The Cavs are looking for their perfect rotation as they look to make a deep playoff run.
Soon enough, the Cleveland Cavaliers will be complete for the first time this season. Sure, Ty Jerome will be sidelined for the foreseeable future after undergoing surgery on a nagging ankle injury. But, regarding their ten-man rotation, the Cavs will be set in stone once Darius Garland (jaw) and Evan Mobley (knee) are free of their respective minute restrictions.
A ten-man rotation for Cleveland head coach J.B. Bickerstaff and his red-hot Cavs, something that Bickerstaff quipped before Cleveland hosted the Sacramento Kings, was a product of the team’s recent success. Typically, Bickerstaff prefers to go nine players deep into his rotation any night. But, with the Cavs going 13-2 since the calendar turned to 2024, leading the NBA in net rating along the way, it’s hard to keep certain players out when everyone has played so well.
In Bickerstaff’s eyes, the first half of action will always be run based on whatever he, his coaching staff and his players schemed up given the competition. But, at halftime, Bickerstaff acknowledged that he and his staff would adjust based on what was or wasn’t, hopefully working to keep their winning ways rolling.
Cleveland came away with yet another victory against the Kings on Monday, 136-110.
Cavs finding perfect rotation
Obviously, the main headliners and franchise cornerstones in Garland, Mobley, Jarrett Allen, and Donovan Mitchell, will be part of those adjustments, regardless of what happened in the first half. The same goes for Max Strus, Isaac Okoro, and Caris LeVert, Cleveland’s trio of high-end roleplayers who have been consistent despite whatever the competition that given night.
That makes seven players permanently earmarked into Bickerstaff’s hypothetical rotation every game as the season continues. But the three remaining spots give a lot of wiggle room for Bickerstaff and the Cavs to work with.
Considering how Cleveland has gravitated to leaning heavily on their three-point attack, that opens up plenty of minutes of Georges Niang, Dean Wade and Sam Merrill to fill in the cracks for the Cavs in either half of action.
In fact, Niang, Wade and Merrill are players Bickerstaff had in mind when expanding his rotation and horizons most nights. All three stepped up with their combination of defense and three-point shooting, and Bickerstaff knew he didn’t want to cool off by reducing their on-court opportunities, especially Merrill.
“I’m hard-pressed to sit here and tell you he hasn’t earned it,” said Bickerstaff. “The job is going to be how do we figure out the ten guys, which isn’t always easy; especially when you have so many guys playing so well.”
Granted, a lot of this blows up depending on what the Cavs do, with only a few days to go until the annual trade deadline. There’s always a chance a player that seemed vital to what’s worked so far is on the way out the door, with Cleveland hopefully upgrading with whomever they bring back in.
If that happens, it’ll disrupt the flow for a bit and make it more difficult for Bickerstaff and his staff to finalize their rotation. But, with how well the Cavs are currently playing, no matter where it’s coming from on the roster, it’ll be a possible problem that solves itself in no time.
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