Cleveland Cavaliers' Potential Playoff Roster?
With the All Star Break officially over, the NBA playoffs are just around the corner now, with each team in the NBA awaiting to play their final 25 games of the season. Many teams took advantage of last minute deals before the trade deadline officially came to an end a couple of days ago; such as the Raptors trying to create a more balanced and experienced starting squad to combat the Eastern favourites, and reigning champions; The Cleveland Cavaliers. Toronto picked up TJ Warren and Serge Ibaka before the deadline strengthening their front court drastically, no longer having to rely upon Pascal Siakam, their freshly drafted rookie as their starting PF. While the Cavaliers didn't make any moves before the deadline (bar the Korver trade in January) but the roster is still looking to make new additions in a matter of days to holster their depth and strengthen their shot at back to back titles.
On February 23rd, veteran PG Deron Williams was waived by the Mavericks, with him clearing waivers this morning (26/02/17). Reportedly the Cavaliers were attempting to trade for him, but were unable to get a deal done. Yet now as a free agent, reports are suggesting that Cleveland is the surefire destination of the veteran guard. Lebron James has voiced his concern regarding the depth of the roster since early January, iterating the necessity of a 'f***ing playmaker' again after a disappointing loss to the Pelicans on the 23rd of January. Deron Williams seems likely to fill that spot. Williams could definitely fit the bill as a useful point guard off the bench with the ability to create, which has been a significant hole in their cast with the majority of the Cavaliers bench being mostly spot up shooters who are unable to competently create their own shots. In Dallas this season, Williams averaged 13.1 points and 6.9 assists, this looks to be a significant boost to the rotation the Cavalier's will run throughout the remaining games of the regular season and useful for a deep run into the playoffs as well. Currently the Cavaliers have been forced to rely on green rookie Kay Felder or SG Iman Shumpert to be the playmaker and run the floor when both James and Irving are sitting. This hasn't turned out productively with them both only averaging 1.3 and 1.5 assists per game, respectively.
Another significant hole in the Cavaliers roster this season has been the lack of a quality interior big man off the bench, with the roster only including Tristan Thompson as the sole C of the team, with other forwards Kevin Love and Channing Frye being mostly stretch 4 offensive players, with lacklustre interior defence allowing for many easy layups and scoring within the paint when Thompson is resting. To remedy this situation the Cavaliers are reportedly scouting two possible C's to fill the gap off the bench; Andrew Bogut and Larry Sanders.
On the deadline the Dallas Mavericks traded Andrew Bogut to the Philadelphia 76ers with a buyout seeming likely. The front-runners to sign the Australian are the Cavaliers, as well as the Houston Rockets. The discussion came up when Tim McMahon of ESPN spoke to Bogut regarding his potential destinations to which Bogut downplayed the potential of playing under D'antoni in Houston. "D'antoni is a pretty good coach, but probably not suited for my style of play. I would have probably had to drop about 20 pounds to play in this system. They play a tough system, get up and down the court". David Griffin, the Cavalier's GM is awaiting Bogut to pass waivers and start working on a potential pick up. The Australian has had an admittedly down year in Dallas, in comparison to his tenure with the Golden State Warriors, especially during their championship run seasons. From 2014-2016 he averaged 5.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.4 blocks in 22 minutes, whereas in Dallas, (where he only got to play 26 games of the season due to a lingering knee injury as well as a hamstring strain early into the year) he was averaging 3 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1 block per game.
The alternate option at C for the Cavaliers is former bucks player; Larry Sanders. Sanders was bought out of his contract in February of 2015, with personal issues endangering his career, and was entered into a program to battle anxiety, depression and mood disorders. Two years have passed, and the once exceptional paint defender is looking at a comeback to the league. Sanders arrived in Cleveland on the night of the 21/02/17, with a planned workout scheduled with the Cavaliers for the coming week. Sanders averaged 1.8 blocks per game during his career, a sizeable number more than Cleveland's current forward off the bench; Channing Frye only averaging 0.7 bpg over his career, and only 0.5 this season.
With the roster already standing at 14 people with two potential pickups looming (Williams and Bogut/Sanders) the Cavaliers will have to take advantage of their affiliation with their D-League companion team; Canton Charge and utilize the ability of lowering a current player or two down to that roster to create the necessary space to fit the 15 necessary players onto the roster. It would be assumed that Kay Felder or potentially Jordan McRae would be moved to the Charge to make way for the new additions. If the Cavaliers are successful in signing Deron Williams as well as either Andrew Bogut or Larry Sanders their depth chart will be as follows:
The Cavaliers are a very guard heavy team with seemingly smaller number of large front court players, but come the playoffs and the eventual Finals series, the core players' minutes increase drastically, with Lebron playing 40 + minutes a game, often moving up to the 4 spot, which will allow for other wing players such as Derrick Williams or Richard Jefferson to play their natural 3 spot. Looking realistically at the playoffs rotation, in this assumption of the signings of Williams/Bogut/Sanders in my eyes, I'd assume that the Cavaliers will be running a 12 man rotation consisiting of:
Irving, Williams, Smith, Shumpert, Korver, James, Jefferson, Williams, Love, Frye, Thompson and Bogut/Sanders. Jefferson will be getting very low minutes with the addition of young wing player Derrick Williams who's made an instant positive impact for the Cavaliers, providing more youth in the 3 spot.
These additions don't necessarily make a super-team, but will assist with much needed depth in both the guard and centre positions helping alleviate unnecessary playing minutes for both Irving and James in the regular season, ensuring that they're at their best health and form come when it's most important from the the latter half of April. These seemingly minor additions could be the difference between a back-to-back and falling short once again.
