Tyronn Lue says Cavs will prioritize rest over playoff seeding

Per Dave McMenamin of ESPN, Tyronn Lue says that health is more important than playoff seeding moving forward for the Cavaliers.

This is certainly interesting. The Cavaliers only hold a one-game lead on the Raptors for the one-seed in the Eastern Conference, and the red-hot Raptors have been soaring while the Cavaliers have, well, sort of piddled around.

For the most part, I get it. LeBron James historically can win his team a few games on the road, and there's no way this team is catching the Warriors or the Spurs for home-court in the Finals. It's important for everyone to be as close to 100 percent as possible heading into the playoffs, especially after the Cavs rotten injury luck in last year's playoffs. It might not be wise to tempt fate to chase a one-seed that, given the way they're playing, they might not get anyway.

"Given the way they're playing" is problematic, though. This team is not exactly peaking over the last couple of weeks, even if they haven't been as bad as the drama around them contends. As Chris Manning pointed out, Kevin Love is mired in the worst shooting slump as a Cavalier. FTS manager David Zavac wrote about how Lue hasn't yet settled in on his rotation and isn't playing his best lineups. Also, teammates have reportedly bristled at Kyrie Irving's ball-dominant ways.

Basically, for a team that is 49-20, the Cavaliers aren't where they probably need to be if they really want to make a push for a title. Resting players is valuable, but the teams that can afford to do that know exactly who they are. They have their rotation set, they know what their best lineups are, and they're not still adapting to a new coach.

Resting players makes sense, and it might be the right decision, but it's certainly not a no-brainer. The Cavaliers still have a lot of work to do.