Cavs: When Kevin Love returns, Taurean Prince is bench bucket-getter

Prince should still be the Cavs bench bucket-getter when Love’s back

Again, to me, while Okoro should feasibly have his minutes-share cut down some, by five or so minutes, I still believe he’s Cleveland’s starting 3, anyhow. The reason for that, when Love is back in the fold, is though Okoro has had some really tough matchups lately, with his thick frame and sturdier build, I’d much rather Prince get more burn against bench 3’s and 4’s.

Besides, Prince has played more at the 4 anyway, and when Nance is back later on, Prince can play more at the 3 again, with Okoro at times sliding to the 2. And a combination of Dylan Windler/Damyean Dotson/Cedi Osman will be in the fold otherwise.

Lastly, although Drummond will continue to be a key subject of trade rumors, and the Toronto Raptors are reportedly interested in him, per Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, I’d still think Drummond could be around for a good chunk still and perhaps leading near up to the March 25 deadline. So, whether I prefer it or not, he’ll likely remain at the starting 5 when Love is back, albeit Jarrett Allen will still get a significant portion of the burn.

But bringing it back to Prince, while he could seemingly get a starting 4 gig in the next game or two, when Love is back, Prince should be the bench bucket-getter for the Cavaliers. That will allow him to hunt shots more, particularly in instances against reserves, and in a starting role, I personally wouldn’t expect him to be able to have nearly as much of an impact as a scorer, as he’d play more minutes with guys like Love in this case, along with Collin Sexton and Darius Garland.

In a bench role more when Love is back, however, Prince can still pack more of a punch in still playing over half of games, anyway, and if he has it going, can be a player in closing stretches at times if he has things rolling in games.

Albeit as a quick side note, when Love is healthy for the Cavs, they will reportedly look to deal him, similarly to Drummond, per Sam Amico of OutKick and Forty Eight Minutes, and he’ll seemingly continue to be a player mentioned in trade rumors.

That said, with how Love’s injury history has been, and with his contract, I still wouldn’t expect him to realistically be moved during this season. In the coming offseason, Love, who is due to make $60.2 million in the two seasons following this one, I’d imagine could have a higher possibility of being traded, though.

But for the rest of this season, when Love again is back in the fold for Cleveland, it’s clear that Prince should be the energy/spark key scorer off the bench, by and large, with that being a role he can hunt shots more.

That’s not discounting other reserves, such as Osman and Windler, and Nance when he is back, who even with rumored interest, shouldn’t be dealt, and in regards to those guys, they still need to get their looks via ball movement/cutting, as we know.

Albeit in an on-ball sense, I’d look to Prince for stretches more so is all.