Who should be starting alongside LeBron

[Stillwater]

Wow nance got more minutes and guess what happens

Getting Nance should push Thompson to be his best. Before Nance came in Thompson played with no fire at all...after he finally woke up and saw his minutes being depleted he played with fire and did his job. Thompson is suffering from a lack of happiness , he used to be a much more uplifting personality,must be the off court blues

[HoopsMalone]

How long is it going to take Lue to figure out that Nance is by far his second best player and that he needs to play him?

[Ainosterhaspie]

He and LeBron should be able to do some great pick and roll play. I don't mind Thompson starting, but Nance should be getting more minutes than him.

[HoopsMalone]

This Cavs team is not going to be successful without Nance playing ~28-32 minutes period. Just not enough talent.

People were so excited to get rid of all those awful players that they forgot a lot of the guys they traded for aren't any good either.

And if you're not going to play Nance then your team isn't really any better, just different

[Stillwater]

^ I agree Nance should get more minutes, but Thompson has been revitalized somewhat realizing that fact.
The players we got are not stars, they are roll players and much younger much better defenders etc.
I disagree that Hill isn't a vast improvement defensively to IT3 for 1
Hood is a much more reliable scorer than Crowder as well as Nance being a much better fit next to Love than Crowder.
Clarkson is a major upgrade to what IT3 was giving us or would give us coming off injury Clarkson is also light years ahead of what Rose gave us this season on both sides of the ball.
Would have liked to keep Frye for a floor stretcher while Love was out but other than that this team is significantly better defensively and much more capable of running which is what we need to do.

[cavs4872]

This Cavs team is not going to be successful without Nance playing ~28-32 minutes period. Just not enough talent.

I agree. Just remove Cedi from the rotation and give his minutes to Nance. What's gonna happen to Nance when Love comes back? This is just straight up pathetic.

[Stillwater]

This Cavs team is not going to be successful without Nance playing ~28-32 minutes period. Just not enough talent.

I agree. Just remove Cedi from the rotation and give his minutes to Nance. What's gonna happen to Nance when Love comes back? This is just straight up pathetic.

You are not going to see Cedi numbers decreased for Nance they don't play the same position. Thompson will earn the right to stay in the sl or he will lose it. Smith should be bumped until he breaks out of his slump imo and Nance should be starting if he can stay out of foul trouble, but both of those changes alter the dynamic on the 2nd unit which needs to run.
I don't see Lue making very many changes to be honest . The new players are still in Lue mini camp / the roster has the ability to play as well as they did against OKC every night, we just have not seen it now that they are trying to adjust to Lue's sets etc. Getting used to the system , guys getting used to them etc.
If I were Lue I would cut them loose against playoff teams and abandon the idea of starting J.R. and Thompson just because they are more familiar with Lue's sets ,see what works best under pressure etc. I'd be in favor of starting whomever plays best together and come up with new sets that are more optimal but they have no time to figure that out other than in games really.Seeding is going to be a factor this year.
Lue won't take those risks because his job is to get the most out of the entire rotation to balance the line ups on subbing and cannot deplete the 2nd unit so much that they are bad fits together for the sake of a more optimal starting line up etc... or we won't make it out of the first round. Doing all that juggling is difficult to justify for any coach this late in the season, so he is sticking with "his" guys and letting the 2nd unit sans Hill be the arena for change.

[cavs4872]

This Cavs team is not going to be successful without Nance playing ~28-32 minutes period. Just not enough talent.

I agree. Just remove Cedi from the rotation and give his minutes to Nance. What's gonna happen to Nance when Love comes back? This is just straight up pathetic.

You are not going to see Cedi numbers decreased for Nance they don't play the same position. Thompson will earn the right to stay in the sl or he will lose it. Smith should be bumped until he breaks out of his slump imo and Nance should be starting if he can stay out of foul trouble, but both of those changes alter the dynamic on the 2nd unit which needs to run.
I don't see Lue making very many changes to be honest . The new players are still in Lue mini camp / the roster has the ability to play as well as they did against OKC every night, we just have not seen it now that they are trying to adjust to Lue's sets etc. Getting used to the system , guys getting used to them etc.
If I were Lue I would cut them loose against playoff teams and abandon the idea of starting J.R. and Thompson just because they are more familiar with Lue's sets ,see what works best under pressure etc. I'd be in favor of starting whomever plays best together and come up with new sets that are more optimal but they have no time to figure that out other than in games really.Seeding is going to be a factor this year.
Lue won't take those risks because his job is to get the most out of the entire rotation to balance the line ups on subbing and cannot deplete the 2nd unit so much that they are bad fits together for the sake of a more optimal starting line up etc... or we won't make it out of the first round. Doing all that juggling is difficult to justify for any coach this late in the season, so he is sticking with "his" guys and letting the 2nd unit sans Hill be the arena for change.

