INDEPENDENCE, Ohio(AP) -- Delonte West sat under the basket after
practice on Monday chatting with teammates. Cleveland's troubled
star was expected to face reporters for the first time since
taking two leaves of absence during training camp and missing
the Cavaliers' first three games.
Instead, he quietly slipped through the door and out of the
building.
He wasn't ready yet.
West has already shown he's good to go on the court, and coach
Mike Brown isn't placing restrictions on him, although Brown
won't start West on Tuesday night against Washington.
"I'm not worried about his minutes if he's active," Brown said.
"There's no coddling or anything like that. If he can play, he's
going to play."
West made his debut for the Cleveland Cavaliers during Saturday
night's 90-79 win against Charlotte, scoring 13 points in 24
minutes.
It was a turbulent offseason for West, who has battled bipolar
syndrome. He could still face a league suspension for
misdemeanor weapons charges against him in Maryland. Last week,
his wife filed a domestic violence report against him.
Brown said Monday he is "definitely going to go with what we
have right now," meaning Anthony Parker will continue to start
and West will continue to come off the bench.
"I'd like to take a look and see how we're going to play right
now," Brown said. "Only time will tell, but I'm definitely going
to go with what we have right now, the way we have our starting
five."
West started 64 games for the Cavaliers last season and averaged
42 minutes in the playoffs, when Cleveland was eliminated by
Orlando in the Eastern Conference finals. West can play either
guard position and evolved into the team's second-most important
player behind LeBron James.
The Cavaliers are 2-2 after opening the season with losses to
Boston and Toronto. Brown and James both cautioned during the
preseason that Cleveland could get off to a shaky start until
West's situation was resolved and the new faces blended with the
old.
After one week, that's already happening.
"Having (West) back is huge," guard Mo Williams said. "He had a
great game when he came back. As a team, you see sparks where we
can be elite. Then you also see times where we can improve."
Throughout the preseason, Brown referred to West's situation as
a day-by-day process. Now that West has been cleared and has
rejoined the team, Brown isn't anticipating further setbacks.
"He's here just as much as LeBron is here or Shaq or Mo," Brown
said. "There is nothing special or different I'm thinking about
doing with Delonte. In terms of all that other stuff, I don't
even think about it."
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