JR Smith

[Lee]

Just read the extent of JR's thumb fracture on Marla Ridenour's blog post. It was BAD.

He needed a plate and eight screws. Damn.

Mans got to eat after laying the pipe 8 times.

 

[LeShaq]

Lue said that JR will start as soon as Love comes back

Bye-bye Shumpert minutes when JR and Korver and Love are all up to speed.

I think it's going to be something like:

KI...........DW..................KF ===========> Healthy, full-strength Cavs rotation
JR...........KK...................IS
LJ...........DW..................DL
KL...........RJ...................JJ
TT...........CF..................(LS)

RED = never plays (KF, DL, JJ)


This is why I think they were so keen on dealing Shumpert at the deadline. He's dead weight in the rotation if we're healthy. Or, at least not worth 10M per year for his spot.

 

[Jscc]

Lue said that JR will start as soon as Love comes back

Yesss. I know that locker room is getting excited about everyone getting healthy and rotations/schedules returning to normal at the right time.

Spoiler

except Shump

 

[Lee]

Bye-bye Shumpert minutes when JR and Korver and Love are all up to speed.

I think it's going to be something like:

KI...........DW..................KF ===========> Healthy, full-strength Cavs rotation
JR...........KK...................IS
LJ...........DW..................DL
KL...........RJ...................JJ
TT...........CF..................(LS)

RED = never plays (KF, DL, JJ)


This is why I think they were so keen on dealing Shumpert at the deadline. He's dead weight in the rotation if we're healthy. Or, at least not worth 10M per year for his spot.

Playoff rotations are about 8 or at most 9, some will be matchup based, but our starters will be, kyrie, JR, Lebron, Love and TT...obviously in all matchups they play.

Then the too good to not play group no matter the matchup is Korver and Deron.

Then the matchup group will RJ, Derrick, Frye Sanders and Shump.

With 7 for sure playing, and 5 players who could see minutes, 2 other wings besides shump, I 100% agree he is likely odd man out. I have been saying this for weeks and adding Sanders did nothing to change this.

Personally I think RJ and Derrick play and Frye, Sanders and Shump could see very limmited minutes most non blow out playoff games.

We are insanely deep and we are not going to play a 10 or 11 man rotation. Frye is a great shooting big, but his defense is so bad that unless we are playing another team with size, he wont play too much.

 

[LeShaq]

Playoff rotations are about 8 or at most 9, some will be matchup based, but our starters will be, kyrie, JR, Lebron, Love and TT...obviously in all matchups they play.

Then the too good to not play group no matter the matchup is Korver and Deron.

Then the matchup group will RJ, Derrick, Frye Sanders and Shump.

With 7 for sure playing, and 5 players who could see minutes, 2 other wings besides shump, I 100% agree he is likely odd man out. I have been saying this for weeks and adding Sanders did nothing to change this.

Personally I think RJ and Derrick play and Frye, Sanders and Shump could see very limmited minutes most non blow out playoff games.

We are insanely deep and we are not going to play a 10 or 11 man rotation. Frye is a great shooting big, but his defense is so bad that unless we are playing another team with size, he wont play too much.

Yeah. Agree on all points. I was just talking regular season rotation.

We are insanely deep. And I agree on Frye, especially once Sanders (hopefully) comes around.

 

[bleedwineandgold03]

Gosh jr you def gave the jazz the pipe

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[Jordan]

Gosh jr you def gave the jazz the pipe

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Not to mention his outstanding defense in the fourth quarter. He shut down Gordon Hayward. JR arguably played better defense tonight than Shump has in any game this season.

 

[Ohio]

Welcome back to the starting lineup, Pipe.

 

[batdan]

Not to mention his outstanding defense in the fourth quarter. He shut down Gordon Hayward. JR arguably played better defense tonight than Shump has in any game this season.

When we traded for him, I NEVER expected these type of performances from him on the defensive end.

This is all-star caliber play when he's playing this well on both offense and defense

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[K1rieIrving>AllOtherPG's]

Pipe is just awesome, team really missed his swagger

 

[cavsfever]

Not to mention his outstanding defense in the fourth quarter. He shut down Gordon Hayward. JR arguably played better defense tonight than Shump has in any game this season.

Made such a huge difference in the 4th to have another good perimeter defender besides Lebron. It's been crazy-making to see us look so defensively helpless late in games.

