Redundancy as a strength: Examining Cavs’ rotations

The Cavaliers depth and overlapping skillsets have been a positive early on.

Nine games into the 2024-25 season the answer is clear: The positional redundancy of the Cleveland Cavaliers is a feature, not a bug. The Cavs are unbeaten. They have all flavors of victory. Blowout wins, come-from-behind victories, nail-biters, and buzzer-beaters. They have notched at least one of each.

The season is young and the sample sizes are small. Regardless, there is enough data to examine the rotations and player groupings to see how Kenny Atkinson is deploying his players. This will establish a baseline for comparison as the season evolves.

The construction of the Cavs is unique. Two star guards and two elite, defensive bigs create a core four comprised of Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and Jarret Allen. To understand this team, examination of the player groupings is best viewed through the lens of the core four. First, we examine how the core four are deployed. All numbers are compiled based on data via Cleaning the Glass and do not account for Wednesday’s win against the New Orleans Pelicans.

Atkinson has the Cavs playing in two specific configurations. Either all four of the core are on the court, or only two of them are. They open and close with the core four unless the game is already in hand. This accounts for 28.1% of their total possessions excluding garbage time. In the minutes in between, they play with only two of the core four. This accounts for 62% of all possessions.

They rarely play with three of the core four on the court, largely doing so only as they transition from all four to just two. This recipe, along with a ten-man rotation and a few blowout victories, is a large part of how no player has averaged over 31 minutes per game. They only play with one or zero in garbage time.

Running with the alphas

A team with four elite players has a choice to make when it comes to the fifth player alongside them. The core four are all deserving of touches and usage. The season is young, but to date, Atkinson has limited the number of players getting an opportunity alongside the core four.

Only Dean Wade, Isaac Okoro, and Caris LeVert have played meaningful minutes alongside the core four. This picture is likely to change as Max Strus is yet to play, LeVert has missed two games with injury, and Wade has missed two with an illness. Whether the Cavs settle in on a regular fifth man or if they vary the fifth player based on the needs dictated by the opponent is something to watch. In particular, Wade and Okoro may be used depending on the defensive assignment such as Okoro drawing the Damian Lillard assignment against the Milwaukee Bucks despite Wade starting.

Remaining elite with two

When the Cavs play with only two of the four, it is always one big and one guard. This is the key to using their positional redundancy as a strength. The Cavaliers keep an elite offensive guard and an elite defensive big on the court at all times. This allows the Cavaliers to fill out the unit with the rest of the players as desired while maintaining the foundation of both an elite offense and an elite defense. This is a luxury that very few, if any, other teams possess.

Under J.B. Bickerstaff, Mitchell and Allen were typically paired together as were Garland and Mobley. This year, Atkinson has flipped that script, pairing Mitchell with Mobley and Garland with Allen for the majority of their minutes. This approach has merit as the players being interchangeable is a desirable level of flexibility. Additionally, Mobley playing with Mitchell fits the increased emphasis on developing him as a playmaker.

The early returns are promising. The Cavs have posted an 18.8 net rating with Garland and Allen on and Mitchell and Mobley off. Conversely, the Mitchell and Mobley pairing have outscored opponents by 19 per 100 possessions as the only two members of the core four on the court. Both combinations are producing at an elite level.

The Cavaliers roster is not traditional. Their unique composition is offering up questions that the opposition has yet to answer. At least in the early going, the much-maligned redundancy of the Cavaliers is the engine behind the only undefeated teams left standing.