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CLEVELAND, Ohio – Shortly after the Cleveland Cavaliers acquired Lauri Markannen as part of a three-team trade in late August, head coach JB Bickerstaff began watching a movie of the last building block.
Bickerstaff, who also reached out to a few of his Chicago Bulls coaching friends for information, wanted to learn as much as possible. How Chicago deployed Markkanen. The most effective stains on the floor. His best position. Why his production dried up after a scorching start. Which archetypes he played the best with.
It was then that Bickerstaff noticed something peculiar. Markkanen, a 7-footer who has spent most of his career up front and center, was occasionally given small minutes lead – a lineout wrinkle triggered by the Chicago trade for the big man Nikola Vucevic.
Some of these video clips intrigued Bickerstaff. He started to think about the viability of Markkanen playing 3 in some lineups, especially with a crowded – and expensive – frontcourt. It was an original route to create enough playing time for Markkanen, prized rookie Evan Mobley, future Hall of Fame member Kevin Love and $ 100 million center Jarrett Allen.
At the Friday morning shootaround, less than 48 hours after Markkanen impressed the Cleveland coaching staff with his ability to handle missions against smaller players in Atlanta, Bickerstaff revealed a new frontcourt: Markkanen, Mobley and Love.
An oversized trio flanked by Darius Garland and Ricky Rubio. A formation that Bickerstaff wanted to take a closer look, outside of the training center, against a quality opponent in the NBA.
Bickerstaff wasted no time. At 7:48 of the first quarter, Rubio, Markkanen and Love jumped off the bench in unison and stepped onto the floor together for the first time this preseason. Mobley in the center. I love the power forward. Markkanen plays a small striker. Two 7 feet and Love, which is rated at 6 feet 8 inches and 251 pounds.
“It’s a big ass alignment,” Bickerstaff said, stretching his arms out to mimic their length. “I think this training can be extremely effective. You’ve got a ton of size, a ton of length, and a bunch of skills there. The filming too. Evan and Lauri can hold several positions and different types of players.
In Bickerstaff’s vision, Garland and Rubio, the team’s two best playmakers, can smash a defense and crumble the paint. Love and Markkanen provide the shot and spacing, forcing opponents to pay to charge to stop the dribble penetration. Mobley can anchor the defense and play around the rim on the other end.
On Friday night, that quintet sparked a lethargic, roll-prone attack that ended in a 14-7 delay. Over the next four minutes, the Cavs outscored the Pacers by six points, retiring with one possession.
Even though this is a small sample and this setup probably only has power in some games, the brief first-quarter streak gave Bickerstaff confidence in Markkanen as a small, usable forward – the position the thinnest on the list, where there is an ongoing battle to be Isaac Okoro’s backup.
“I’m extremely comfortable now,” Bickerstaff said when asked if Markkanen was playing there. “Watching him in practice and seeing how much he moves his feet defensively and all that stuff is one of those things where I think he’s one of our best players. We have to do what we can to put him on the ground so that he can help us. You see the strength of our big guys and the fact that they are so versatile and can play next to each other, you can get them out on the floor. We were watching it this morning at shootaround. They covered the whole yard.
In the weeks leading up to training camp, Bickerstaff reflected on rotations, lineups and minute breakdowns. He approached the frontcourt stalemate as if he had 96 minutes available in two positions.
Allen is the starting center. He averaged a career-high 30.3 minutes after a Brooklyn deal last season. Its role will be the same. Mobley, the No. 3 draft pick, is the lifeblood of the franchise. Pencil it out as a starting power forward. The Cavs are heavily invested in its development. He’s going to play. A lot. Same goes with Markkanen, bringing a necessary 3-point dimension to an archaic offense-plagued franchise that ranked near the bottom in all major shooting categories a season ago. Sources say the plan is to give everyone between 26 and 30 minutes, give or take. It probably won’t be equal.
That’s a big chunk of the 96 already – and that doesn’t even include Love, the fickle veteran who entered training camp healthy and motivated.
Love, fully recovered from that high-quality strain of calf that cost him 47 games and a spot on Team USA’s Olympic roster, won a spot in the nightly rotation. He is considered, regardless of his position, as one of the team’s top eight players, making half of those eight – five starters and the top three off the bench – either strong forwards or crosses. This is not an ideal distribution.
“They’ve all been really good and it’s our job to find ways to put them on the pitch and see what they can do together,” Bickerstaff said. “We want Kevin to play as many games as he can this year. It’s our responsibility in training and in matches to put him in positions to be successful. It’s managing your workload, it’s paying attention to back to back and practice between and all of those things, it’s us who are working with our medical staff to figure that out. But to be honest with you, he’s been good. He kicks. He is making it easier. He bounces the ball. And he talks about what we do, which is the fun part. You see his attitude. It’s not easy for everyone to come to terms with the change they’ve had to go through. When you’ve been a franchisee for most of your career and change is happening, it’s not always easy to manage. I give him a lot of credit for the way he approached it.
Depth is a good problem to have. Bickerstaff has been saying this for weeks. But a lack of playing time can be a big problem. Then again, if Bickerstaff steals a few minutes with Markkanen at 3, it will leave a little more each half for Love, pushing his workload to around 18 minutes per game. It also gives Markkanen a chance to play with the guy he tried to emulate growing up.
“I think there is a lot we can do,” Markkanen said of the potential pairing. “Obviously we’re still on the same page, and we just put it on this morning, so it’s going to take a while. I need to watch a movie that I can enjoy. I can do my research on how I can be better at achieving different looks.
Markkanen grew up playing 3 – until he sprouted. Then he changed his position. In a way, that would be going back to its roots. There is no question about his offensive translation skills. It’s a triple perimeter threat – able to pass, dribble and shoot. But can he hold up defensively? Does he have the speed of the foot? Side rapids? The ability to change direction? Throughout his uneven career this has been a problem. He had enough trouble defending 4’s and 5’s, now we’re going to ask him to keep guys who are faster and maybe more gifted?
Maybe it works. Maybe not. There is only one way to find out. At the very least, after Friday’s successful stint, the squad won another blow.
Was this a mirage or a solution?
“I’m up for the challenge of playing number 3 on defense and I think the offense will take care of itself, but we need to be on the same page with the reps in training and in matches, ”said Markkanen. “Just having a big team, someone’s going to have a lag that we can tackle. I wasn’t surprised or anything. I was more excited. I’m probably going to have a few more minutes that way as long as I’m playing hard, making a few saves and things. I think it can be a good look for us.
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