CHICAGO -- If the wine-colored jersey David Nwaba wore to shootaround Saturday morning was a hint then he will be making his first start of the season against the Chicago Bulls.

There’s also the matchup to consider, as the Bulls opted for both Wendell Carter Jr. and Jabari Parker in the starting group last game against New Orleans.

With Parker specifically, a smaller power forward, the Cavs are concerned about his ability to attack the rim, which could mean more Nwaba.

The Cavs would be relying on his speed, quickness, strength and athleticism to stay in front of the versatile Parker who matched his season-high point total with 20 on Wednesday night.

The other option, of course, is trying to pester Parker with length. That would point to Larry Nance Jr.

No matter how the Cavs start against Chicago on Saturday night, head coach Larry Drew, who said he will make the final decision later this evening, won’t hesitate to deploy his two-big lineup -- some combination of Tristan Thompson, Ante Zizic and Nance.

“You don’t see it a lot,” Drew said. “Most 4’s are athletic and fast and quick and play out on the perimeter. You just don’t see two bigs in there together often. With our group I just envision two guys that are active around the rim and defensively you can do some things with both guys. I wouldn’t be afraid to switch them out onto a smaller guy in an emergency situation and it gives us a better chance at rebounding the ball. It gives us a better chance at erasing mistakes at the rim, which I think is a huge plus. Kind of an experiment playing the big guys together, along with Big Z. I had Big Z and Larry in there and I liked what I saw. Just something we’re playing around with. Maybe some days it will be good and some it won’t.”

The Thompson-Nance pairing is something both have been pushing for since October. During a recent practice, ahead of Cleveland’s game against Denver -- a team with Nikola Jokic and Paul Millsap in the frontcourt -- Nance and Thompson checked themselves in together as a joke.

It’s no longer a point of laughter, but one of necessity.

Cedi Osman is out with back spasms, taking away the three (Kevin Love and Sam Dekker are the other two) most likely power forward options.

That leaves Nwaba. It’s either him, or one of the bigs shifting to power forward, which is what happened against Oklahoma City. When Osman left Wednesday’s game early, Nance subbed in. In crunch time, when the short-handed Cavaliers were trying to pull the upset, Drew went back to the Nance-Thompson combination to finish.

That was Drew’s first extended view. He was thrilled with the results.

“Two bigs in there together I thought they played well and gave us a whole different look,” Drew said.

Nance and Thompson played 15 minutes together on Wednesday night. With them on the court simultaneously, the Cavs had an offensive rating of 103.2 and a defensive rating of 100.0. Tough to quibble with a positive net rating. During that time, the Cavs also outscored the Thunder by one point.

The Nance-Zizic pairing played seven minutes against the Thunder and had an 82.4 offensive rating to go with a defensive rating of 76.5. That’s another favorable net rating.

“The two-big lineup isn’t exactly something they enjoy rolling out so whenever we get to play, every good thing that happens and every good thing we do we get super excited about it and energized over it,” Nance said. “When we’re out there we’re going hard and trying to show them that the lineup can work and we’re both versatile and can do a lot of different things to make up for whatever we may lack.”

Nance and Thompson joked about running some 4-5 pick and rolls against the Bulls -- matching the Pistons’ setup with Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond.

“That’s probably one of the best plays ever because the bigs don’t know what to do,” Thompson said.

The Cavs are seeking any advantage. They are willing to try everything in the midst of this injury-plagued 1-10 start.

Perhaps unconventional is exactly what’s needed.

“L.D., he’ll throw any lineup out there and you’ve seen that in his career," Thompson said. "We’ve tried it in practice and I’m excited. Like Larry (Nance) said, prove them wrong.”