Cavs using preseason to decide on starting 3 is no-brainer approach

It’s easy to see why Cleveland Cavaliers fans are pumped for the 2022-23 season, which is set to tip off on Oct. 19 at the Toronto Raptors.

The Cavaliers won 44 games last season in a resurgent year, and made an appearance in the Play-In Tournament. Cleveland did not close out the 2021-22 campaign how they would’ve wanted, but there was plenty to build on, and we saw guys such as Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen made marketed strides, leading to All-Star honors. Evan Mobley finished as a close runner-up for Rookie of the Year, too.

Along with the group exceeding expectations last season, the Cavaliers swung a trade for Donovan Mitchell in a deal with the Utah Jazz, which has the fan base counting down with even more excitement until the season does tip off. A core of Garland, Mitchell, Mobley and Allen is one has the Wine and Gold faithful all the more elated to see how things keep moving forward, even for a still largely young squad.

One storyline, in particular, to watch, though, and an area with some uncertainty for Cleveland is how the starting 3 battle will play out. That’s realistically the last spot that the Cavaliers will need to figure out, regarding the fifth starter.

Players such as Isaac Okoro and Caris LeVert would appear to be among the favorites to land that spot, seemingly at least, but Dean Wade and Lamar Stevens could factor in, and both made their imprint when the opportunities were there last year. From there, while both would be long shots, I’d think, Cedi Osman and Dylan Windler could be in the running, too, per J.B. Bickerstaff and via Evan Dammarell of Fear The Sword and Right Down Euclid.

As Bickerstaff emphasized on Tuesday, via Dammarell, the starting 3 role will be decided likely “by the end of preseason” and they’ll “experiment” during that. This is with all of those aforementioned six Cavs players in the running, with no “clear” frontrunner at this time to land that spot.

Bickerstaff and the Cavs using the preseason to decide on the starting 3 is a no-brainer approach.

Clearly, who starts at the 3 is going to take time for Cleveland to figure out, with training camp and the preseason determining that, as Bickerstaff mentioned.

Now, LeVert and Okoro might be the two players that are seemingly the most realistic there, for LeVert’s offense and in Okoro’s case, the defensive end. Okoro has reportedly shown ‘great signs”‘ of development on the offensive end in the offseason as well, and did demonstrate flashes last season.

From there, while I’d still be fairly surprised, Dean Wade should have a real say in this. That’s considering how he can give Cleveland more off-ball viability than the two we first touched on, and defensively, he’s done a nice job against wings and forwards when given opportunities, typically. He’s had his share of spot starts at various points in the last two seasons, also, and I could foresee him meshing nicely with others.

As far as the other two in Stevens, Osman and Windler, though I could maybe foresee Stevens and Osman factoring in, Osman’s defense is a concern, particularly with Garland and Mitchell, and Stevens has to become more of a catch-and-shoot threat, ideally.

And with Windler, he has shown flashes of the deep shooting potential many believe he has, including me, but injuries have been an issue there, and to me, confidence is still a concern with him as for when the chances have come. Granted, according to Bickerstaff, Windler has looked “phenomenal” since he’s been back beginning after Labor Day, via Spencer Davies of BasketballNews.com, so maybe he has a case; I personally don’t see it.

Now, as an aside, per a report from Joe Vardon of The Athletic (subscription required), Cleveland is “said to have interest” in trading for Jae Crowder, who is available, and the Phoenix Suns are working to find him a trade partner. I’d understand if the Cavs were to look further into that, with Crowder’s defensive and catch-and-shoot abilities, and Crowder has his share of postseason experience, but it’s unclear if Phoenix would be interested in doing a deal with Cleveland.

In any case, for the Cavaliers, it’s at least encouraging that they’ll be doing their due diligence in training camp and in preseason to ultimately decide on the starting 3 role. If it were up to me, I’d probably go with the recently-extended Wade, however, we’ll have to see what shakes out.

For reference, the Cavs begin preseason action on Oct. 5 at the Philadelphia 76ers, the club they’ll play again, then at home on Oct. 10. In the final two preseason outings, Cleveland hosts the Atlanta Hawks on Oct. 12, and they’ll wrap things up on Oct. 14 at the Orlando Magic. All games are at 7 PM EST.

And the starting 3 battle will absolutely be something to keep an eye on.