Lue will look for answers as camp begins

Training camp for the Cavs opens on Sept. 25 with more unresolved issues than they should normally have.

Tyronn Lue stepped into a cushy situation as head coach of the Cavaliers midway through the 2015-16 season when David Blatt was fired.

The Cavs had the best record in the Eastern Conference (3011), the team six months earlier lost a hard-fought NBA Finals to the superior Golden State Warriors and he had LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love on his roster.

It was like inheriting a fortune from an estranged uncle, like moving into a mansion fully furnished. He still had to get his team to the Finals and beat the Warriors. But he had a better starting point than his coaching peers.

The gang got together for the start of training camp last September, and for Lue it was like hitting the play button again after three months on pause.

Times have changed. Training camp for the Cavaliers opens on Sept. 25 in Independence with more unresolved issues than the second-best team in the NBA should normally have.

Ironically, the biggest concern to fans — whether James will leave after this season or stay with the Cavaliers — should be far down on the list for Lue. Lue has to worry about assembling a championship team for this year, and the best way to persuade James to stick around would be to win a title without Kyrie Irving.

Which brings us to the biggest question that has to be resolved this training camp: How do the Cavaliers replace Irving, who was traded to the Celtics in a stormy offseason for guard Isaiah Thomas, center Ante Zizic, forward Jae Crowder, a 2018-first round draft choice belonging to the Nets plus a 2020 second-round pick belonging to the Heat?

When will Thomas be ready to play? There is no time line for his return from the hip injury that ended his season three games into the 2017 Eastern Conference finals against the Cavaliers.

Thomas will be the starting point guard when he is healthy. But who gets that role in the meantime?

That job will probably go to James, who often acts like a point guard even when he is playing forward.

Derrick Rose — who is working on a one-year, $2.1 million deal — could also fill the role. Rose is trying to resurrect his injury-plagued career by playing alongside James.

Lue has to find the best way to use Crowder, see if Zizic could eventually back up Tristan Thompson and get James and Love in sync with Rose and at some point Thomas.

Forward Jeff Green, guard Jose Calderon, guard/forward John Holland and forward Cedi Osman are also new. Center Edy Tavares joined the Cavaliers very late last season,

so this training camp will be the first chance for Lue to take a hard look at him.

Fortunately for the Cavaliers, Lue doesn’t have to solve all the riddles before the season begins on Oct. 17 — 22 days after training camp starts. He just has to have it ready by March so the Cavs can be a welloiled machine for the playoffs.

This is Lue’s second training camp as the Cavaliers’ head coach, but it definitely is not a smooth transition from the first one. He has the demeanor to handle it.

Reach Schudel at JSchudel@News-Herald. com. On Twitter: @jsproinsider