CLEVELAND — It was a little over a year ago when I wrote this piece following a home loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. This was the moment it became painfully evident to me the Cavs didn’t have any playable bigs behind starters Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley with the playoffs lurking.
It was a problem that haunted them in their first-round series against the New York Knicks. They weren’t physical, tough or big enough to match the Knicks’ aggressiveness.
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It’s a big part of the reason I liked the Marcus Morris signing. Similar to last year, the Cavs have some issues as this season nears the finish, but it isn’t the depth in the frontcourt. We’ll get to their problems in a minute. For now, it’s worth pointing out how they addressed — and then reinforced — an area that haunted them in their brief playoff appearance last year.
I believe Tristan Thompson or Morris can help this team in a postseason series. Maybe not as a rotation fixture playing 25 minutes a night, but as a physical big off the bench who can push some guys around in the right moments and create chaos inside. Both veterans are fearless in the playoffs. They can deliver the type of blow — figuratively or literally — that can jolt a more passive player like Evan Mobley into being more physical.
Unlike last year, the Cavs have plenty of playable bigs this time.
Dean Wade, when he’s healthy, is a key piece to this roster and playing like the stretch big they thought they had last year. He could be one of the most important bench pieces on this team starting next month. Behind him is also room for Thompson or Morris, although not likely both. The Cavs have to see what Thompson looks like coming off a 25-game suspension for using an illegal substance. Thompson was more effective and more useful to this team this season than I ever imagined he could be when they initially signed him.
Will he be the same player after the suspension? If he’s not, Morris could be helpful for well beyond the 10 days for which the Cavs have initially signed him.
Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff has known Morris for more than a decade and has complete trust in him.
“This has been a long time coming. I’ve got just a belief in him,” Bickerstaff said. “We spent some of those up-and-down rookie and early years together where we just spent a ton of time together and got to know each other and just understood each other as people. And then you watch a guy over time, have the career that he’s had. … He got his opportunity (in Cleveland) probably faster than we thought, but he’s a pro and he was ready to go.”
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Morris played a productive 16 minutes in Wednesday’s loss to the Heat with four points, a couple of rebounds and three assists. He fits on this roster. He brings a level of nasty that has been missing. His opportunity has arrived quickly because of the bigger problem facing the Cavs. It isn’t the size of the frontcourt but the overall health of the roster.
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Donovan Mitchell has surgery for nasal fracture, out at least a week
The Cavs are running out of time to get everyone healthy and, of equal importance, give Bickerstaff time to find a rotation with which he’s comfortable. We’re about 70 games into the season and the Cavs haven’t really had a set rotation at any point. That’s a problem.
I asked Bickerstaff Wednesday if he has any idea yet how much time he’ll actually have to assemble this thing when everyone is healthy. The short answer is no, he doesn’t. At least not yet. Donovan Mitchell is out with a sore knee and busted nose. The knee is more troubling at this point than the nose. Max Strus is also out with a bad knee, and Evan Mobley’s sprained ankle will likely keep him out a bit longer.
Bickerstaff hasn’t totally figured out who fits where yet and the Cavs are about out of time.
“It’s difficult, no doubt. I believe that we’re fortunate enough that we have an understanding of who our guys are,” Bickerstaff said. “One of the things that I think is a blessing is our guys are high basketball IQ guys and they’re unselfish players, so they can come in and kind of just fit. There may be some bumps … but for the most part, I think they can just fit.
“The rotation piece is going to be difficult to be honest with you, just because we haven’t had the time. I think we obviously have the core group of guys. The back end of the rotation is going to be a little difficult to manage, but we’ll just have to figure it out.”
Who would be in the Cavs’ closing lineup if the playoffs started today? Who would be left out?
Caris LeVert has been terrific the last couple of weeks and Bickerstaff put the ball in his hands much of Wednesday and particularly in the closing minutes, pushing Darius Garland into an off-ball role. LeVert had 16 points and 12 assists and Garland had 20 points and nine assists.
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Can both Garland and LeVert be on the floor together at the end of playoff games if Mitchell is healthy? That means Isaac Okoro, their best defender, probably isn’t. (Okoro has had a fantastic season, but he’s going to have to make pressure shots in the playoffs if he’s going to remain a rotation piece.)
Can Mobley close next to Jarrett Allen? Allen continues to play out of his mind when Mobley isn’t around. His 25 points and 20 rebounds Wednesday marked his fifth career 20-20 game and third in Cleveland. It’s difficult at this point for me to see how Mobley and Allen can close games together on the floor in a playoff game, which seemed incomprehensible when the season began. Both have had terrific seasons, but the Cavs are in this strange predicament where their best lineups just might occur while their best players aren’t all collectively on the floor. I wrote after Mobley returned from injury in January that he was going to have to shoot more 3s — a lot more 3s — for the Cavs to play the same four-out, one-in style they had so much success with this season. Well, that didn’t happen. Both because of Mobley’s sprained ankle and the fact that the shots never came, at least not at the clip necessary to see if it was feasible to expect him to play more on the perimeter on offense in the postseason. Wade’s shooting and spacing seem to fit this offense a lot better at the end of games next to Allen.
It’s a real test for Bickerstaff and this coaching staff to work through. Who sits? How is that message conveyed? There are uncomfortable conversations ahead because unfortunately, injuries are siphoning away precious minutes the Cavs need to figure it all out.
This is a really talented basketball team, one of the best in the East. It has the necessary pieces to make some noise in the playoffs. But it’s the end of March and it still isn’t quite clear how these pieces fit together. It isn’t the “big” problem that was exposed right about this time last year, but it’s a big problem nonetheless.
(Top photo of Caris Levert driving the ball against Jimmy Butler: David Richard / USA Today)
