CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Being part of a rebuild is nothing new for Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Larry Drew.

His two previous stops were similar. Drew’s leaning on that past experience -- and even some of his coaching buddies -- to get through this taxing season that will, no doubt, test the mettle of everyone in the Cavaliers organization.

“I did go through it Milwaukee and went through it a little bit in Atlanta as far as the whole rebuild, playing young players, staying with young players, allowing them to play through certain situations,” Drew said. “I’ve gotten enough phone calls from people about this. What my mindset is as far as going through this, I understand it, I’ve been through it so I know what to expect, I know how to deal with certain things. It’s not an easy thing to do, but again, my third time going around I’m kind of familiar what has to be done.”

It’s tough to label Atlanta a full rebuild. Drew inherited a 53-win team. The roster already had high-level talent and the expectations were set much higher. What makes it somewhat similar to this Cleveland gig is the amount of youngsters he was asked to help mold.

The situation he went through in Milwaukee is much more comparable to this one. The year before Drew took over, the Bucks fired Scott Skiles and made Jim Boylan the interim. Milwaukee finished with a 38-44 mark that season, being led by a pair of veterans -- Monta Ellis and J.J. Redick -- who weren’t retained the following year.

Drew came aboard with a young roster, just one player (Caron Butler) over the age of 30. That season, it was about developing the young nucleus of Khris Middleton, Brandon Knight, John Henson and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Sound familiar?

The only difference: the names. In this situation, it’s Collin Sexton, second-year man Cedi Osman, 25-year-old Larry Nance Jr. and 26-year-olds Rodney Hood and Jordan Clarkson.

For the Cavs, the original plan was to compete. It’s the path they paved this summer when inking Kevin Love to a massive extension and keeping a handful of veterans that were part of the NBA Finals squad. The Cavs saw an opening at the bottom of the Eastern Conference and a talented-enough roster to fight for one of those back-end playoff spots. But unforeseen circumstances and crippling injuries, including one to All-Star Love, forced them to go a different direction.

“It’s tough having to deal with injuries,” Drew said recently. “Certainly you like to go into every season with a full squad and when you lose guys, particularly main guys early, you have to start shuffling some things around. And then you lose other guys as the season progresses, that’s part of it, but it makes it tough. I always say you have to play the hand that’s dealt to you and that’s what we try to do. We’ll continue what we’’ve been doing all year long, just shuffling guys and trying to find the right guys, right mixtures, find guys playing time until we can get all of our bodies back.”

Tristan Thompson, the Cavs’ best player in Love’s absence, is the latest injury casualty. His loss has forced Drew to use both Channing Frye and Ante Zizic as starters in recent games. On Sunday afternoon, the Cavs used their 12th different starting lineup, which is the second-most in the NBA behind the Miami Heat.

A lack of high-end talent combined with relative inexperience and numerous injuries have all made this Drew’s toughest challenge.

“I think this is probably the most as far as injuries are concerned, we have multiple guys out,” Drew said. “At the very start of the season you lose a key player, which is not an easy thing to do because your whole thinking, it has to shift now.

“Certainly that’s a challenge, but injuries are a part of our business and you learn to deal with it, you learn to accept, you learn to move on and that’s all I’ve tried to do.”

Drew said beyond his own experience, he’s also gotten calls from other coaches. Guys that he’s played against and others he’s played alongside have reached out at times during the season to lend their advice. He’s open to any -- and all -- suggestions. Whatever it takes to get through the next few months while the losses continue to pile up.

The best piece of wisdom came from his dear friend Doug Collins.

“That phrase is just ‘Coach ‘em up.’ It’s just that simple, ‘Coach ‘em up.’ I don’t care what the situation is, how bad it may get, how many games you may lose in a row, how many games you win in a row, it’s just that one phrase, ‘Coach ‘em up,’” Drew said of Collins’ message. “That means don’t allow any slippage as far as our teaching. Continue to watch film, continue to show them what they should have done in certain situations. If there was an extra pass that should have been made, continue to show them on film, coach ‘em up. That’s what I’ll keep in my head and what I’ll continue to do, regardless of the situation may be or whatever may happen. I’ll continue to coach ‘em and teach ‘em.”

Drew has also learned to stay positive. He demands quality play from his guys, no doubt, and said the performance by the starters wasn’t good enough Sunday afternoon against Philadelphia. But Drew also recognizes that wins and losses can’t be the only definition of success. The worst thing in this kind of situation is setting unrealistic expectations. Showing a lack of awareness of what this team -- and season -- is all about can add to the frustration.

Following Wednesday’s win against New York, a night the Cavs nearly squandered a 22-point lead, Drew wasn’t discouraged and he didn’t deliver a negative message to his team. Instead, he told players about how common it is for opponents to surge back in the NBA. The most important thing is finding a way to recover. The Cavs were able to do that, which Drew felt was an important step.

After Friday’s loss, the message was more about how the final score, 114-102 in favor of Milwaukee, didn’t tell the full story of the game.

Sunday, it was an honest look at the latest loss against the 20-win Philadelphia 76ers.

“With our team, the margin for error is small. We have to accept that,” Drew said. “We have to do all the little things because they sum up to be big things for our ball club and that’s just who we have to be.”