Links to the Present: Roster Rigging

Having managed to avoid most of the Coronavirus carnage thus far in this exceptional season, the Cavs organization is having to roll with the punches in December 2021. Here’s a brief timeline of some perhaps-relevant (i.e. not necessarily related) events:

In early November, Lauri Markkanen and Kevin Love were placed in the protocols –

On December 4, the Chicago Bulls announced that two players on their roster had Covid-19 –

On December 8, the Bulls came to Cleveland and got beat –

On December 12, the Bulls had something like nine players with Covid –

On December 15, Isaac Okoro had a monster game against Houston, followed by a positive Covid test –

Cleveland's Isaac Okoro has entered Covid protocols, team says.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 16, 2021

On December 18, Evan Mobley was announced as also entering health and safety protocols –

#Cavs rookie Evan Mobley has entered the league’s health and safety protocols.

— Chris Fedor (@ChrisFedor) December 18, 2021

On Sunday December 19, another five Cavs players — Jarrett Allen being the only starter —  tested positive and the game with the Atlanta Hawks (Trae Young also having entered protocols) was postponed.

As the NBA notes, “Players in the health and safety protocols must be sidelined at least 10 days or record two negative tests in a 24-hour period before they can resume basketball activities.” So readers can do the math and line it up with the Cavs schedule. Assuming no complications with conditioning, Okoro might be available for the Boxing Day tilt against Toronto, and Mobley might be ready for the matchup with the Pelicans on December 28, although it seems more likely to anticipate him back for the December 30 game against the Wizards.

The biggest cluster of players, including Jarrett Allen, Ed Davis, Lamar Stevens, and Denzel Valentine, might be back in time for the New Years’ Eve game in Cleveland against the Hawks. Good luck to all of those players mentioned getting through isolation, treatment, rest, testing whatever they are doing to stay or get back in shape.

The Cavs have travelled to Boston and anticipate playing tomorrow. Cleveland has picked up two new players to temporarily fill out the roster, on 10-day contracts. They are forward Justin Anderson and center Luke Cornet, as explained in a Cavs organization press release.

Anderson at least has a bit of playoff experience:

Anderson might also represent an upgrade on Denzel Valentine, who sank a three but was otherwise lackadaisical (careless with the ball, failure to do basic stuff like box out, not shooting as shot clock ran out) in his minutes for the Cavs vs. Milwaukee as part of an otherwise pretty locked-in Rubio-Cedi-Love-Allen lineup.

As for Kornet, while he is not going to rack up Hartenstein-esque assist stats, he has an outside shot (career .328 from three) and should know some of the Cavs from his run in Chicago:

For the game in Boston, other CtB staff may have updates or improvements on this estimate, but J.B. Bickerstaff might be looking at a rotation something like:

Guards: Darius Garland, Ricky Rubio, Kevin Pangos

Forwards: Cedi Osman, Lauri Markkanen, Dean Wade, Justin Anderson

Centers: Kevin Love, Luke Kornet, Tacko Fall

ESPN’s depth chart for the Cavs is like a dart board at this point, but it does remind viewers that Cedi is likely to do some ball handling / shooting guard in lieu of Okoro or Stevens.

The bad news for Cleveland’s big men is that Celtics center Robert Williams III, out with personal reasons in the Celtics’ recent close loss at home to Philadelphia, is available for the game vs. the Cavs. Celtics big man Enes Kanter Freedom will welcome this news, having  logged 40 minutes guarding Joel Embiid, netting a respectable 11 rebounds and 15 points but getting smoked in several key possessions down the stretch.

Freedom also had stretches guarding Charles Bassey, Philadelphia’s second-round pick in 2021, since Andre Drummond is — you guessed it — in Covid protocols. Al Horford is also out for the game against Cleveland.

No word yet on when the Cavs game with the Hawks is to be rescheduled.

Finally, this went under the radar, but the lengthy guard Broderic Thomas has been picked up by another club. Readers might recall that Thomas, the undrafted Truman State product, played significant minutes (averaging 14 minutes a night) for the Cavs over a span of 28 games down the homestretch last season; he was angling therefore for a roster spot in the preseason this year. After being cut by the Cavs, he was picked up by the Celtics and has thus far played in four games for Boston, with cumulative stats of 0-1 shooting and one offensive rebound, presumably all in garbage time. He is also out for the game against Cleveland, having joined the NBA December 2021 Covid fraternity on the same day as Evan Mobley, December 18.

Well, that’s that. Here’s to discussing actual basketball — that beautiful game — at a point in the very near future!