Three takeaways from the Cavs’ Wine and Gold scrimmage

 

2. Wade’s status as back-up point guard is still unclear

Wade began the scrimmage on the Wine team, but switched to the Gold in the second quarter. He had six total assists in the game, but five on the Gold team with the second unit. Smith, who would be competing with Wade for the starting 2 guard spot, spent the entire scrimmage on the Wine team.

While all signs point to Wade being the back-up point guard come Oct. 17, Lue is staying mum for now.

“Not yet, not yet,” Lue said when asked whether or not he made up his mind about Wade’s place in the rotation. “I have a plan in place. I’m not gonna tell you guys the plan yet.”

By all accounts, Wade has spent a good amount of time during practices running with that second unit. Regardless of what happens, Wade appears incredibly open to whatever his role is, and said that his ego is not so big that he isn’t open to coming off the bench.

“I like it. It allows me to be a playmaker, which I love when you have guys like Kyle Korver out there, Channing Frye, sometimes J.R. Whatever lineups coach puts out there, it gives me an opportunity to have the ball in my hand, make plays and obviously score the basketball. There’s so much talent on this team, I’m trying to get used to all the weapons that we have. But I like it. I like the change-up. I think the second unit is going to have to be very good for this team to be as successful as it wants to be.”

“They wasn’t a plus last year in that second unit [when James wasn’t on the court]. When I’m in that group I want to make sure that group is a plus more times than not.”

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