King James Gospel
Fansided

What the Cavs’ 10-man rotation for the 2022-23 season should look like

By Quinn Minnich

Cleveland Cavaliers big Evan Mobley greets teammates before a game. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
Cleveland Cavaliers big Evan Mobley greets teammates before a game. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 3
Next
Cavs
Cleveland Cavaliers wing Isaac Okoro (left) celebrates in-game with Cleveland guard Darius Garland (#10) and Cleveland big Jarrett Allen (#31). (Photo by Nick Wosika-USA TODAY Sports) /

For this NBA season, the Cleveland Cavaliers had a solid rotation and starting lineup. Usually, the starting 5 would consist of Darius Garland, Isaac Okoro, Lauri Markkanen, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen. This lineup provided a good amount of offense and great defense. This lineup registered 225 minutes together on the court and played 19 games together, the most on the team, according to NBA.com’s lineup data. This lineup had an offensive rating of 115.3 and a great defensive rating of 103.7.

The Cavaliers had many different starting lineups, 9 of which logged 40 or more minutes together. The best lineup, statistically, that the Cavs have played at least 40 minutes consisted of Darius Garland, Ricky Rubio, Lauri Markkanen, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen. The offensive rating was 128.7. The highest offensive rating for a team in NBA history for a season was the 2020-21 Brooklyn Nets, with a rating of 118.3.

The defensive rating was spectacular as well, having an 88.1 rating, regarding the aforementioned for Cleveland, and the assist-to-turnover ratio was a 3.71. So yeah, this lineup was VERY good.

For the bench, it usually would consist of Rajon Rondo/Brandon Goodwin at the point guard, Caris LeVert at the 2, Cedi Osman/Dean Wade at the 3, Kevin Love/Lamar Stevens at the 4, and Moses Brown manning the middle, late in the season. Collin Sexton would have been a great helper on the offensive end, either being the 6th man or starting at the 2, but he only played 11 games this season, tearing his meniscus early in the season.

Cleveland also has some draft picks in the 2022 NBA Draft, which their first-rounder should be slotted at 14th, unless the Cavs get lucky in the draft. Also, Cleveland has two 2nd-round picks, so Cleveland can be able to get another rotational piece. The Cavaliers also can be able to bring a player in during free agency. In fact, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com reported (subscription required) that given his relationship with the team, that “increases the chances” of Rubio returning.

Cleveland bringing back Rubio would be a huge success, as Rubio was one of the best bench playmakers for the Cavs this season until he tore his ACL. If the Cavaliers do bring him back, fans will be pleased, as he was a fan favorite. Until then, I will not consider him as a part of the rotation, for the article’s sake.