Cleveland Cavaliers to Start Dwyane Wade at Shooting Guard Over J.R. Smith
Dwyane Wade is officially joining LeBron James, Kevin Love, Derrick Rose and Jae Crowder on the Cleveland Cavaliers' starting unit this season.
Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue confirmed on Monday that incumbent starting shooting guard J.R. Smith would be moving to the bench as Wade moves into the starting lineup, and he noted that Smith was perfectly fine with his new role as the team's sixth man.
"It's tough, you've been in position where you went to three straight Finals and you've been the starting 2-guard. But like I said, it's about sacrifice if you want to win. J.R. was great about it. Just knows he has to have a different role right now so we'll see how it works," Lue said, via NBA.com.
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Smith can still be effective in a reserve role. In fact, he was named the National Basketball Association's (NBA) sixth man of the year as a member of the New York Knicks in the 2012–13 season, so he shouldn't have any problem reverting back to his role as a spark plug off the bench.
The Cavaliers didn't offer Wade a guaranteed starting spot when he agreed to join them, but he has outperformed Smith during the preseason so he definitely deserves to start.
"I'm honored to be starting here with these guys. (They've) gone to the Finals three years in a row so I don't take it lightly," Wade said, according to cleveland.com.
With James sidelined with a sprained left ankle for most of the preseason, the Cavaliers' starting five haven't had the chance to play together that much so they may need some time to gel as a unit at the start of the season. However, Wade has already developed a unique on-court chemistry with James after years of playing alongside each other in Miami, so it probably won't take long for those two to get back on track.
