Does the Cleveland Cavaliers best lineup include BOTH Jarrett Allen & Evan Mobley?

Does the Cleveland Cavaliers best lineup include BOTH Jarrett Allen & Evan Mobley?

Instead we have some breaking news within the last 90 minutes here that you helped break regarding Evan Mo’s ankle injury so what can you tell me and the good people of Cleveland and Cavaliers Nation about number four moving forward well you’re not going to see him for a

Little while uh the Moy ankle injury is going to keep him out for a little while uh the official wording that we landed on was an extended period of time I know that’s vague that was by Design there’s so much swelling in there right now they can’t really doctors can’t really get a

Official timeline on it until that swelling gets out of there so I I I think a month is probably a sa safe estimation somewhere around there somewhere in that time frame uh that’s not anything that we’re officially reporting that’s just for people want to know what ises an extended period of

Time look like I I think probably about a month seems uh pretty reasonable under the circumstances which obviously puts them up against getting toward the end of the regular season and you know we’ve been talking about the two big lineup and trying to stagger their minutes well

That’s not a problem anymore yeah at least for the time being and and I don’t know how much time they’re actually going to have to sort through rotation once he’s back it’s been it’s been a tough year for Evan man all the way around with injuries yeah I said on ucss

Today that before we knew how long the injury was going to be I said a spring Dan could be anywhere from two to four weeks who knows maybe even longer but I was hoping we’d get some answers and some clarity some finality on what the Cavs best line ups and best closing

Lineups would be during this stretch in March where they play good team after good team after good team after good team so that come April JB bicker staff kind of had a really good idea and a really clear picture of this is my best five this is how these two guys work

Together and whether frankly whether or not Moy and Allen could coexist in a crunchtime lineup and it’s just kind of frustrating from from my standpoint that now I don’t think we’re going to be able to get those answers because when he does return whether that’s the the end

Of March early April there’s only a few games left to kind of ramp him back up into things and frankly one thing with Evan Mobley is when he’s on offense I don’t want him thinking I just want him acting Yeah the more Evan thinks a lot

Of times the worse the outcome is and I’ve I’ve been through a sprain dankle before I’ve had to come I had to play coming off a sprain dankle and until you’re 100% confident that it’s back to being what it was prior to the injury there’s always that slight hesitation in

The back of your mind that you may tweak it again so Evan having to deal with that on top of all the other things he does within this offense there just not a lot of time to figure out what to do with those guys and in Evans case you know this was

Gonna be a big month for him trying to prove he is one of those guys at the end of uh at the end of the game that needs to play so we’ll we’ll see but not good news especially with Donovan out and uh that may not be as quick of an injury

Recovery as first we’re led to believe either yeah you know the thing that I keep stressing that the Cav said they would reevaluate after three games I think a lot of people assumed it was going to be just three games for Donovan I don’t know that that’s necessarily the

Case it was three games basically a week give him the week and then reevaluate and see where he’s at um and you know and and no stru either they’re going to tip off here in about an hour so uh not great news all the way around and you

Know one more point on this that the evidence is mounting that they’re at their best with one of these dudes in the middle and four Shooters around them like it’s it’s becoming clear yeah and and and we can do shows on that in the offseason about what you do moving

Forward with that you know I wrote about it today before we figured out the Evan situation that it’s it’s it’s a weird little riddle for the Cavs because no one will dispute that Evan and Jarrett are two of the best players on that team but they’re at their best with only one

Of them on the floor fact what do you do and and who do you pick and and it may lead to them having to have a conversation in the offseason about moving on from one of them and I know which one it’s going to be and it’s

Not going to be Evan Mobley I don’t think if push comes to shove you know and again every time I talk to people around the league all off season even into this season they’re at their best with with Evan at the five I know the numbers may say differently but people

Around the league who know the game believe it’s Evan at the five and four Shooters around him is when they’re at their best now you know JB said last night we are at our best when Jared Allen is at his best and and Jared means a lot to

This team so I don’t know how you untangle this it’s really kind of a weird spot to be in when two of your best players and then you can have the same conversation about the back court of of Donovan and Darius but right now you know when we’re talking Evan and

Jarrett it’s sort of weird that two of your best players on the team aren’t necessarily making the best five on the floor and that’s a tough spot to be in yeah let’s talk about the two big lineups here just because because it kind of goes hand inand with Mo and I

Got some numbers for you Jason this was prior to last night’s game so this was before the Boston Celtics game and these were the Cavs net ratings with Allen on the court without Moy they’re plus 12.6 in the net rating with Moy on the court without Allen they had a plus 5.99 net

Rating when they’re both on the court together a plus 4.6 there are some caveats to that when they were on their 18 and two streak when they were RedHot a lot of those games came against subpar competition with Allen on the court mobile on the sidelines sitting out with

His first injury so there is a little bit of a caveat to it maybe the numbers aren’t that drastic one way or another but I’ve come to the conclusion and I was pretty steadfast on it until frankly Sunday night that those two the two bigs

Mob and Allen had to be in the closing closing lineup like those are two of your four best players no matter how you slice and dice it you figure out a way to make those guys play but the Knick game in particular not even what Dean

Wade did last night which we’re going to break down in full effect coming up in a few minutes but it was more in the Knicks game and we showed it on the show but this picture in particular and you can see Evan Moy in the corner up top

Here and Darius Garland just didn’t even take a look at him and this was not the only possession this is just the one still shot I pulled for the sake of this discussion if Evan can’t shoot threes and you could put four bodies in the paint and I made a couple phone calls

Today to a couple of NBA assistant coaches asking hey if evans’s back and Isaac are back would you guard him in the playoffs and without even a second of hesitation the answer goes they got to make three or four first before we’re going to guard them so you can’t play

