Post by eric on Feb 14, 2018 13:45:29 GMT -6
The Rotation So Far
Starters are Hill JR Osman LeBron Tristan.
Osman's role is weird. He's starting and playing a good eight minute stretch to start each half, but against the Celtics he only came back for five in the second quarter and only in garbage time for the fourth, and against the Thunder he didn't play in the second and fourth at all. And it's not like they're trying to hide him when he is out there, he guarded Kyrie and Paul George, he gets his shots up.
First man off the bench looks to be Rodney Hood, and he currently leads all non big bench guys in minutes so he looks to be in the sixth man role, which should suit him just fine. He's always been a guy that takes a lot of threes as a percentage of his overall looks and he's upped that and his rim % so far in Cleveland, which is always a good sign. Late in the OKC game the Cavs were putting him in for defensive possessions which is shall we say not his rep, but the advantage of a JR Hood Green LeBron Nance(!) lineup is they're all between 6'6" and 6'9", makes for easy switching. I haven't watched the tape yet but the Thunder did get made threes on both possessions against that lineup which is shall we say not ideal.
LeBron and Jeff Green didn't play together at all in Boston but that was probably due to the LeBron semi injury, because they played a ton together in OKC. They're also currently using Green at power forward in the second/fourth quarter starting lineup of Clarkson - Hood - Korver - Green - Nance, which even though it's all bench guys is a lineup that makes sense. Clarkson and Nance know each other from LA, Hood and Green have some shot creation skills for themselves. The spacing isn't ideal because only Hood and Korver are plus shooters, but you figure Kevin Love will take these minutes from Green which will make everything work better.
Speaking of Clarkson and Nance, they're straightforward backups in the first half: come in for Hill/Thompson around the late first, swap back around the mid second. In both second halves (before garbage time), however, the Cavs have closed with Clarkson and Nance, which is especially surprising in Clarkson's case. Looking at their careers until now Clarkson just isn't as good as Hill, and he's especially not as good in the kind of decision making characteristics people usually value in closing time: pass v shoot, defense, turnovers. Could be a matchup thing, but still, something to watch going forward.
Kyle Korver's seen his minutes dip the most so far. He's a very different player than Green and right now he's playing the overwhelming majority of his minutes next to him so it's hard to say who will get the remaining SF minutes when Love comes back, but Green closing out both games is not a good sign for MAXver. LeBron will (hopefully?) play fewer minutes overall with Love back, but probably more at SF which puts the squeeze on even harder.
They've leaned on Osman for some marquee defensive assignments but keeping him means going back to Love at center which is doubtful, so that means LeBron at SF, so that means Osman on the bench because they're sticking with JR at SG, so that means Osman or Korver will get about 0 minutes. He's got another month to change their minds, though.
Starters are Hill JR Osman LeBron Tristan.
Osman's role is weird. He's starting and playing a good eight minute stretch to start each half, but against the Celtics he only came back for five in the second quarter and only in garbage time for the fourth, and against the Thunder he didn't play in the second and fourth at all. And it's not like they're trying to hide him when he is out there, he guarded Kyrie and Paul George, he gets his shots up.
First man off the bench looks to be Rodney Hood, and he currently leads all non big bench guys in minutes so he looks to be in the sixth man role, which should suit him just fine. He's always been a guy that takes a lot of threes as a percentage of his overall looks and he's upped that and his rim % so far in Cleveland, which is always a good sign. Late in the OKC game the Cavs were putting him in for defensive possessions which is shall we say not his rep, but the advantage of a JR Hood Green LeBron Nance(!) lineup is they're all between 6'6" and 6'9", makes for easy switching. I haven't watched the tape yet but the Thunder did get made threes on both possessions against that lineup which is shall we say not ideal.
LeBron and Jeff Green didn't play together at all in Boston but that was probably due to the LeBron semi injury, because they played a ton together in OKC. They're also currently using Green at power forward in the second/fourth quarter starting lineup of Clarkson - Hood - Korver - Green - Nance, which even though it's all bench guys is a lineup that makes sense. Clarkson and Nance know each other from LA, Hood and Green have some shot creation skills for themselves. The spacing isn't ideal because only Hood and Korver are plus shooters, but you figure Kevin Love will take these minutes from Green which will make everything work better.
Speaking of Clarkson and Nance, they're straightforward backups in the first half: come in for Hill/Thompson around the late first, swap back around the mid second. In both second halves (before garbage time), however, the Cavs have closed with Clarkson and Nance, which is especially surprising in Clarkson's case. Looking at their careers until now Clarkson just isn't as good as Hill, and he's especially not as good in the kind of decision making characteristics people usually value in closing time: pass v shoot, defense, turnovers. Could be a matchup thing, but still, something to watch going forward.
Kyle Korver's seen his minutes dip the most so far. He's a very different player than Green and right now he's playing the overwhelming majority of his minutes next to him so it's hard to say who will get the remaining SF minutes when Love comes back, but Green closing out both games is not a good sign for MAXver. LeBron will (hopefully?) play fewer minutes overall with Love back, but probably more at SF which puts the squeeze on even harder.
They've leaned on Osman for some marquee defensive assignments but keeping him means going back to Love at center which is doubtful, so that means LeBron at SF, so that means Osman on the bench because they're sticking with JR at SG, so that means Osman or Korver will get about 0 minutes. He's got another month to change their minds, though.
