Cavs: John Beilein likely playing ‘9-10 guys’ throughout 2019-20 makes sense

Cleveland Cavaliers head coach John Beilein hit on how he would likely play “9-10 guys” in his rotation throughout the 2019-20 season on Wednesday, and that would make plenty of sense.

For the Cleveland Cavaliers seemingly in coming years, an Eastern Conference postseason berth is pretty unrealistic.

It’s good that the organization and the coaching staff, led by head coach John Beilein, are aware that the primary focus is going to be player development, though.

It’s also encouraging that Beilein and company have a number of nice pieces to work with and hopefully, develop gradually, in second-year guard Collin Sexton and third-year wing Cedi Osman.

Along with that, a promising 2019 rookie draft class of guard Darius Garland and rookie wings Dylan Windler and Kevin Porter Jr., to go with having a proven player to lean on in veteran big Kevin Love to help young pieces along (when healthy) should allow Beilein to get this squad moving in the right direction in 2019-20 and in coming years.

Garland struggled defensively for the most part, especially when having to handle Orlando’s Markelle Fultz, who looked great in his Magic debut with 12 points and six assists (per ESPN) off the bench, but offensively, Garland was impressive.

He had eight points on only three-of-nine shooting, but did hit two-of-four from three-point range, and though he did have three turnovers, Garland should have had much more than five assists.

On a number of possessions, Garland made awesome looks, it was just unfortunate that players such as Osman couldn’t knock them down when the Cavs really needed them in some second and third quarter lulls. Cedi did end up going three-of-six from three-point land and had 13 points, but it was too little, too late.

Additionally, it’s a bummer that the Cavaliers didn’t have Windler in Wednesday’s season opener against the Orlando Magic, as Windler is still seemingly out for a bit of the early portion of the year due to a reported stress reaction in his left leg.

When healthier, Windler will add spacing and be a dangerous shooter for Cleveland’s bench, as Windler shot 40.6% from three-point range in four seasons at Belmont (per Sports Reference), and in Beilein’s motion offense, Windler should be potent curling around screens, cutting and as a constant spot-up threat.

On the bright side, Windler being out did free up some development minutes for Porter.

Even with KPJ having a scoreless NBA debut on 0-of-six shooting, he did get a bunch of separation on several of those, and again, the biggest key for him, and I’m sure all of Cleveland’s young pieces, is experience.

In addition, at least Cleveland recently picked up former Golden State Warrior Alfonzo McKinnie for some added small forward depth, and McKinnie can play 4 on occasion, too, when he’s in the fold.

That being said, again with the team having a rebuilding focus, and with injuries always being a factor in a long, grueling 82-game season, it makes sense that Beilein will likely play “9-10” players in his usual rotation throughout the 2019-20 season, as was transcribed on Wednesday by Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.

This sort of thing played right into the season opener against the Magic, as Cleveland still won’t have reserve big Ante Zizic, who reportedly is dealing with plantar fasciitis in his left foot, and should be back in about three weeks, per the team.

With that being the case, and with fellow reserve natural center John Henson banged up and feasibly out for the next game against the Indiana Pacers on Saturday due to reported ankle/groin injuries, it was understandable for Beilein to have played Thompson and Love 33 and 36 minutes, and Larry Nance Jr. played 27, per ESPN.

They were all particularly active on the glass, combining for 43 of the team’s 54 rebounds, and it was nice to see Thompson have 16 points on eight-of-11 shooting, as he was making productive straight-line drives, and finishing well.

Love struggled, and seemed a bit lost as an interior scorer at times as he went only four-of-10 from the field, but I thought his passing and the way he helped set others up was a positive takeaway; he had three assists in the contest and could have really had a few more.

Anyhow, it’s clear that those three will all be playing big minutes, provided they are healthy, and with Zizic and Henson banged up, I’d still like to see Cleveland throw in the team’s two two-way bigs, Tyler Cook and Dean Wade, a bit in meaningful minutes.

Though that definitely should not mean every game in the coming weeks, it could bring a lift a few minutes here and there, as Cook is an explosive athlete and finishes well near the rim, and Wade can knock down triples.

He shot 38.6% from deep in four seasons at Kansas State, and even if it’s for a few minutes in games in the counted 45 days they’ll spend with Cleveland (starting on Oct. 28), either Cook could be a solid roller, and Wade, who can take advantage a bit against smaller players in the post, could feasibly add an inside-out presence in quick breathers for either Love or Thompson, and/or play occasionally alongside a quality passer in Nance.

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Plus with Cleveland again rebuilding, it’s all the more reason to play a bunch of reserves, even if that doesn’t all mean a considerable minutes-share (as would likely be the case involving two-ways).

Furthermore, Cleveland has a bevy of guards that are worthy of meaningful minutes.

Bench bucket-getter Jordan Clarkson, bench playmaker Matthew Dellavedova and also realistically reserve secondary playmaker Brandon Knight are in that category, too, though factoring in that Knight didn’t play at all in the opener, it’s unclear what the story will be in terms of his playing time.

Even though Garland and Sexton should still be playing a bunch together, it’s understandable that Beilein could go to the bench well at the backcourt positions in a long season, too, given varying matchups/potential injuries, and based on his aforementioned rotational comments, it seems that he will.

Though Clarkson only shot two-of-12 against the Magic, I wouldn’t expect that sort of game to happen much, and it’s clear that Clarkson and Dellavedova both have great chemistry with Nance, and that showed at times, even if the shots weren’t falling.

Moreover, the Cleveland Cavaliers are a team is going to take a while to figure out their rotation, and it’s sensible that Beilein wants to have a potentially nine or 10 players on the floor throughout the season.

That was the case against Orlando, as Beilein played nine players, and I’d expect it to be moving forward as well, especially considering the team/Beilein could feasibly rest Love, who only appeared in 22 games last season (per Basketball Reference) mostly due to reported toe surgery, and perhaps other veterans on occasion, such as Thompson.

TT only appeared in 43 games in 2018-19 mostly due to a foot injury.

Also, with the potential for roster turnover, given that Henson, Thompson, Clarkson, Dellavedova and Knight are all on expiring contracts, and with injuries likely to come throughout the season for Cleveland (I’ll be crossing my fingers that Love doesn’t get sidelined for significant time), having nine to 10 players on the floor in games regularly and in meaningful minutes makes plenty of sense.

Either way, make sure you’re playing the youngsters a bunch for their development this season and in coming years, Cavs, and it appears Beilein will, while also utilizing other pieces where they are comfortable to make the team more competitive.

That first game was reason to be optimistic from a game management standpoint with playing nine players all at least 17 minutes (per ESPN), as the Cavs routinely got their way back into the contest, and while even down by 20 at one point, losing 94-85 to a postseason team from the prior season while shooting 37.1% from the field is not all that bad.

The quality game management, and players being in the right positions and getting plenty of run to try to get into a rhythm, by and large, is all us Cavs fans can ask for this year, really. While I get others could have wanted the starters to play more, I’m going to cut Beilein some slack with the lineups, at least for a good while.