The Cavaliers bench is as deep as its been in 47 years of franchise history, Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com writes. The addition of Andrew Bogut, who signed Thursday and is scheduled to play Monday, gives the club an impressively qualified 11th man.
Though Vardon acknowledges that many coaches reduce their rotation to seven or eight players in the postseason, Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue will have every opportunity to keep his at nine or ten.
“You never know what can happen and now you always got those guys on the bench that are ready to play,” Lue said of the new Cavaliers. “They are veteran guys that can step up, been in big positions and are capable of making good plays in the playoffs. So, that’s always a luxury to have.”
There’s more from the Central Division:
- He didn’t demote Reggie Jackson to the bench but Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy did tweak the minute distribution at the point guard position, MLive’s Aaron McMann reports. “The only thing we told [Jackson] was, he was going to go in shorter bursts and really pace himself,” Van Gundy said. “Push himself defensively and try and get the pace of the game up on offense. That’s all we talked about.”
- Head coach Fred Hoiberg spoke about some of the miscommunication issues he’s had with Bulls players like Bobby Portis and Michael Carter-Williams. Mark Strotman of CSN Chicago reports that Hoiberg sounded frustrated when questioned about the reported incidents.
- Released by the Heat mid-season, Derrick Williams has already found himself in a “perfect situation” in Cleveland, Marla Ridenour of the Akron Beacon Journal writes. Williams’ confidence is surging thanks to the support of his Cavaliers teammates. “When you’ve got guys like [LeBron James] telling you to shoot, the confidence just goes through the roof,” Williams said.