INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- When the doors popped open to the practice facility Saturday afternoon, George Hill, JR Smith and Larry Nance Jr. were wearing wine-colored jerseys.

In past years, that was the color worn by starters, with the reserves wearing white -- the same hue worn by Sam Dekker, Collin Sexton, Ante Zizic and a handful of others this afternoon.

Was this the first morsel of information about Lue's starting plans this season? Perhaps it's a touch too early in training camp to start making declarations. After all, the Cavs won't play their first regular-season game until Oct. 17. Sunday will be the annual Wine and Gold Scrimmage, which will be held at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, and may provide a few more clues.

If these little nuggets aren't telling enough, maybe Lue's comments following Saturday's practice will be.

"We've got guys fighting for positions and younger guys trying to show they belong," Lue said. "It's a different camp."

So where are those battles?

"All over the floor. All the positions are battling except Kevin (Love)," Lue said. "Kevin is locked into a position."

That's a given. Love is the leader of this team. He's going to be the offensive focal point, and it appears the Cavs are set to start him at power forward. This is a different time in the NBA, with switching on defense and small-ball lineups becoming the norm. That means the Cavs will still use Love at center in late-game situations, especially when they need his scoring and spacing.

But Lue hinted that it won't happen as frequently as year's past when the Cavs were trying to spread the floor for LeBron James and Kyrie Irving to create in isolation or drive-and-kick scenarios.

Love's minutes at the 5 might also drop out of need -- at least, if you listen to new arrival Dekker.

"They've been using me in a lot of ways, a lot at the 4," Dekker said. "Me and Kevin are really the only true 4 that we have, so that opens up some minutes there and opportunity there."

Then there's this from Lue:

"Well, with Tristan (Thompson) and Larry (Nance Jr.) this season, when we play the bigger guys like the (Joel) Embids and Dwight Howards and (Andre) Drummonds, Tristan will start," Lue said. "When we play the smaller 5s, Larry will start. Last year it kind of wore Larry down trying to guard those big guys the whole game.

"That's a lot to ask for him to guard Dwight and Drummond and all those big guys, it's not fair to him, DeAndre Jordan and stuff like that. I talked to those guys before camp even started and kind of told them what the situation was."

With those two comments it seems fair to draw this early conclusion: Love will start at the 4 with Dekker as his primary backup in a speedy, versatile second unit.

That means either Nance or Thompson, who missed Saturday's practice with knee soreness, will be the starting center, depending on the matchup. The other non-starter that night will be the backup big.

According to Lue, the Cavs are entering this season asking the center to drop or ICE the pick and roll. That will be beneficial for burly, slow-footed Ante Zizic if he receives playing time. The four other players will be expected to switch, just as the Cavs did during their successful playoff runs.

Yes, that means Love possibly on a defensive island in certain situations.

"He's been doing a good job of it, too," Lue said of Love's switching in training camp. "It never hurts to have somebody do something different.

"The thing about it, I guess I can give you all the game plan. When Tristan's starting, that means there's a dominant 5, a physical 5, so Kevin wouldn't guard those guys, Tristan would. When we start Larry at the 5, we can put Kevin on those centers and Larry can guard the 4s and we can switch it. We've got a couple different things we want to look at."

There was one more read-between-the-lines comment from Lue. Last season, the Cavaliers played Korver and Smith together. It allowed them to run double floppy, trying to get movement away from the ball. But when Lue was asked about playing the duo at the same time, he initially seemed against the idea.

"I don't like it as much," Lue said. "I just don't like it as much."

The logical conclusion is Korver and Smith will be staggered, trying to separate their minutes. Would Lue really put Smith on the second unit with Korver and have two of his veteran leaders fighting for the same minutes? That seems unlikely, which would point to Smith possibly opening the season in the starting group -- unless he gets bumped from the rotation entirely.

Smith entered camp in a tenuous spot. Members of the organization were taking a wait-and-see approach. Coming off back-to-back poor seasons, he came into camp in better shape, having lost around 20 pounds, and seemed to have renewed energy. On Saturday, with Rodney Hood missing practice because he was sick, Smith was wearing the starter's color.

So the real question is this: Was Saturday a session filled with coach speak and misinformation or was Lue slowly revealing his lineup plan, allowing everyone to start connecting dots?

If it truly was the latter, there aren't many spots left to figure out.