Tyronn Lue indicates Cedi Osman could play vs. Pistons due to injuries on the roster

Cavaliers rookie Cedi Osman has mostly been relegated to the bench in his first year in the NBA, a natural byproduct of playing on a deep team with high expectations (and one that has struggled to win, thus forcing more minutes for their stars.)

With Derrick Rose, Iman Shumpert, Isaiah Thomas and Tristan Thompson all out against the Pistons and Osman’s fellow benchwarmer Jose Calderon pressed into a starting role, Tyronn Lue indicated that Cedi could find minutes against Detroit, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com:

Ty Lue said something at Monday's shootaround that should make some Cavs fans happy. With four rotation players out, he's going to give the rookie a shot: "Cedi (Osman)," Lue said when asked who in his lineup will get more playing time other than Jose Calderon. "If we add a second guy it’d be Cedi."

Tyronn Lue has been hesitant to play Osman unless games were well in hand or he was so disgusted by the starters play that he resorted to putting him into the game. He’s only played 34 minutes all season, but ideally that will change against Detroit.

It’s no secret that Jose Calderon hasn’t showed much in his short stints on the floor for the Cavaliers. He’s currently sporting a 0.3 PER, and doing functionally nothing in his minutes while still being limited on the defensive end of the floor. If he continues to show nothing, he might get the Keith Bogans special, which is to say that he should only start the first and third quarters and not see the floor after that. If that’s the case, we might see extended stretches with Dwyane Wade, J.R. Smith and Osman as the nominal point guard alongside LeBron James, who will act as the primary playmaker.

Lue might be hesitant to give Osman run, but he may not have any choice if injuries continue to mount for the Cavs.