Kenny Atkinson Makes Blunt Remarks About Jaylon Tyson’s Role on the Cavs

Recently, Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson was prompted to comment on Jaylon Tyson’s role within the rotation.

"He's gotta earn it," Atkinson said.

This statement from Atkinson suggests that Tyson's minute reduction will continue through the end of the regular season and into the playoffs.

What happened?

Tyson had been playing phenomenal basketball before the trade deadline, and many thought this play was part of the reason the team parted ways with the struggling and expensive De’Andre Hunter.

With Hunter gone, and Strus still injured, Tyson was supposed to slot into the starting small forward role. So how did he lose his minutes?

Upon the departure of De’Andre Hunter, Tyson saw a steady uptick in minutes until the debut of James Harden.

Since Darius Garland had been injured, his minutes had been spread amongst the rotation, primarily to Jaylon Tyson.

This uptick had also been a result of Tyson breaking out while Garland was injured, incrementally earning more of the spread out rotational minutes each game Darius missed.

So when Harden finally suited up, about 30 minutes a game instantly disappeared within the rotation, most of which were Tyson’s.

What does this mean for the Cavs?

This means that Jaylon Tyson is unlikely to see quite as many minutes in the playoffs as he was getting before the trade deadline.

While many would argue that Tyson should be seeing more minutes than other rotational players like Sam Merrill or Dean Wade. This does not seem to be Atkinson’s design

Remember, Atkinson hails most recently from Golden State and had been mastering Steve Kerr’s system.

This means Atkinson is likely to continue to prioritize players that can stretch the floor off of catch and shoot opportunities while defending at a high level.

At face value, a guy that shoots 46.7% from long range on 4 attempts a game is probably a solid option from catch and shoot.

Trying to fit in

Regardless, unless Tyson plays more power forward, he will have to compete for minutes with another new addition that has been playing great in Keon Ellis.

Ellis has not been shooting the ball nearly as well as Tyson. However, Ellis has been defending at an extremely high level; showing Atkinson is prioritizing defenders to compliment the new backcourt duo of Mitchell and Harden

Perhaps if Tyson can tighten up his defense a bit, and try to pull down some more rebounds, he can earn back a larger role in this new look Cavs rotation.