This lottery was an important one for Cleveland. Getting a prospect with real star potential was huge. This is probably our last real opportunity to get a star in the draft while we have this core. After next season we'd probably be too good to get a good pick, so nailing this lottery was huge. Cade was the ultimate goal but the 3rd pick is very good compensation. Detroit won the lottery, Houston came in 2nd, and Cavs get pick 3. Detroit takes Cade, and Houston gets to pick from Evan Mobley and Jalen Green. Opinions on who Houston should take certainly varies from person to person, but I think Houston will take Mobley. He's been the consensus #2 all year and is a good fit. That leaves us with Jalen Green.
Jalen Green needs no introduction. The uber-athletic 6'6" wing is a scoring machine, using his handle, hops, and jumpshot to get any look he wants. However, his fit with Sexland raises some questions. Green isn't known for his defense. Starting Green means he has to play SF for a little bit, unless you want to bench Sexton, which I am not interested in until Green proves he is better than Collin. For now you assume Green comes off the bench, but eventually he probably becomes a token starter at SF. He won't play much SF but he'll start there just so you don't have to bench one of him or Sexland.
As far as other roster moves, these are the rotation level players that you can assume will be on the roster next year:
Garland, Sexton, Green, Okoro, Nance, Allen, Wade, Windler, Hartenstein, Love, Prince. Others include Dotson, Stevens, and Kabengele. Names that probably have to go are Kevin Love and Taurean Prince. I think a healthy Windler can be the backup SF behind Okoro, with Osman as the injury replacement. Nance and Wade also take all the PF minutes, so losing Love doesn't hurt. As for what these trades look like, I have no clue. Prince probably gets shipped off to a contender for matching salary and a pick, and honestly I think Love gets bought out. As for when that happens, I don't know. Considering all this, I'm going to operate as if they just aren't on the roster.
PG: Garland 33, Sexton 15
SG: Sexton 18, Green 30
SF: Okoro 31, Windler 17
PF: Nance 28, Wade 20
C: Allen 33, Hartenstein 15
Sexton 33
Garland 33
Allen 33
Okoro 31
Green 30
Nance 28
Wade 20
Windler 17
Hartenstein 15
That's pretty simple, doesn't require too much thinking. However, Jalen Green won't be on the bench forever. At some point, I have no clue when, we should start to see Jalen force his way into the starting lineup. That's where some issues begin to arise. Okoro fits with Sexland because he can be an amazing on-ball defender, something that is much needed with that backcourt. Jalen simply isn't that kind of defender, at least not yet. Playing all three of Garland, Sexton, and Green is going to cause problems defensively. The result is to limit that as much as possible, essentially making Green a starter just to say "he's a starter". How it would look in-game would probably just be Sexton or Green being subbed out a few minutes after tipoff in favor of Okoro.
PG: Garland 34, Sexton 14
SG: Sexton 20, Green 28
SF: Green 4, Okoro 32, Windler 12
PF: Nance 28, Wade 20
C: Allen 33, Hartenstein 15
Player/Minutes
Garland 34
Sexton 34
Allen 33
Okoro 32
Green 32
Nance 28
Wade 20
Hartenstein 15
Windler 12
A few nice things I like about this rotation:
1. Never without at least 2 of Garland, Sexton, and Green. Shot creation shouldn't be an issue anymore on this team
2. Wade only being at 20mpg means you can slide Nance to backup center depending on matchup and just give Wade more minutes to fill the void at PF
3. Playing Okoro and Green together at times means you can put Okoro on the opposing SG defensively if you need to and you won't create a mismatch elsewhere
Lineup 1: Starters, about 4mpg
Garland, Sexton, Green, Nance, Allen
Lineup 2: Garland/Green, about 15mpg
Garland, Green, Okoro, Wade, Allen
Lineup 3: Sexmoney (Sexton/Green), about 14mpg
Sexton, Green, Windler, Nance, Hartenstein
Lineup 4: Sexland, about 15mpg
Garland, Sexton, Okoro, Nance, Allen
For the starting lineup I went with Nance at PF to help the defense. With Garland, Sexton, and Green, you need every ounce of defense you can get from those other two spots on the court. It really doesn't mean a whole lot though how this lineup performs, it's mainly just to not have to bring one of the three off the bench.
Lineup 2 likely follows the Starting 5, subbing out Sexton and Nance in favor of Okoro and Wade. This lineup definitely is more traditional than the starters, and overall is solid, with an offense structured around Garland-Allen pick and rolls and whatever Jalen Green wants to do. Defensively is also really solid and doesn't have any glaring weaknesses. Plus playing Okoro with Green means Okoro can guard opposing SGs if that's his best matchup, and it doesn't create mismatches elsewhere because Green is so much taller than Sexton.
Lineup 3 goes by the name of Sexmoney, which is what I will be calling the combination of Sexton and Jalen Green from now on. This lineup begins to see some wrinkles, as it is the only one without Garland and Allen. One option with this lineup is that there is room for flexibility. Since Wade is only playing about 15-20mpg, you could easily slot him in this lineup over Hartenstein and move Nance to the 5, giving you a 5-out offense with the athletic weapons to take advantage of it in Sexton and Green. The defense shouldn't be bad either. Garland is amazing, but this is the kind of stuff that gets me excited. Isolations with 5-out spacing or pick and pops with Nance should send the offensive rating of this group through the roof.
Lineup 4 brings back some familiar faces in familiar places. The main starting lineup and the 5 players with the most starts from the 2020 season, this lineup should not bring any surprises. Wade will probably take some of the PF minutes in this lineup to give Nance a break, which is the only thing different. Hopefully some good coaching can bring the best out of this unit, but we'll see. My lack of faith in the current coaching staff is well documented.
Overall I'm extremely excited to bring Jalen Green to this franchise. An ultra-athletic, elite scorer, Green really has the potential to be a franchise guy and could be the best scorer from this class. He's almost exactly what this rebuild needed, and now we have a chance to get him, assuming Detroit takes Cade and Houston takes Mobley.
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