CLEVELAND, Ohio -- T'was the night before the Cavaliers' All-Star break when Tyronn Lue was asked who on his team would get the clipboard if he were to pull a Steve Kerr and let a player take over the huddle.

Lue had no interest in naming LeBron James, or Kevin Love, or Kyle Korver or Jose Calderon. His answer: "Larry Drew."

Five weeks later, that's exactly what happened. The one guy (albeit the team's associate head coach with decades of experience) Lue said he'd trust to run his team took the clipboard from Lue on March 19 and won eight of the nine games he coached.

"He did a hell of a job," Lue told cleveland.com.

Lue's absence is about to end. He stepped away after he couldn't finish a game March 17 because of lingering health issues, but will return as head coach for Thursday's game against the Washington Wizards.

Before it happens, before Lue retakes the reins and Drew slides over one seat, a word or two about the man who helped save the Cavs' season.

Drew turned 60 on Monday (Lue is 40). He's from Kansas City, Kansas, about 170 miles west of Lue's hometown of Mexico, Missouri. Like Lue, Drew played 11 seasons as an NBA point guard, which included a stint with the Lakers. Drew coached Lue (as an assistant) in Los Angeles, Washington, and Atlanta.

Drew was an assistant coach for 18 seasons before his first head coaching job with the Atlanta Hawks. He guided the Hawks to a 128-102 record in three years, but his contract wasn't renewed. Danny Ferry took over as general manager during Drew's tenure in Atlanta and wanted to hire his own coach -- who turned out to be Mike Budenholzer.

The Milwaukee Bucks hired him, and his one season (2013-14) was tough. They won 15 games and he was fired in June, though the circumstances were unique. Jason Kidd sought Drew's job while Drew still had it, and new owners in Milwaukee (who were close to Kidd) traded two draft picks to Brooklyn (where Kidd was coaching) to acquire Kidd before Drew was fired. Drew's been with the Cavs ever since.

Drew loves to work out and he loves music. "A lot," of music he said once, though he was probably generalizing.

He coached Michael Jordan as an assistant in Washington and Kobe Bryant as an assistant with the Lakers. So he was familiar with coaching rare-air stars like LeBron James.

Add it all together and Drew was a man uniquely qualified to take over for Lue in the middle of what's been a "trying" season in Cleveland, to use Drew's words. The Cavs are 9-1 with him as coach, counting a game in December.

"He's been excellent," James said. "He's been an extension from our head coach and we're all working toward the same goals and it's great to have him. He's been a head coach in this league for years as well so it's great to have that security blanket."

The Cavs' season-long roller coaster of good times and bad (and really bad) have been well documented. But here's what was going on when Drew took over for Lue: They'd lost three of four games before that March 17 win in Chicago, where Drew had to coach the second half; they'd fallen out of third place in the East, until that night in Chicago; six players, including Kevin Love, were injured, though Love returned in Drew's first game.

The whole thing could've gone sideways.

"It's been a really trying stretch," Drew said after Tuesday's 112-106 win over the East-leading Raptors, Drew's second this season. "Given what we've already gone through this season, you know, as a team you can only take so much. You can only take so much. The way our guys have persevered over these last 10 says a lot about the character of this team."

Drew has credited James for his determination and play over this stretch. James has seven games of 25 or more points (and two over 40) with two triple doubles since Lue left. Love has been mostly brilliant since he came back from a broken bone in his left hand, which helps.

Drew said he's been an extension of Lue, though there have been a few subtle differences under Drew's direction.

The Cavs have run Drew's out-of-bounds plays following timeouts, for instance. Drew also described a chart he and the coaching staff made of playing time for each rotation player and points in the game for particular substitutions, though Drew also said he scrapped the chart in a win over Charlotte because JR Smith was on his way to making eight of nine shots.

Lue will now streamline the Cavs' plays, defensive rotations, and lineup -- with obvious input from Drew and the staff.

One of Drew's marquee wins in Lue's absence was last week against the New Orleans Pelicans, who are coached by another Lue confidant, Alvin Gentry.

"Love being around him," Lue once said of Gentry. "His attitude is the same every day, he never changes. He's become a great friend of mine even though he's 90 years old. Him and Larry Drew are the same type of guy."