The impending return of injured Cleveland Cavaliers guard Derrick Rose will have a direct result on the playing time of teammate Dwyane Wade. While such circumstances might be cause for conflict within a team, Wade has no problem with head coach Tyronn Lue‘s proposed plan that will reduce the veteran’s time on the court.
Lue expects to play Rose in place of the 35-year-old Wade on the second night of back-to-back contests. In addition, other situations will also have Rose playing in place of Wade in order to keep the latter guard fresh for what the team hopes will again be a long playoff run.
“I came here to be part of the solution, not any of the problems,” Wade said. “Whatever they ask of me I try to do. If Coach comes to me and tells me they don’t want me to play as many back-to-backs, I’m OK with it. Because it’s something obviously the trainers have talked about, but also we’ve got other guys coming back and we want to find an opportunity to get them minutes. Whatever, man, just play the role that’s set for me to play and try to star in it.”
One of the reasons for Lue’s strategy is that Wade has struggled somewhat in trying to deliver effective performances on the second night of consecutive-night contests. The first example came on Oct. 21, when he was 2-of-8 in the Cavs’ home loss to the Orlando Magic, while the most recent instance came on Wednesday night, when Wade was 2-of-10 from the field in a loss to the Boston Celtics.
Rose has struggled to return from an injured ankle suffered in the Cavaliers’ second game of the year. Prior to his signing with the team during the offseason, Rose had struggled for the past five years with ACL trouble. Lue indicated that Rose is expected back soon, but has no official date as of yet.
