CHICAGO -- Larry Nance Jr. will get his wish.
With Cedi Osman sidelined for Saturday's game against the Chicago Bulls because of lower back spasms, Cavaliers head coach Larry Drew has decided to start Nance at power forward.
That means Nance, a 6-foot-9 athletic big who has been serving as the backup center, will play alongside Tristan Thompson in the two-big lineup Nance and Thompson have been asking for since October.
"I want to see more of them together," Drew said. "When we have a chance to play both of them together, I want to take a look at it. Look at matchups, look at how both guys play together -- something we haven't done a lot of. So I'm very curious to see how well the two of them can play together and see if it will be a good fit or not."
Nance will become the fifth different power forward the Cavs have started this season. It's also his first start of the season.
"When we're out there we're going hard and trying to show them that the lineup can work," Nance said. "We're both versatile and can do a lot of different things to make up for whatever we may lack."
With Nance in the starting group, Drew will lean on little-used Ante Zizic and David Nwaba to fill the frontcourt minutes for the reserves.
The team considered bringing up Billy Preston -- playing for the Canton Charge on a Two-Way contract -- while Kevin Love and Sam Dekker are both shelved until possibly December. But when Osman went down Wednesday night against the Thunder, the organization determined it needed another ball-handler, choosing to sign Andrew Harrison to a Two-Way contract instead.
The 1-10 Cavaliers continue to shuffle lineups. Just because Nance is getting the starting nod Saturday night doesn't necessarily mean he will keep the gig.