Jose Calderon likely to start Saturday against Orlando

With Derrick Rose nursing an ankle sprain, the Cleveland Cavaliers appear like they will need to make a change at point guard for Saturday night’s showdown against the Orlando Magic.

Per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue expressed skepticism towards Derrick Rose’s status for Saturday’s game:

Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said he is "kind of assuming" Rose will miss the tail end of Cleveland's back-to-back Saturday at home against the Orlando Magic.

"Just got to see how he feels," Lue said. "It doesn't look good right now."

Rose was guarded when he discussed how he felt following Friday night’s game:

"I mean, it's a sprain," Rose said. "It is what it is. There's nothing I can do about that. Take me out [in] the air, kind of twisted my ankle when I came down. So, get a lot of treatment and see how it feels [Saturday]."

Lue said if Rose cannot play he likely would start Jose Calderon in his place as to not disrupt the rest of the Cavs' rotation that the coach has already tinkered with through Cleveland's 2-0 start.

Despite being an undrafted player, Calderon has started at least 13 games every season of his career. For how unpopular the trade of Richard Jefferson was, it didn’t take long for the team to need the services of Calderon.

This will be the first extended look the team will get of Calderon with the starters, as he has only played 1 minute total in the first two games of the season.

Fortunately it doesn’t seem like the injury to Rose is too serious. He sprained his ankle after a horse-collar tackle from Greg Monroe on a layup attempt. With this game being the second of a back to back, there’s little sense for the Cavs to overwork Rose and jeopardize his long-term health.