Jeff Green, who Lue has elected to also play at the five throughout the season. Green has been suffering from a nagging back injury the last few weeks and a lot of it can be attributed to Lue forcing him to play out of position.

With the team looking incredibly thin at the wing and in three-point scoring, they will struggle while the roster heals. When Love, Thompson, Hood, Korver, and Osman all return perhaps head coach Ty Lue will notice why they were hurt.

This is because of him being so adamant about playing players out of position and hurting them. It can work in spurts, but if Lue continues to do this it will only hurt the team.

Must Read: What will Kevin Love bring to the table once he returns

Team health is vital to winning another NBA Championship and a fully loaded roster will need in what will be a tightly-contested NBA Playoffs.