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Dion Waiters, C.J. Miles projected to start for Cavaliers, according to report

According to Bob Finnan of the News Herald, Dion Waiters and C.J Miles are projected to start at shooting guard and small forward for the Cavaliers to start the season.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

With opening night quickly approaching, the Cavs rotation is finally beginning to take shape. According to Bob Finnan of the News Herald, rookie Dion Waiters will be the starting shooting guard for the Wine and Gold. Cleveland's big free agent signing of the summer, C.J. Miles, is also projected to be the starting small forward, with Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson, and Anderson Varejao filling in at the other slots.

With Anthony Parker gone and Omri Casspi not panning out the way the team had hoped, the wing positions were in dire need of upgrade. Well, to be honest, the roster has had a massive abyss at small forward since LeBron left, and outside of Delonte West, I can't really recall a solid shooting guard on this team in, like, forever?

Waiters was drafted with the hopes of forming a dynamic and young backcourt duo with Irving, and so far it's hard to tell if that's going to be the case. Some have argued that Waiters would fit better on the Cavs roster in a James Harden-like role as 6th man; he could come off the bench and provide scoring and ball-handling, and those are two things the team needs off the bench. They also need scoring in the starting lineup, and if Waiters can provide that there, all the better.

Miles was recruited to replace that aforementioned abyss. He can only do so much, but as a shooter, he'll help space the floor well when Irving is running the offense. Starting Miles means bringing Alonzo Gee off the bench; frankly, you could do a lot worse than bringing a guy like Gee off the bench. And I'm pretty sure the Cavs did do a lot worse than that.

Oh, and it's 11 days and 7.5 hours til tipoff.

(H/T: Waiting for Next Year)

Photographs by spatulated, Triple Tri, and chrischappelear used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.