Tyronn Lue said four days ago that he would not be making any changes to the Cavaliers’ rotation, despite a 4-10 stretch that culminated in a 148-124 loss to the Thunder.
That loss highlighted the worst of Cleveland’s defensive woes, but Lue insisted the team could pull themselves out of the spiral without making any major changes. Then, on Tuesday night, the Cavs lost to the shorthanded Spurs 114-102 and got lit up by new starting point guard Dejounte Murray.
After that loss, it appears Lue has done some soul searching and changed his mind about keeping the status quo and will be shuffling things around against the Pacers on Thursday night. Lue announced on Thursday afternoon that he would be returning Tristan Thompson to the starting lineup and shuffling Jae Crowder back to the bench, meaning LeBron moves to the three and Kevin Love goes to the four spot.
Ty Lue confirms Tristan Thompson will replace Jae Crowder in the starting lineup.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) January 25, 2018
As for how Thompson is feeling about things, the reports out of practice seem to indicate he’s ready for the start and would like to see an increased workload on the offensive end with his upgraded role.
#Cavs Tristan Thompson, after participating in a shooting drill against Channing Frye, shouted, “Give me some f****** pick-and-pops”
— Chris Fedor (@ChrisFedor) January 25, 2018
Whether moving Thompson back into the starting lineup makes the Cavs better or not is to be determined, but things can’t get much worse for Cleveland on the defensive end than it’s been, so adding a better rim protector and added rebounding punch to the starting lineup can’t hurt. Right?
