Cavs: An early look at the starting lineup, rotation minutes

Cavs: An early look at the minute allocation

Guards: Darius Garland (32), Ricky Rubio (20), Collin Sexton (34)

Darius Garland and Collin Sexton are locked in as the starters, and each should average a healthy amount of minutes next season. Sexton has been more durable over his career than Garland, and doesn’t have a player like Ricky Rubio behind him to deserve minutes, so he will most likely average a few more than Garland.

Rubio gets a healthy amount of minutes himself running the bench offense, and he could tick up even more if the team tries out closing lineups with him on the court. He will play every minute Garland is off the court, and probably a small handful of minutes with him.

Wings: Dylan Windler (12), Isaac Okoro (32), Lamar Stevens (14)

Isaac Okoro is the starter at the 3, and since the Cavs didn’t add another quality wing this offseason he should continue to get a healthy amount of minutes. Unlike last season, however, Dylan Windler comes in healthy and could start to earn some of Okoro’s minutes over the course of the season. To start, Windler likely just operates as the primary backup at the 2 to Sexton.

Lamar Stevens fills a unique defensive role on this team and it will probably earn him minutes, if not to start the season then as it progresses and the Cavs see their need for such a player. If Okoro struggles, it will be interesting to see if J.B. Bickerstaff leans offense (more Windler) or defense (more Stevens). Either way Stevens likely plays most or all of the minutes Okoro is off the court. For now, Cedi Osman is left out, but he will get a chance to play on some nights.

Bigs: Evan Mobley (28), Jarrett Allen (30), Lauri Markkanen (24), Dean Wade (6), Kevin Love (8)

There are three players here who will gain the lion’s share of the minutes at the 3 and the 4, and on some nights they might soak up all of the minutes. Jarrett Allen will start at the 5 and play a similar number to last season, as most centers not named Nikola Jokic tend to cap out at around 30 minutes per game.

Evan Mobley and Lauri Markkanen will play somewhere between 22 and 28 minutes per game, although if one or the other has a breakout year they could bump those totals up. That leaves a small handful of minutes to the rest of the roster. Kevin Love deserves minutes if fully healthy, but that may be a theoretical that never comes to pass. Dean Wade, on the other hand, showed last season he is a help to any lineup; is there room for him to play at all?

While there will be injuries over the course of the season, for now this roster has more depth than last season and Bickerstaff actually has options for his rotations. This stands in stark contrast to last year when the team was signing guys off the street to come in and play minutes. Behind the “Top 7” it will be interesting to see who fills out the rotation for 2021-22.