The Cleveland Cavaliers are playing extremely well this season, so this team does not need any sweeping changes. Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff certainly has some inconsistencies, but he has also developed some incredible young talent and largely managed rotations well to bring this team wins in a tough Eastern Conference.
With all of that being said, the biggest concern with Bickerstaff right now is how much he is riding his starters. The “core four” stars — Evan Mobley, Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen — are routinely playing 37 or more minutes. If this team is going to be fresh and well-rounded for the postseason, that has to be mellowed out.
The good thing for the Cavs is that they have an exceptionally deep team, with multiple players ready to step up and play more minutes. Bickerstaff has seemingly struggled to decide which bench player to give more minutes to, so we have helpfully done that work for him. Here are three Cavaliers players who deserve more playing time:
Cavaliers who deserve more playing time No. 1: Danny Green
Danny Green is 35 years old and coming off of major knee surgery, so this is not a call for Bickerstaff to start playing the veteran wing 35 minutes per game. With that being said, Green is outside the primary rotation, and that is something that needs to change.
The Cavs only have 19 games left to integrate Green into the rotation, and he needs to build familiarity with the rest of the team. His skillset is also perfect for fitting into Cavs lineup, with his smooth jumper and defensive skills. He needs to be a player getting consistent minutes each night, even if only 10-12, so that he is ready to go for the playoffs.
Cavaliers who deserve more playing time No. 2: Isaac Okoro
The Cleveland Cavaliers are at their best this season when Isaac Okoro is on the court. While you can quibble with whether he is the best pick to start, the results have born themselves out: the starters plus Okoro is a very successful lineup that needs to play more minutes.
In 306 minutes this season that group is +5.2, the seventh-best lineup in the entire NBA that has logged at least 300 minutes.
Okoro is this team’s best point of attack defender, and against most teams in the league that means Okoro needs to see the court more. He locks up opposing guards and harries them into turnovers and missed shots, and he is one of the players who can pick up a ball-handler full-court and exhaust them into passing the ball away.
He fits in well with Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell because neither brings that point-of-attack intensity. He can take the most intimidating backcourt threat, filtering Garland and Mitchell down the lineup. With his shot largely falling this season (35.5 percent for the season, 45.8 percent since January 1st) and his work as a cutter and in transition still solid, he deserves more than the 20 minutes per game he has been playing over the past few weeks.
Cavaliers who deserve more playing time No. 3: Dean Wade
Now we come to the final selection, the player on this roster who most demands more playing time. Dean Wade is the 3-and-D forward who fits in nearly every lineup and makes them better, and yet he can’t seem to find consistent playing time in J.B. Bickerstaff’s rotation.
Wade is ostensibly the reason that Kevin Love is now in a Miami Heat uniform, because Bickerstaff had decided that Wade was a better fit as the team’s backup big. That was the correct call! But inexplicably, Bickerstaff has yanked his minutes all over the place, with Wade playing just eight minutes against the Atlanta Hawks but 25 minutes against the Toronto Raptors.
Last season the Cavs thrived with three big defenders on the court, but with Lauri Markkanen in Utah they haven’t gone back to that look very often. Wade doesn’t have Markkanen’s height, but his strength and size allow the Cavs to replicate that look defensively with Wade at the 3. He then can slide down to the 4 when one of Evan Mobley or Jarrett Allen is on the bench.
Dean Wade is a good defender, able to stay in front of wings and excelling against combo forwards (of which the East has many). He is shooting 38 percent from deep, one of the best marks on the team. He fits in nearly any lineup and takes nothing off of the table.
When you look at the top two-man pairings (per NBA.com) on the Cavaliers this season (minimum 100 minutes) something stands out: five of the top six include Dean Wade! That includes the pairing of Wade and Allen (+12.4 in 215 minutes) and with Mobley (+11.5 in 421 minutes). Top 3-man lineups? Wade is in 5 of the top 7. And the starting lineup with Dean Wade at the 3? It has somehow played just 19 minutes, but it has a +22.3 net rating. Why in the world is that lineup not earning more minutes??
Lowering the minutes for the starters and sharing them to a few role players is the right move, and both Danny Green and Isaac Okoro deserve a little more playing time. Dean Wade, however, deserves to be getting the fifth-most minutes of anyone on this roster, as when he is on the court this team soars. To deny him a prominent role in the rotation is to hamstring this team.