CLEVELAND _ With coach Tyronn Lue and general manager Koby Altman describing recent contact with Derrick Rose as positive on Saturday, the point guard is expected to return to the Cavaliers.
Reports by Jason Lloyd of The Athletic and Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com said the team expected Rose back after he walked away on Nov. 22, with injuries prompting him to ponder his future in the league.
But the Cavs had no update on Rose on Sunday as they waited for a timeline for his return, according to Vardon.
Lue and the Cavs survived three tough weeks to start the season and are currently riding the NBA's longest active winning streak of 11 games. If Rose comes back, along with injured center Tristan Thompson, the challenges will begin anew.
Not only will the Cavs have to rebuild trust with Rose, but Lue must decide when to play him. A sprained left ankle has limited Rose to seven of the Cavs' 23 games.
Rose presumably will take over for 36-year-old Jose Calderon as the starting point guard until Isaiah Thomas returns from a torn labrum in his right hip, which is expected this month.
Rose has averaged 14.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 26.9 minutes, but the Cavs have played better without him. He believes he returned too soon after initially hurting the ankle in Game 2 at Milwaukee, which might contribute to the fact that Rose has recorded a positive plus/minus only twice.
Rose is 4-3 as a starter, but the Cavs are 3-0 when Rose posted a plus/minus of plus 9, plus 5 and 0 at Milwaukee, at Washington and at home against Milwaukee, respectively.
Calderon is averaging just 2.4 points per game but is 7-1 as a starter and his 1.5 assists nearly match Rose's. Both Rose and Calderon are defensive liabilities. Both are placeholders until Thomas makes his Cavs debut.
Then Rose will likely head to the second unit, where Dwyane Wade as established himself as the leader of that highly effective group.
Lue's and Altman's positive contact with Rose would seemingly indicate that the Cavs have somehow allayed any fears Rose has about how he will fit in. In training camp, Rose showed flashes of the player who was the 2011 league MVP, drawing unsolicited raves during the first week of practice. But Rose and Wade will need time to learn how to play together.
Rose does not present Lue's only dilemma. Thompson might return this week after being sidelined since Nov. 3 with a left calf strain. He's missed four weeks and 15 games.
In his absence, Kevin Love slid back to center. That's where he began the season until Lue went to Thompson at center in Game 4, saying the Cavs needed to get back to who they were in the previous three seasons.
Love has had his challenges and said while playing out of position he believes he's holding down the fort inside until Thompson returns. There have been games in which the Cavs needed Thompson's presence inside.
But it's hard to envision Lue sacrificing so much scoring on a nightly basis. Love is averaging 19 points and 10.3 rebounds per game, Thompson 4.4 points and 6.4 rebounds. Love is shooting .894 from the free-throw line, Thompson .455.
Taking Jae Crowder out of the starting lineup is not an issue because the ex-Celtic continues to struggle in his transition to his new team. But with averages of 8.6 points and 3.2 rebounds, he's still more of a scoring threat and will do more for floor spacing than Thompson.
Lue was non-committal on Saturday.
Asked if Thompson would start when he returned, Lue said, "We'll see." But as he walked out the door of the interview room, Lue pointed out that the Cavs are 15-3 with Love starting at center.
That's probably not what Love wanted to hear.
There's also the issue of sticking with what's been working during the 11-game winning streak. Lue has talked before about going with the hot hand and can expand that to a broader team issue. He doesn't like a 10-man rotation.
The second unit is more cohesive than the first. Wade has put himself in Sixth Man of Year consideration. Channing Frye has proved he deserves to play. Jeff Green has been the Cavs' unsung hero. Kyle Korver is occasionally driving to the basket, finding more ways to score than just beyond the arc.
Lue might be forced to wait until the streak ends to make changes.
The streak doesn't mean much to everyone. James said Saturday it's not a motivating factor for him. But that's because he and Wade were part of the Miami Heat's franchise record 27-game winning streak in 2012-13 that ranks as the second longest single-season streak in NBA history.
Wade, though, believes winning matters.
"We play this game to win," Wade said. "It feels great to win. Food tastes better when you win. Coach gives us days off when we win. It keeps our body fresh, it keeps everybody wanting to continue to win so we can continue to have that."
