Cleveland Cavaliers: Three potential lineups to watch next season

Potential lineup #3: Garland-Sexton-Windler-Love-Nance

The third lineup limits the Cavaliers’ size down low but would put a lot of athleticism on the court. The three-man lineup of Garland, Sexton and Nance this season has a net rating of 0.6, which is the second-best rating among the three-man lineups that have played 40-plus games.

While Garland had some struggles out of the gate, over his last 10 games active leading into the hiatus and before he missed five games with a left groin strain, he averaged 12.4 points and 4.9 assists, to only just 1.8 turnovers per outing, as indicated by NBA.com.

Pair that improved play with Sexton, who over his last 15 games, averaged 24.5 points and 4.3 assists while shooting 44.2 percent from beyond the arc, and that’s a duo on the rise. This stretch included an electric career-high 41-point game against the Boston Celtics for Sexton.

Along with a young backcourt, you would add Nance, who is averaging a career-high 10.1 points and is connecting on 35.2 percent of shots from beyond the arc. Nance is also a solid rebounder, as he’s averaged nearly eight rebounds per game in his time with the Cavaliers since being traded to Cleveland by the Los Angeles Lakers near the 2018 deadline.

Again with this lineup, you would have the threat of Sexton and Garland, who can penetrate the lane and force the defense to collapse. This would leave room for either an open three-point shot or a lob pass for an easy dunk. The defense may be a question mark here, but Sexton is improving and Nance’s leaping ability can alter shots and he’s a really effective rotator.

While I am looking forward to seeing how Sexton, Garland, and Porter all develop next season, I am most intrigued about Windler. If the Cavaliers can add a reliable wing shooter with a higher on-ball scoring ceiling than Osman who can make opposing teams pay for leaving him and is very polished on pull-ups and as a finisher, that could help the growth of the team.

Clearly, this is all speculation due to the uncertainty of the NBA season. But if the young Cavaliers’ core continues to develop, and they can add talent in the upcoming draft, this Cleveland team may finally start to climb out of the Eastern Conference cellar and turn into a team on the rise.