Dwyane Wade to Start at SG for Cavaliers, JR Smith to Come off of Bench

Answering one of the many questions surrounding the defending Eastern Conference champions, Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue confirmed he'll start Dwyane Wade at shooting guard and use JR Smith off the bench, according to ESPN.com's Dave McMenamin.

Since arriving in a trade from the New York Knicks in January 2015, all but seven of Smith's 164 appearances with the Cavs has come as a starter.

Last month, Smith expressed a willingness to cede his starting role to Wade, per WKYC's Ben Axelrod:

The 32-year-old isn't unfamiliar to a reserve role, and his best years arguably came when he was a bench player for the Knicks and Denver Nuggets. Smith was the 2012-13 Sixth Man of the Year when he averaged 18.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists for the Knicks.

Smith has been a three-point specialist in Cleveland, with 65.3 percent of his shot attempts coming from the perimeter, according to Basketball Reference. His 38.5 percent clip on his three-point attempts is also his highest among the four stops over his NBA career.

Bringing a shooter with Smith's pedigree off the bench will be a nice luxury for the Cavs.

With regard to Wade, sorting out his role is only part of the process for Lue. Just because Wade will start games doesn't mean he'll continue playing close to 30 minutes a night.

According to Cleveland.com's Joe Vardon, Lue will start Derrick Rose at point guard and quickly remove the 2010-11 MVP to have him play with the second unit. Lue could be similarly creative with Wade.

Especially until Isaiah Thomas is fully recovered from his hip injury, Lue will likely toy with a number of different lineups as he looks to maximize the talent at his disposal.