King James Gospel
Fansided

Crystal Ball: Predicting Cavs’ rotation by the end of the season

By Josh Cornelissen

Caris LeVert and Darius Garland, Cleveland Cavaliers. Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images
Caris LeVert and Darius Garland, Cleveland Cavaliers. Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 4
Next
Cavs
Ricky Rubio (left) and Kevin Love, Cleveland Cavaliers. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) /

Predicting Cavs’ rotation: Key bench players

74 minutes are all that remain to divide among the bench, but that’s not a bad thing. The Cavs’ roster is weighted toward four elite players, and it makes sense for them to play a lot of minutes. Who will take the final minutes of the rotation?

Kevin Love is a lock for a significant role, but given his age and injury history, the Cavs will keep his minutes load down to keep him fresh. Pencil him in for 22 minutes off the bench.

Similarly, Caris LeVert is due for a fairly large role, and he is generally deserving of one. He is a gifted scorer, a solid passer and isn’t a complete sieve on defense. He’s a poor fit with the starting backcourt but he is well-equipped to play alongside one of them. He takes 26 minutes in the rotation as the backup 2 and 3.

Ricky Rubio is the last player to apportion minutes to as a surefire rotation guy. He will return from rehabbing his torn ACL sometime during the year, and last season was well deserving of 30 or minutes per night. The team is different now, with Donovan Mitchell in town, and Rubio will likely be kept to a lower minutes threshold this season. Look for him to get 20 minutes as the backup point guard.