The Cleveland Cavaliers have opened the new year with a 5-5 record. They’ve won thrilling games, and they have blown leads of 15 and 29.

Some of this, some of that, and a reminder that last year’s ECF is still sort of relevant.

Saturday night’s loss to New York certainly did not do this team any favors, as it had Kenny Atkinson summing up all the errors, while James Harden had one of his worst performances in an already abysmal campaign.

With Harden continuing to struggle, would a starting lineup change help give the team a boost?

Enter Meleek Thomas

Through his first few appearances this season, Meleek Thomas has averaged 12 points per game. He has shown flashes of being a big-time scorer, while being one of the most confident shot-takers. In his first game on the team, Donovan Mitchell was hyping him up, while Jarrett Allen said his defensive effort had everyone else stepping up to play harder.

Compared to James Harden, who has not shot it better than 50% in any game and has splits so far of 36/36/84. He’s never an issue at the line, but he has never shot the ball quite this poorly across the board. The assists are his lowest in over 15 years. There are few positive things to say, as the defensive end gets even worse. The lack of consistent effort and going for the reach/steal instead of staying with his man doesn’t work.

Thomas has been providing a spark when coming off the bench, but is struggling a bit more when starting next to Harden and Mitchell. He would be best off playing only with one of them to open, because it feels as if his ability is too minimized.

Would starting Thomas for Harden give both players a lift? On the one hand, it would provide the rookie a chance to get involved early and share touches with Mitchell. And on the other, it would enable a struggling veteran who is playing the worst ball of his career a chance to change the game upon entry.

It’s A Real Option

The Donovan Mitchell-James Harden pairing has not enjoyed a very good net rating together. They are far better with #45 in and The Beard sitting out. But if you can sub the two for each other five minutes into a game, it could allow both players to get comfortable.

Cleveland would be best off getting Meleek Thomas some early shots in rhythm. Even if he were the fourth option in a healthy starting five, ahead of only Peyton Watson, it could surely work. Harden has been, to put it bluntly, atrocious, and really can’t continue to play 33-37 minutes a night with all the analytics and numbers showing his negative play.

The Cavs should absolutely consider bringing their veteran off the bench, just to see if it can fix anything. Chris Paul came off the bench in Golden State. DeMar DeRozan is a reserve in Denver this year. Swallow the pride and go for it. 

If anything will get Harden going, it could be this. It could do more harm than good to keep rolling as is. 

Get Thomas out there. What do they have to lose?