The Cavaliers want to take some of what’s worked in the regular season, over into the playoffs.
Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson mentioned during media day that he wanted the rotation to be 10 or even 11 guys. He spent training camp talking about how important having a large rotation would be. Then, he backed it up by playing at least 10 guys throughout the regular season.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Atkinson wants to do the same in the playoffs.
“Yes,” Atkinson said when asked whether you could use a ten-man rotation in the postseason.
He was then quick to point out that it doesn’t have to be that large of a rotation every night.
“It could get reduced if that 10th guy isn’t playing well or doesn’t fit the matchup or something like that,” Atkinson said. “So you can reduce it, but I anticipate starting any series with 10.”
It’s clear that Atkinson wants to play 10 guys. How that looks at this point isn’t as obvious. You would guess that this grouping would include the starting five, Hunter, Ty Jerome, Dean Wade, Sam Merrill, and Isaac Okoro.
As Atkinson pointed out, it isn’t too difficult to reduce down from 10. It’s much harder to add players into a short rotation midway through a playoff series and expect them to perform.
Atkinson also said during Tuesday’s practice that he wants to see De’Andre Hunter get more time at small forward, and specifically get more minutes with the core four of Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen. That is difficult to do when you’re cycling 10 players onto the court, and that five-man grouping isn’t starting.
We don’t know entirely how Atkinson will handle the playoffs. At this point, we only know what he’s telling us and what we’ve seen in the regular season. Given his willingness to try different things, it stands to reason we can’t rule anything out entirely.
“But [for the] playoffs, everything is on the table,” Atkinson said.