The Cleveland Cavaliers haven’t been in this position in a long time. Playing in their first playoff series since 2018, and first with such a young team since 2006, head coach J.B. Bickerstaff and his staff are evaluating the roster in real-time as many of them play in their first career playoff games.
Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, Isaac Okoro and Dean Wade have logged their very first playoff minutes in the past week. Caris LeVert, Jarrett Allen and Cedi Osman haven’t had much more experience. As such, Bickerstaff is not only seeing how each player performs under the bright lights, he has to then try and process that information and fit them together into cohesive lineups on the fly.
It was always going to take some real-time adjustments to find the rotation that will best allow this team to succeed. The core four will be leaned upon heavily, but who should fill in around them? Through two games Bickerstaff has used very different collections of players, and we have gained enough information to make some conclusions.
Heading into an important Game 3, here are three players who should get a larger role moving forward.