Cleveland Cavaliers’ offensive possibilities for this potential lineup
I have KPJ at the lead guard here because early on in his initial time as head coach, Bickerstaff alluded to how he wanted to experiment with lineups going the rest of the way, pre-hiatus, and he suggested KPJ at times manning the 1 position. Porter in this instance would get to show more of his playmaking ability and/or pick-and-roll creation.
Porter, who has had 10.0 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per outing thus far in 2019-20 has been a key bright spot as a rookie and only played 23.2 minutes per contest. The idea here is also to give the likes of Darius Garland a breather, who though he’s had issues with assertiveness and finishing as a scorer, has shown plenty of promise as a passer.
Again, though, Porter, who has had an assist rate of 14.7 percent so far, per NBA.com, as a rookie score-first contributor, has displayed plenty of passing willingness and his feel for hitting dump-offs to Nance and spray-outs to Cedi Osman and others leads me to believe he should get burn as a lead playmaker next season. No, this does not include Collin Sexton, but the idea here is to see how Windler could pair as a 2 with KPJ in some spurts.
Windler is not likely to play at all this season due to complications involving a stress reaction in his left leg, and he’ll need some time to get going.
Windler shot 40.6 percent from three-point range on 4.2 attempts per game in a four-year career at Belmont, and averaged 21.3 points per game as a senior, per Sports Reference, though, and I believe once he can get adjusted more to the NBA, could help out KPJ, Kevin Love and others as a key floor spacer.
Windler in a lineup with KPJ, Nance at the 3 to go with Love and Okongwu at the 4/5 could provide a good cutting and off-screen shooting element, too.
Not to mention, Windler could function as a nice ball-mover and even lessen the playmaking burden some and/or fill in at times for Porter in a playmaking/pick-and-roll creation sense, and the Cavs should see if Windler can initiate some offense on occasion next season.
That’d fit right in via potential two-man games with Nance and/or Love, and again, with highly capable big man passers in Love (3.2 assists in 2019-20) and Nance (2.2 assists per game and 3.2 post-All-Star), Windler and a key lob threat in Okongwu, along with KPJ, would be able to get plenty of looks from off-ball work.
With capable floor spacers in Windler, KPJ, who has hit 40.7 of his catch-and-shoot three-pointers this season, per NBA.com’s shot tracking data, and Love, a polished post-up big in Okongwu could have a bunch of room to operate down low in this lineup, too. The same could go for Nance, an improved post player, too, and clean-up rebounds/putbacks could come for Okongwu and Nance, conversely, on the weak side.
So how viable could this group be defensively?