Very slowly and quietly, the transition of J.J. Hickson from center back to power forward is about to begin. The long-term ramifications on the Cavaliers are huge.
Antawn Jamison's successful surgery on his fractured left pinky Tuesday morning leaves a glaring hole at power forward for the Cavaliers. They will temporarily fill it Wednesday night with Samardo Samuels, who will start against the San Antonio Spurs. But if the power forward of the future is currently on this roster, it is Hickson.
All parties involved agree Hickson needs to return to his natural position, he was simply starting at center out of necessity and because of the presence of Jamison. With Jamison now out for the next five to seven weeks, the Cavs can take that time to see if Hickson's defense and focus on rebounding can translate back to power forward.
Scott estimated that 90 percent of Hickson's time at center is spent in the lane, a big reason why he has averaged 11.7 rebounds since replacing Anderson Varejao as the starting center Jan. 7. When he moves back to power forward, nearly half of his time will be spent on the perimeter - where he sometimes got lost in the offense and fell in love with too many mid-range jumpers.
"He's played so well at (center), we want to slowly move him away from the (center) to (power forward)," Scott said. "I don't want to take away his aggressiveness at that (center) position and the way he's been playing by saying 'Now you're the (power forward).' I want to leave him there (at center) for right now and slowly work him out of it."
Privately, the Cavs still aren't convinced Hickson will be their power forward when they return to contention. He has grabbed at least 15 rebounds in eight of his past 19 games, but then there are performances like last week against the Houston Rockets in the first game after the All-Star break, when he never made it to the game mentally and was invisible on the court. Scott benched him for the entire fourth quarter.
Those types of lapses are far fewer than they were at the beginning of the season, but with the Cavaliers owning multiple high picks this summer and various big men available, nothing can be ruled out.
If Hickson demonstrates his high caliber of play can translate back to power forward, he will look back on the past two months as perhaps the most critical in his development.
Hickson never seemed to grasp the importance of defense and rebounding until he was forced to play in the middle this season. Now he says he cherishes blocks more than dunks and rebounds more than points.
"Numbers don't lie; I think it helped me a lot," Hickson said. "Not just in rebounding, but scoring and playing defense overall."