Three on five three on four uh or four on five excuse me in prolong stretches so at this point I was hard on the side of you gotta play them figure it out like they’re two of your four best players after Sunday I think I’m teetering towards one big right now and

At this point in my opinion it’s Allen it could be next year at Moy when he’s healthy fully recovered but coming off this ankle injury coming off this second injury since December I just think Allen gives you a better opportunity on both ends of the court and the numbers with

Him and Donovan Mitchell together are through the roof they’ve developed one of the best pick and roll chemistries in all of basketball and I don’t want to sacrifice that just to allow Evan Mobley to get the Reps he probably needs to develop it’s kind of an unfortunate

Situation in all honesty for Evan I actually feel bad for him in a sense how this whole Situation’s kind of unfolded in front of him it’s led to wins it’s led to the Cavs being a better basketball team but it certainly has stunted his growth and his you know

Potential rise into the Unicorn category he was tabbed on when he was drafted by the Cavaliers third overall yeah I still think he’s gonna be a dominant player in this league for a really really long time but certainly you know I don’t know that he’s progress at the track that I

Thought that he would you know we talked about that on the show the other day U and it goes back to when he first came back from the knee and and I said he’s I want him to shoot 150 to 175 three-pointers the rest of the way well

That’s that wasn’t he wasn’t on Pace for that even before this he got hot there for a few games where he started making some threes and you thought all right and then that sort of went away and and the point I was trying to make with that

Was you have to find out if you can play these guys together or not and the only way to find out is for him to shoot these threes and see if he’ll make them that’s what the regular season is for to figure out what your best postseason

Lineups are and and we have the answer now and I tend to agree with you I don’t think you can play them together in a closing lineup at the end of games because not only because we didn’t see the 150 to 175 threes but because it

Just never became part of his game like the whole point was I wanted to see if he could make that part of his game make it a real weapon so that teams would have to come out on him and clearly you know that that Nicks is proof and by the

Way Isaac was wide open in the other corner and nobody’s guarding him either little different with Isaac because his Defender is in the the help area but they’re not they’re not locking onto him like they would a Sam Merill or Donovan Mitchell or darus scarland in that sense

And you can see Sam Merill on the top of your screen here uh devvon chenzo not leaving his side even remotely in that now he wouldn’t help because from the position he’s in but you can kind of see who they are willing to help off of who

They’re willing not to guard at all right who they’re not willing to come off with whatsoever right so and and Evan they they just weren’t gonna pay any attention to him which is why I wanted the 150 175 three a game three three and a half a game something like

That if you can find the rhyth if they start going in teams will have to pay attention to it unfortunately that never really developed so now we’re back to where we were you know prior to the knee injury that I just don’t know I I tend

To agree with you I think it’s probably one or the other uh especially in in key moments down the stretch I don’t know that it’s both and and now we don’t even have to worry about that for next few weeks at least and it’s good to have

Versatility if you have to go to bigs you can go to bigs I mean the numbers with both them on the court together aren’t terrible they’re not bad it’s just they’re better the numbers and the ey test when one’s on the bench and one’s playing surrounded by four

Shooters and you know one of the complaints or not let me rephrase that one of the reasons I thought you had to play both of them was you have two seven-footers I know neither one’s technically seven foot but two legit bigs on the court together you should

Dominate the glass and we saw Chicago do that in Reverse to Cleveland last Wednesday however when you actually look into the numbers they’re a better rebounding team when Dean way on the floor than they are with any individual Cav not named Tristan Thompson they grab 4 and a half%

More defensive rebound when Dean Wade’s at the four with either of the bigs they do with any with the two bigs together which kind of blew my mind I wasn’t expecting that that was According to second Spectrum Sports and uh Dean Wade is trans say it again that’s a good

Transition it is and we’ll get there in a sec but Dean Wade uh is one of the better positional rebounders in basketball now he’s not going to pull down crazy numbers had eight rebounds last night a couple big offensive rebounds which will break down in a sec

But when you look at the sacrifice you get in theory from a rebounding aspect to enhance your shooting and spacing I don’t think the sacrifice of rebounding is actually anywhere near as big as you would think by by subbing out an Evan Mobley or a Jared Allen for Dean Wade at

Least the numbers don’t back it up I’m not 100% sure that’s uh that passes the ey test Theory yet but the numbers back up that their rebounding is just fine with Dean Wade at the four and either one of the bigs at the five which I wouldn’t have guessed before looking into that

Today Dean is very underrated and and that goes for me as well you know he’s I’ve noticed he’s a much better Defender this year than I ever gave him credit for in the past I don’t know if he’s gotten better or if I just didn’t notice it but

He’s he’s pretty good like he could be a starter in this league on another team oh yeah absolutely he’s a legit 69ine too by the way legit 69ine he could be playing Big Time minutes and carrying a starters role on a lot of other teams uh including probably this one if if JB

Wanted to reenact the the three bigs that he had when marinan was here Dean could be that small forward that 69ine small forward I think I mean he’s done it before yeah and and they even played him at Center last night so he’s very versatile obviously a great shooter we

Know that and uh you know another another one of those guys that they found on the margins and they’ve developed into a really nice rotational piece which is what you have to do in this league especially with where the Cavs are at with the first round pick situation and their lack of

Assets um you have to hit on these guys and they’ve done a really nice job of developing Dean Wade

Can Cleveland Cavaliers coach JB Bickerstaff continue to play both Jarrett Allen & Evan Mobley together in crunch time? The guys discuss whether or not the Cavs are best suited with two bigs in the lineup.

Mobley is also going to miss an extended period of time with an ankle injury, so the decision may be made for JB as the Cavs ramp up for the playoffs.

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