How Dante Exum’s absence affects Cavaliers’ rotation

The Cleveland Cavaliers will reportedly be without Dante Exum for a while; we’ll examine how that will likely affect Cleveland’s rotation.

It hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for Dante Exum in his time with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Since being dealt to Cleveland by the Utah Jazz in late December, Exum popped early on, then dealt with flu-related issues and hit a rough patch following that.

In his last six or so games, though, Exum has been pretty effective in rotational minutes, whether that’s been while appearing at the 2 or 3.

Unfortunately for Exum, who has dealt with shoulder and knee issues throughout the last few years which have capped his impact, Exum is going to be sidelined again.

According to Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff on Wednesday and h/t The Athletic‘s Kelsey Russo, Exum, who sprained his left ankle on Monday against the Miami Heat, will miss “an extended period of time.”

As Sports Illustrated‘s Sam Amico alluded to before the Cavs game versus the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday, this is somewhat tough for Cleveland, “as Exum has become a consistent part of the rotation since Bickerstaff took over three games ago.”

In those first three games under Bickerstaff, not including Wednesday’s game, Exum had a solid 8.0 points per contest, and was a big contributor in the Cavs’ comeback win on Friday at the Washington Wizards, which our own Corey Casey hit on.

Exum had 10 points in that one, and was very good defensively, which played a crucial role in the Cavaliers’ success in the fourth quarter alongside Darius Garland, Collin Sexton, Larry Nance Jr. and Tristan Thompson.

With Exum out for a while, though, that will likely slide Kevin Porter Jr. down to the 3 more, which is a bit of a change, as he’s played more at the 2 lately, and per Bickerstaff and h/t Amico, Nance will feasibly move to the 3 more.

I’m not a huge fan of that with Nance much, but he did do really well in a matchup against the Heat in a huge comeback W, so perhaps in some matchups that could work better than others.

Additionally, as Bickerstaff also noted (h/t Amico), Matthew Dellavedova will likely play more than he’s been for a while for Cleveland, and we saw Delly more in meaningful minutes on Wednesday.

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With Dellavedova, who has only played 8.1 per minutes per outing and only appeared in six games in Cleveland’s last 10 (as of before Wednesday’s game), getting more minutes, that will likely lead to Garland or Sexton paired with him.

Along with that, Porter at the 3 a bunch (factoring in that Alfonzo McKinnie is still dealing with plantar fasciitis in his left foot) is not totally ideal, but he’s used to that. KPJ’s played there most of his minutes this season and is capable of guarding some 3’s and he’s shown ability to play passing lanes well.

At any rate, Delly has been a complete non-shooting threat virtually this whole season, but he’s still been a solid facilitator, in spite of him having an effective field goal shooting clip of just 39.6 percent, according to NBA.com.

While he hasn’t played a whole lot, Dellavedova has led Cleveland in assist rate this year with a clip of 28.1 percent, and has a relatively low turnover rate comparatively as a primary ball-handler of 13.6 percent. Plus, he is still a solid point-of-attack defender that communicates really well through switches, too.

So again with Exum unavailable for an extended period, we’ll likely see KPJ a bunch at the 3 in relief of Cedi Osman, and Nance some sans McKinnie (which I’m still uncertain on), and we’ll clearly see more of Delly, who had 12 points and two assists in Cleveland’s last victory versus Philly in 25 minutes. That moved Cleveland’s record to 3-1 with Bickerstaff taking over, for the record.

Moreover, with Porter continuing to emerge as a playmaker and Exum operating more as a cutter before, the Cavs’ rotation will see some minor tweaks, but likely nothing too earth-shattering. Hopefully Delly can be effective in more meaningful minutes and also get Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, Sexton and others clean looks in his time on the floor.

We’ll see in regards to Andre Drummond in that realm, who missed the Philly game due to a reported calf strain.

Nonetheless, let’s hope Exum can be truly 100 percent when he’s eventually back, and not have setbacks.