Not getting Ray Allen is looming larger now..maybe Ray would have been a bit more of an effective sub for JR and K Love than Jones/Miller/Marion would be.
Just a couple of months ago, JR was supposed to be the throwaway in the trade for Shumpert. Now guys are talking about his looming suspension like he's the game changer. He's been great for us this season, but we most definitely don't need him to win a series. We have guys who can pick up the slack while he's gone. Heck, Chicago is a top 3 defensive team, especially in terms of 3 point percentage against. I think the more we see Shumpert on the floor, the better. I don't see Smith hanging in there with Butler anyway. I'm more concerned about not having Love for the series. The Bulls have a huge front line. I want to see Marion as our backup 4 only when Mirotic is playing the 4. But The 3-4-5 minutes are going to be scary the entire series if Love is out. Basically 3 positions unevenly distributed between LeBron, Marion, TT, Mozgov, James Jones and possibly Perkins.
3- LeBron (35 min) Marion (5 min) JJ (8 min)
4- TT (25 min) LeBron (6 min) Marion (12 min) JJ (5 min)
5 - Mozgov (35 min) TT (10 min) Perkins (3 min)
Obviously this is just my current assumption but we're going to need big guys out there because Gasol, Noah and Taj Gibson will have the size on most of our guys. The 1-2 positions are going to be tough as well, but if Kyrie can hit about 40 minutes a game and Shumpert can do about 35, the 21 left over can be filled by Miller, Delly, JJ and possibly Harris. It sucks that we lost two guys for at least one game today, but I'm hoping that pushes the team to be even better and put effort into playing hard.