Cavs: 10 observations on the first two preseason games
Cavs: 10 observations on the first two preseason games – The Good
2. Multiple guys throwing the lob pass
The benefit of having a roster stocked with 7-footers is that they can go up to get a pass. The Cavs perimeter players took full advantage, tossing a number of alley-oop passes to Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen and even Mauri Markkanen. Everyone was getting in on the party, as Darius Garland, Ricky Rubio, Cedi Osman and Kevin Love all threw them up for either a dunk or a drawn foul by their intended target.
3. Ricky Rubio and Kevin Love have chemistry
It makes sense that the two most veteran players on the roster would be the quickest to develop chemistry…and even more sense when you remember that the two played together on the Minnesota Timberwolves back in the day. They picked right back up from where they left off, with Rubio hitting Love for a pair of 3-pointers in their first few minutes on the court against the Chicago Bulls.
Rubio to Love ... just like the old days 👌 pic.twitter.com/1TT0c8X1QB
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) October 6, 2021
The two will likely play together a lot on second units, and it’s great to see they have a mind-meld working already.
4. J.B. Bickerstaff has his rotation already in mind
Many teams this preseason have treated the games as extensions of training camp, getting a variety of players into the games early on and trying out different lineup combinations. While Bickerstaff has done some of that mix-and-matching with player pairings, in both games he appears to have been working with a rotation similar to what he will use in the regular season.
In the Bulls game on Tuesday he used just nine players for the first three quarters, and against the Hawks he played 10 players the entire game. Darius Garland, Collin Sexton, Isaac Okoro, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen are the unsurprising starters. Lauri Markkanen and Ricky Rubio were quick to come in from the bench, and Kevin Love likewise played in both rotations. The surprise was Cedi Osman, who was firmly entrenched in the rotation, with Dylan Windler relegated to the deep reserves. Lamar Stevens played in the Atlanta game among the regular rotation.
That means that Windler, Kevin Pangos and Dean Wade all look like they are on the outside of the rotation looking in, at least for now.