One of the more maddening things about the Cleveland Cavaliers last season was their lack of positional size. It led to head Kenny Atkinson having to play a lot of smaller lineups and it was tough to see teams take advantage of the smaller Cavs on both ends of the floor.
From Craig Porter Jr. running the de facto power forward position during the early part of the season to to Keon Ellis running the four at times to Dean Wade small ball five lineups, Atkinson tried to be creative in getting Cleveland to play small, but the results were less than stellar. It led to the Cavs being at a physical disadvantage more times than now.
Getting bigger across the board this summer was a priority for the Cavs and the acquisition of Peyton Watson greatly helped with that. Now that Watson is in the fold, it will finally rid Cleveland of one annoying option.
Peyton Watson’s arrival means no more four guard lineups for Cleveland
Or at least we hope so. Watson’s ability to play multiple positions gives the Cavs more lineup flexibility and there are definitely some interesting combinations that they can go with.
The projected starting lineup has a good amount of size in Harden-Mitchell-Watson-Mobley-Allen. Watson, Mobley, and Allen also provide elite level rim protection as a trio and will cause a lot of havoc for opposing offenses.
Cleveland like staggering their bigs and guards, so for their first subs they could have a lineup out there of Harden-Merrill-Tyson-Watson-Mobley. This allows for Merrill to play his natural two guard position for one of the rare times during his Cavs tenure and Tyson and Watson form a nice dynamic wing pairing.
Another lineup could be Mitchell-Tyson-Watson-Tomlin-Mobley or even Harden-Merrill-Tyson-Tomlin-Allen. Cleveland could also get one of the young guards involved in Proctor or Porter and have a lineup of Porter-Mitchell-Tyson-Watson-Mobley or Harden-Proctor-Watson-Mobley-Allen. Guys like Mario Hezonja and even Thomas Bryant can be thrown in there at times. All of these lineups offer the Cavs more versatility and guys are able to play in their natural positions.
Now Cleveland won’t be forced to play smaller guys at the three and the four anymore. They have bigger guards that can play both spots and they have forwards that can play at different spots on the court as well. Obviously having a bigger frontcourt helps with this lineup configurations, and the Cavs have to tap into that next season.
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