Andre Drummond has played his last game as a Cleveland Cavalier. He’s still on the roster, but Drummond, his agent, and GM Koby Altman have come to an agreement to keep him out of the lineup until he is traded or bought out. Cavs fans are ecstatic, but let’s see what this means for the franchise going forward.
Without Drummond, the Cavs rotation players consist of Sexton, Garland, Okoro, Nance, Allen, Love, Windler, Prince, and McGee. 9 players, a good size for a normal NBA rotation. However, Love and Nance are currently out with injury, leaving a gaping hole at PF. Prince has started there in the meantime, with Lamar Stevens taking the other PF minutes and Dameyan Dotson filling whatever minutes are left. Love’s time remaining as a Cavalier is also in question, but there doesn’t seem to be an imminent trade for him.
Current Rotation:
Garland
Sexton
Okoro
Prince
Allen
Dotson
Osman
Windler
Stevens
McGee
When fully healthy:
Garland
Sexton
Okoro
Love
Allen
Windler
Prince
Nance
McGee
However, there is a huge hole in the third ball handler/shot creator role. A guy that I think would fill this role well would be Austin Rivers of the Knicks. He’s always been a good scorer and statistically is one of the best isolation scorers in the league. He’s fallen out of the Knicks rotation after they got Derrick Rose, and with Mitchell Robinson’s injury, they have a hole at center. Javale McGee could fill that for them. A trade that feels like a no brainer would be Javale and a 2nd rounder for Rivers.
After making this trade, the rotation would look like:
Garland
Sexton
Okoro
Love
Allen
Rivers
Prince
Windler
Nance
For each position:
PG: Garland, Sexton
SG: Sexton, Rivers, Okoro
SF: Okoro, Prince, Windler
PF: Love, Nance, Prince
C: Allen, Love
That’s a lineup that makes sense. Staggering minutes will always have 2 of Garland, Sexton, and Rivers on the court, so there never is a real lack of shot creation. The centers will always be either Allen or Love, and the remaining forward minutes would be filled by Okoro, Nance, Windler, and Prince. That’s a real NBA lineup that with the right coaching could drag this team out of the hole that has left us last in the league in net rating.
Some rules I’d like to see with that lineup would be Nance always playing with Love when Love’s at center (helps with Love’s defense), Love always playing at center when the Sexton plays without Garland (allowing for Sexton 5-out isos) and Garland always playing with Allen (natural pick and roll partners).
It’s hard to predict trades, especially small ones like McGee for Rivers, but if that was to happen, it would greatly improve the performance of this team.
I’m willing to give JB another chance with a more modern lineup, but just let it be known that Kenny Atkinson would do wonders with this roster.
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