Cavaliers notebook: Simmons out with bone bruise

<span style="">The Cavaliers got a little thinner up front Thursday.</span>

<p class="MsoNormal">Second-year forward Cedric Simmons is out with a left ankle bone bruise.

<p class="MsoNormal">Head Coach Mike Brown is uncertain how long he will be out.

<p class="MsoNormal">"I'd be afraid to even guess," he said before Thursday's preseason game with Detroit.

<p class="MsoNormal">The 6-foot-9, 235-pound Simmons will travel with the team to China when the Cavaliers leave for their eight-day trip overseas after Friday's home game with Seattle.

<p class="MsoNormal">"He's coming with us, and whenever (team doctors) say he can play, he will play," Brown said.

<p class="MsoNormal">Simmons came to the Cavs just before training camp opened in a trade that sent veteran guard David Wesley to the Hornets. The Hornets drafted Simmons in the first round out of North Carolina State in 2006. He didn't see much action for them last season, but the Cavs like his long-range potential.

<p class="MsoNormal">"He's a talented, young big," Brown said. "I thought he was really making strides. He showed flashes of being a guy that might be able to play some minutes for us this year and really contribute. That can still be the case, but now, it's been put on hold until he gets healthy."

<p class="MsoNormal">Brown did not get caught up in speculating whether the Cavaliers need to add another veteran big man. But with Simmons hurt, and 6-10 forward Anderson Varejao still not in camp over a contract dispute, the Cavaliers do not have much depth up front.

<p class="MsoNormal">"For me personally," Brown said, "if I start thinking about this, thinking about that, even what's going on with Andy and Sasha (Pavlovic) ... it might get me out of whack."

<p class="MsoNormal">The Cavaliers have regulars Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Drew Gooden and Donyell Marshall up front. Forward-center Dwayne Jones played in just four games last year as a rookie behind them. Other big men in camp are free-agent invitees Noel Felix, Darius Rice and Anthony Tolliver.

<p class="MsoNormal">Watching his workload

<p class="MsoNormal">Brown will make sure LeBron James does not see too many preseason minutes. He played just 15 1/2 in Tuesday's opener.

<p class="MsoNormal">"We'll play him a little bit more as the preseason goes and then maybe taper him off at the end," Brown said. That is the mindset Brown has for most of his veteran players.

<p class="MsoNormal">What's progress

<p class="MsoNormal">Brown wanted to see much better ball and player movement Thursday than he did Tuesday.

<p class="MsoNormal">"The first things I'd like to see is that the ball is thrown ahead from the backcourt to the frontcourt, and also I'd like to see it reversed from one side to the other," Brown said. "I'd like to see some hockey assists tonight, that's multiple drive and kicks. And the last thing I'd like to see is some great spacing."