Yeah, but neither LBJ or Osman are legit power forwards, so you have players playing out of position to begin with. The small-ball thing is an issue. Don't even get me started with LB at center... fml.

I'm just so drained with how **** this season and Ty's coaching have been. If Osman is not the one who falls out of the lineup when Love comes back I will be done. I could ride with:

Hill
JR
LBJ
Love
Thompson

Clarkson
Korver
Hood
Green
Nance

... as all those guys deserve to play, though if one more must go I hope it's JR and then just start Hood. Sometimes you just need to put the best talent on the floor instead of sticking with "your guys".

And LeBron can play power forward, but what's happening now is just not a good fit. The fact he stuck with Crowder for so long was pitiful.

[Stillwater]

Just about had it with Smith not getting his own shot which when he does is money. Can't understand the constant deferring.
TT has to get back to crashing the glass right now he's useless

[cavs4872]

Just about had it with Smith not getting his own shot which when he does is money. Can't understand the constant deferring.
TT has to get back to crashing the glass right now he's useless

Both those players play better in a conventional lineup; remember the short stint when Lue finally started Love at PF and Thompson at C, and JR totally went off and TT crashed the glass?

[Stillwater]

Just about had it with Smith not getting his own shot which when he does is money. Can't understand the constant deferring.
TT has to get back to crashing the glass right now he's useless

Both those players play better in a conventional lineup; remember the short stint when Lue finally started Love at PF and Thompson at C, and JR totally went off and TT crashed the glass?

The changes in the sl with Hill still in tc and Cedi despite being up to speed on the sets neither having been part of the sl until after the deadline could be throwing off Smith but he is not creating his own shot nearly enough which he could still do in this line up. Thompson didn't play in any different roll and yes he played better next to Love because his job was easier with Love's spacing.
The bottom line issue is moving either to the bench **** up the 2nd unit because you are taking away the chemistry Clarkson and Nance already have. This will take time / communication breakdowns are killing us / fit and and defined rolls are not as bad of a problem imo.

[cheese318]

I agree. TT is just such a liability on the offense he needs to move to the bench completely. Personally I don’t think he would be viable for playoff minutes as I just want to run a completely different lineup offensively. Some positions he looks so uncomfortable with the ball in his hands. Nance is too good at this point. Nance/Love could be a great combination. I honestly want to see Zizic playing some minutes at this point over TT. He’s a liability and he just doesn’t bring all the intangibles like he did in the past to justify the minutes anymore

Thompson does deserve to start. He has actually been playing his best basketball of the year over the course of the last two weeks or so. I like what he brings on the court. Only issue that may occur is when Kevin Love returns. I like the depth regardless but the best lineup will be with Love at the Center position having TT off the bench. That would create a logjam with Nance on the bench too. Tristan brings energy to the starting lineup so I’m okay with him starting but should only be seeing the court for about 20-25 minutes a game

Your quote messed with me at first. Now that I've actually put a little more thought into it, TT may fall victim to Loves return simply because Nance can play PF more comfortably and Love center.

[Stillwater]

Watch on YouTube

Thompson needs to get back to what we drafted him to do to retake his spot in the sl.
He needs to get close to it coming off the bench to be relevant again.

[Freighttrain]

I honestly have no idea what Lue is doing. Starting Nance was something every cavs fan saw from game 1, yet he kept playing TT as if he was showing signs of improvement, which he wasn't. Same with JR. I haven't seen his box score from last night but I can't recall him making any significant play. Cedi should start and it's not even close. Get rid of that gazpacho

Hill
Hood
LeBron
Love
Nance

that's the line-up and nothing else

[cavs4872]

I wouldn't mind seeing Hill-Hood-James-Nance-Zizic with Love out.

[HoopsMalone]

I honestly have no idea what Lue is doing. Starting Nance was something every cavs fan saw from game 1, yet he kept playing TT as if he was showing signs of improvement, which he wasn't. Same with JR. I haven't seen his box score from last night but I can't recall him making any significant play. Cedi should start and it's not even close. Get rid of that gazpacho

Hill
Hood
LeBron
Love
Nance

that's the line-up and nothing else

The rest of your lineup is correct except replacing JR with Hood is not really making you much better. Besides that the bench will just be incorrigble. Cavs are gonna have to run those starters BIG minutes or theyll get carved up like 15-2 style each time the benches are in