 

[Jordan]

Made such a huge difference in the 4th to have another good perimeter defender besides Lebron. It's been crazy-making to see us look so defensively helpless late in games.

I was talking about this on Twitter with @Chris Parker, but it's just nice to watch somebody make the correct play even if it doesn't always work. JR made all the right plays tonight, whether it was defending over a Gobert screen, not jumping at pump fakes, only switching when it was necessary or the defense called for it, etc. Combine that with his athleticism and it makes JR a very tough defender..

 

[Zog]

Great game by JR tonight. We don't win without him. Made that huge three to push the margin up the 6 as well.

Playoff rotations are about 8 or at most 9, some will be matchup based, but our starters will be, kyrie, JR, Lebron, Love and TT...obviously in all matchups they play.

Then the too good to not play group no matter the matchup is Korver and Deron.

Then the matchup group will RJ, Derrick, Frye Sanders and Shump.

With 7 for sure playing, and 5 players who could see minutes, 2 other wings besides shump, I 100% agree he is likely odd man out. I have been saying this for weeks and adding Sanders did nothing to change this.

Personally I think RJ and Derrick play and Frye, Sanders and Shump could see very limmited minutes most non blow out playoff games.

We are insanely deep and we are not going to play a 10 or 11 man rotation. Frye is a great shooting big, but his defense is so bad that unless we are playing another team with size, he wont play too much.

I think the first two rounds of the playoffs we should see 10 guys play. Depending on how we do up to and in the ECF, it may get trimmed there, and definitely in the Finals.

 

[bigfoot5415]

Playoff rotations are about 8 or at most 9, some will be matchup based, but our starters will be, kyrie, JR, Lebron, Love and TT...obviously in all matchups they play.

Then the too good to not play group no matter the matchup is Korver and Deron.

Then the matchup group will RJ, Derrick, Frye Sanders and Shump.

With 7 for sure playing, and 5 players who could see minutes, 2 other wings besides shump, I 100% agree he is likely odd man out. I have been saying this for weeks and adding Sanders did nothing to change this.

Personally I think RJ and Derrick play and Frye, Sanders and Shump could see very limmited minutes most non blow out playoff games.

We are insanely deep and we are not going to play a 10 or 11 man rotation. Frye is a great shooting big, but his defense is so bad that unless we are playing another team with size, he wont play too much.

I agree with parts of your post, but have to respectively disagree with a few.

So I 100% agree with your top 7. Those are locks. We went and got those guys for a reason. One thing I disagree with is that Shumpert could be the odd man out. He has had a solid year shooting and much like the rest of the team, hasnt given a damn on the defensive end. In the playoffs, Iman has shown us that he can defend when called upon. Judging by the matchups we will probably see (Toronto in 2nd rd, BOS/WAS in ECF & anyone who comes out the west), we will need a wing defender to some in and get under someone's skin while the big guns are out. Depending on the matchup Shumpert will probably get minutes over RJ. Definetly gets them over an unproven Dwill, who has looked solid in his stint here.

For the big guy perspective, it depends on two things, who we are playing and how good is Larry Sanders. If Sanders is good to great, he is a lock for the rotation. If he is just ok, he & Frye will be playing for one another's minutes. Frye should be rotation man number 9 or 10 (with RJ being 8), simply because his range, stretches the D when necessary. While I don't see him playing against GSW, I can see him being very effective against Detroit, Toronto, and Washington. I cant fathom a scenario where he gets minutes in the finals unless he goes off.

I think we roll 10 deep at minimum until the finals, and then cut it down when we see GSW. I hate the thought that you cut it down to your top 8. I know its practice, but the 2015 & 2016 GSW feasted on teams because they went 10 deep and guys stayed fresh. Personally, I think this team is not only deeper, but but better than anything GSW has put together. Why go away from it? There isn't one matchup where I don't say to myself we don't have minutes for X. Everyone one of those top 10 could be used well against literally anyone we should face (minus GSW) .I could even see scenarios where we go beyond 10 deep in the opening series (probably would have to be Chicago or some other gutless wonder).

I will say, I 100% agree with our rotation is matchup pending.

 

[Sir'Dom Pointer]

JR Looks sharp.. can't wait to see him in a lineup with Korver.