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Sasha Kaun, Cavs Talking Contract

By Jared Mueller

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Sasha Kaun is not returning to Russia to play basketball but is interested in playing in the NBA next season. The Cleveland Cavaliers hold his draft rights. At one point we had heard that other teams were interested in trading for the former Kansas Jayhawk center. The Cavs, already with Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, Timofey Mozgov, Anderson Varejao and 2nd Round pick Rakeem Christmas, didn’t seem to have a big man need.

Then, last night, Kaun showed up to the Cavs Summer League game. Not only did he show up but he showed up with LeBron James, GM David Griffin, Head Coach David Blatt and Assistant Coach Tyronn Lue:

Very interesting. A “one of these things is not like the others” listing of people with some pull and authority with the Cavs, and the NBA as a whole.

According to Joe Vardon, the Cavs were the ones who invited Kaun to come to the game and are now talking contract:

"Kaun told the Northeast Ohio Media Group that the Cavs contacted him Wednesday with an invitation to join general manager David Griffin and other team personnel in Las Vegas this weekend to discuss the possibility."

Obviously the Cavs have interest in signing Kaun which shows how important big man depth is, how concerned we should be about Varejao returning from his Achilles injury (few NBA players return close to the same) and how limited the market is for big guys.

One issue for the Cavs, that Vardon also hits on, is that anyone the Cavs sign will cost owner Dan Gilbert between 3 and 5 times that amount in Luxury Tax. Kaun seems to be okay with playing for a small sum of money next year:

"“That’s probably something that shouldn’t be a problem,” he said. “Hopefully coming to this team, it will give us an opportunity to win, and winning is more important to me than money. I don’t think I want to do it (play basketball) because of the money. Just play basketball and enjoy it and play with some really great players. That’s the more important thing.”"

Numbers in Euroleague aren’t easily translated to the NBA for a variety of reasons. Kaun had almost 10 points and 5 rebounds a game. Kaun has experience playing for Blatt in the 2012 Olympics for the Russian team.

It will be interesting if LeBron had a similar reaction to Kaun as he did Mozgov, who he was impressed with based on his sheer mass. Kaun also stands around 7 feet tall and is a solid 250-260 pounds.

Here is an interesting video of Kaun playing against Mozgov, where he held his own in the limited highlights:

At Kansas, Kaun averaged 7 points and 4 rebounds a game his senior season. His game has developed well overseas, to the point where he was one of the best centers in his league. He won’t wow anyone by any stretch of the imagination but Kaun could be a good rotational big man, surely better than Kendrick Perkins or Brendan Haywood were for the Cavs last year.

Do you think the Cavs should sign Sasha Kaun?

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