The Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday morning announced the decision to move All-Star guard Dwyane Wade off the bench while veteran guard J.R. Smith would take his spot in the starting lineup.
Throughout the process, LeBron James has been quite supportive of the change on both ends to which he stated on Tuesday that he believes Smith will bring a familiarity factor to the mix, according to Nikki Goel of ClutchPoints.
The fact that J.R. Smith has prior experience in the starting lineup playing alongside James and Kevin Love should help ease the process. He has spent the last two seasons as a starter for 102 of the 108 games that he played over that span in the regular season while also starting all 39 games in the playoffs.
The 32-year-old holds more than enough familiarity with how the Cavs like to operate with the starting lineup with James on the floor. At the same time, it allows for him to get into spots where he’s most effective as a scorer with that unit.
Meanwhile, the move to the second unit for Dwyane Wade should allow for him to have more freedom and space on the floor to find scoring opportunities. Ultimately, time will tell if this move will work out for both Wade and Smith, and ultimately for the Cavs.