CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Cavs have assembled a roster that’s built not just for regular season success, but for the chess match of playoff basketball.
As revealed in the latest Wine and Gold Talk podcast, the team’s strategic flexibility might be their secret weapon for a deep postseason run.
During Cleveland’s 118-113 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, fans caught a glimpse of what makes this year’s squad fundamentally different from previous iterations. The closing lineup wasn’t determined by star status or contract size but by matchup necessity and game flow.
“It just highlights and reaffirms the playable depth that has been added to this roster,” Cavs beat reporter Chris Fedor explained on the podcast. “I was talking to Larry Nance Jr. about this in the locker room ... the thing that he said that stands out about this roster is that they just have different answers for whatever opponent that they’re going to be playing against. There’s so much versatility; there’s so much optionality.”
This “optionality” represents a dramatic shift from past seasons, when the Cavs often looked predictable and inflexible in crucial moments. Now, Kenny Atkinson has multiple cards to play depending on the situation.
The most telling example came late against Milwaukee when Atkinson opted to close with Dean Wade and Lonzo Ball rather than Jarrett Allen. This wasn’t a demotion for Allen but rather a strategic deployment of personnel against the Bucks’ zone defense.
“I think it’s fine that Jarrett Allen does not close every single game for the Cavs,” Fedor noted, “because the kind of player that he is, there are certain situations where it’s better for the Cavs to have somebody else out there on the floor as the fifth guy. And I think Jarrett accepts that.”
This adaptability extends beyond just the center position. The podcast revealed that while Evan Mobley, De’Andre Hunter, Donovan Mitchell, and Sam Merrill appear to be fixtures in the closing lineup, that critical fifth spot remains fluid based on matchups.
“If they need another big, then it’s Jarrett, right? If they need some ball handling, if they need some playmaking, it can be Lonzo. If they need a little bit more floor spacing, if they need some versatility defensively, then Dean Wade’s an option for them as well,” Fedor explained.
This flexibility was on full display during key moments against Milwaukee, as the Cavs found ways to counter the Bucks’ defensive adjustments.
“The Cavs were really, really smart in how they operated,” Fedor said. “They gave Donovan Mitchell the ball inside the 3-point line, inside, kind of at the free throw line, extended. But because Jarrett was not on the floor during those moments and it was Dean instead, the defenders had to stay home. They had to stay home in a different kind of way. And it wasn’t crowded and it wasn’t as congested.”
What’s particularly encouraging is how these lineup changes are being accepted by players who might see their minutes fluctuate. There’s a collective understanding that matchups might dictate playing time, even for core players like Allen.
The strategic depth extends to how the Cavs handle specific game situations as well.
Against Milwaukee, they deployed Ball for his ball-handling and playmaking in crucial moments, which addressed a glaring weakness from last year’s playoff exit.
“The Cavs now have a player like Lonzo Ball who can pass the ball in at an extreme rate, has a great IQ, has a great read of the game, is a risk taker called by Kenny Atkinson and knows his role,” podcast host Ethan Sands noted.
This newfound versatility doesn’t just give the Cavs different looks during games — it potentially gives them different answers for the various challenges of a playoff run.
“If the Cavs need to go with that kind of look, they can, they have the personnel to do that. If the Cavs have to go big, they can. They have the personnel to do that. If the Cavs have to go really, really small, they can. They have the personnel to do that,” Fedor emphasized.
For a team whose playoff failures have often stemmed from predictability and inflexibility, this strategic depth could be the difference-maker come April and May.
Want to hear the complete breakdown of how the Cavs’ roster construction gives them unprecedented flexibility? Listen to the full Wine and Gold Talk podcast for Fedor and Sands’ analysis of Cleveland’s evolving rotations and strategic options.
Here’s the podcast for this week:
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