NEW YORK -- For a big chunk of the season, Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Larry Drew couldn’t run practice exactly the way he wanted. There weren’t enough healthy bodies.

At times, he had to fill in the gaps with assistant coaches, just so the Cavs could have a full 5-on-5 session.

Those days are over. When Tristan Thompson finally returns, the Cavs will be fully healthy. While the organization has been eager to see what that looks like, it also means Drew will encounter his next challenge during a trying season that has tested everyone physically and mentally. It will be his task to find minutes for his new allotment of bigs -- if that’s even possible.

“I’ve given it some thought,” Drew said prior to shootaround at Madison Square Garden. “To be honest, having all our big guys back and everybody back, it does create a bit of a problem because you’ve got a lot of bodies now. A problem that we are not really accustomed to having, but it’s a nice problem to have.”

He has a few days to think about it. Maybe even more than that. There’s still no official timetable for Thompson, who will miss his 17th straight game Thursday night because of soreness in his foot -- the same ailment that sidelined him for 10 consecutive games in December.

“Any time you are dealing with injury, injuries respond different ways with certain people,” Drew said. “We are going to continue to let him take his time until he’s ready come back out. Not until then. We are not going to take any chances with anything. Just allow him to heal.”

Thompson told cleveland.com recently that he came back too soon the first time. He beat the timeline by about a week and wanted to return quickly because of the Cavaliers’ injury situation. He believes that has played a role in this current soreness and wants to be smart this time -- even though initially he felt he might have been back by now.

“When he’s back practicing and going through a full contact practice and when he comes back the next day and says, ‘Everything is good. I feel good and there are no setbacks’ then he’s deemed ready to play,” Drew said. “That wasn’t the case. He did have a contact practice, came back the following day and was a little sore, a tad sore, which tells us he wasn’t ready. As I said before, we are going to allow it to take its course and not going to rush it.”

Ante Zizic has been the primary beneficiary of Thompson’s extended absence, getting the start at center most nights. He has logged at least 20 minutes in 14 of the last 17 games. In February, he is averaging 8.5 points on 56 percent shooting to go with 6.4 rebounds in 22.9 minutes. On some nights, he’s even been in Cleveland’s closing group.

New arrival Marquese Chriss has also received consistent playing time, serving as the second big off the bench behind rotation stalwart Larry Nance Jr. In seven games with the Cavs -- arriving alongside Brandon Knight in the three-team deal between Cleveland, Houston and Sacramento for Alec Burks ahead of the deadline -- Chriss is averaging 10.7 points on 47.4 percent from the field to go with 5.0 rebounds and countless highlight-reel plays in 19.8 minutes.

Kevin Love remains on a minute restriction, able to play anywhere between 25 and 30 minutes. His spot in the rotation is obviously solidified. Toss Thompson into the mix and that’s five bigs. Perhaps one too many. So what’s the plan?

“I will just have to figure that part out once we do get everybody back and all of our bigs back,” Drew said. “I know I’ve been asked a number of times about Big Z and where does he fit into that rotation if I get Tristan back. I have Larry and Marquese coming off the bench. It’s a nice problem to have. I haven’t had it all year. Going into the remaining 20 or 21 games we have, we will look at what matchups make sense and some guys may just play certain games.”