<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Cavaliers fans had better get used to Eric Snow in the starting lineup. The plan is for the veteran point guard to start the rest of the season and to bring Jeff McInnis off the bench. Since being moved into the starting lineup three games ago, Snow has dished out 23 assists. He has just three turnovers in that span, for an assist-to-turnover ratio of 7.67-to-1. Snow is ninth in the NBA in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.34-to-1). "I think you guys (the media) want to get Jeff back in the starting lineup," Cavaliers coach Brendan Malone said. "You're not." The down side to Snow is his scoring production. He's managed just 10 points in his three starts, including a goose egg in a loss to Toronto game last Sunday. But he's not in the lineup to score points. "I think Snow executes the offense better," Malone said. "Eric Snow runs our team better and is a better defender." There are also fewer instances of "random offense," a new catchphrase of Malone's. In layman's terms, he doesn't like the players freelancing. "We're a more efficient team when we run our set offense," Malone said. McInnis hasn't fallen off the face of the earth, but his numbers have fallen off drastically. After sitting on the bench for the entire game in Toronto, which proved to be fired coach Paul Silas' last hurrah - he's averaged 3.5 points and 3.0 assists in 22.5 minutes. McInnis had been averaging 14.5 points and 5.5 assists before being disciplined. "I think Jeff is playing well," Malone said. "We wouldn't have won the Detroit game (Tuesday) without him. He doesn't like (coming off the bench). They are playing half and half."</div> Source I can't wait to see Red Bull's reaction to this article on his boy J-Mac. Silas was right all along.
I doubt it. Jeff is a very firey guy, and I can't imagine him liking this much at all. Maybe Silas wasn't doing such a bad job defining the roles.
The move makes sense, only Jeff's reaction is the X Factor. The Cavaliers need more production of the bench, and Snow is a solid initiatior of the offense. They are more defensively sound and more controlled with Snow running the point. It doesn't make sense to bring Snow off the bench to run the offense when there are no solid, consistent offensive options on the bench with him. Bring Jeff off the bench, and it has a little punch to it. You have a starter coming of the bench to play against the second string. The only problem will be if Jeff accepts his role as the Sixth Man. If he does, the Cavs will be that much stronger because, aside from long range shooting, the bench production has been a problem. If he doesn't, the Cavs will still be better since JMac hasn't been producing much in the last couple weeks.
I don't like the move and I doubt that McInnis likes the move, but the new ownership must be wanting to make a lot of changes. I feel that Snow plays better when coming off the bench though...
I'm going with NuSpace on this one. Its quite obvious Snow won't be Clevelands scorer and probably won't ever be a prominent option on the team. Meanwhile, Jeff McInnis is a great scorer and brings a spark that can ignite the offense. So, since Snow dishes out a bunch of assists and is quite successful in it since he has a lot of options in the starting lineup, it would make more sense to bench McInnis. He just makes the offense flow a whole lot better. Jeff could bring a whole lot of offense in the bench where there aren't that many scorers and would probably help Cleveland with some bench points.
