Cleveland Cavaliers Training Camp Invites Have High Expectations

According to cleveland.com’s Terry Pluto, three young Cleveland Cavaliers have been invited to the team’s veteran’s training camp: Jordan McRae, Kay Felder, and DeAndre Liggins. This is important news for the regular season roster hopefuls, as they’re battling for spots on a team in championship contention.

Currently, there are three spots available on the 15-man roster. 12-year veteran Dahntay Jones, who was signed before the start of last season’s playoffs, will also be battling for a roster spot because his deal his non-guaranteed.

There are only 16 camp invitees. Last season, when the Cavaliers announced their training camp roster it featured 21 players. 14 of those players were already slotted into a spot on the opening day roster, and shooting guard Jared Cunningham beat out 6 other young players to make the team.

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This year, the competition won’t be as stiff with so many open roster spots. Factor in the teams willingness to develop players as their ability to acquire young talent through the draft dwindles and there is certainly a chance all three players may get roster spots, even if they spend time with the Canton Charge, the Cavs’ Developmental-League (D-League) affiliate.

The young players are also aided by the Cavaliers knowing where they need help specifically. The team is looking for a backup point guard, a sixth-man type scorer on the bench, and an athletic wing who can play defense and shoot. Those three niches so happen to fit what McRae, Felder, and Liggins specialize in on the basketball court.

McRae, a lanky 6-foot-6 combo guard, attacks the rim relentlessly and consistently puts up points in bunches. He averaged 24.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game on his way to being named to the NBA Summer League First Team.

McRae took the ball ball inside consistently, though he missed inside a fair amount, and hit a number shots from two-point range. He finished shooting 36.4 percent from the field as he took a number of contested threes that led to shooting 23.5 percent from beyond the arc.

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McRae’s biggest attribute was getting to the free-throw line, where he took 81 attempts and averaged 11.6 per game. He converted 81.5 percent of his free-throws, something that is valuable at the NBA level.

Defensively, he managed to use his length to effectively at times but, he needs to develop an interest in being great on that side of the floor.

Felder, a stocky 5-foot-8 point guard, has all of the offensive ability a team could ask for and the most explosive body of any player drafted this year. In Las Vegas Summer League action, he averaged 15.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game.

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Though he had a couple of inefficient games late, he finished with a respectable 46.7 percent from the field. He shot an ugly 22.7 percent from three, largely because he took bad threes. In catch-and-shoot situations he looked better than when he pulled up off the dribble.

Defensively, Felder will have moments when he’s simply shot over due to his lack of height, though his athletic ability allows him to contest a surprising number of shot attempts. Overall, he’s intense on that end and can rack up both blocks and steals in a hurry as he uses his explosiveness to burst towards the ball.

Liggins, a 6-foot-6 swingman, has a NBA body that allows him to defend at an elite level. He handles the ball well, consistently finds his teammates in scoring position, and can knock down he open three. The 28-year-old Liggins has the level of on-court awareness teams expect of players his age.

In Summer League action, Liggins averaged 5.9 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. He did it efficiently, shooting 50.0 percent from the field and 45.5 percent from the deep.

Numbers don’t tell Liggins’ story well enough because he consistently makes hustle plays that don’t get statistically recorded in Summer League action. He also plays the type of defense to make his matchup invisible as they pass the ball as he guards them or, simply, don’t get passed to. That’s another game-changing factor that the numbers won’t show.

Again, there are minutes available already in positions that these Cavaliers could fill. With Matthew Dellavedova going to the Milwaukee Bucks, 15-year veteran Richard Jefferson knowing that his body can’t take the rigor of the NBA too much longer, and 13-year veteran Mo Williams coming off of a season marred by injuries, there is no certainty on the Cleveland Cavaliers bench outside of Iman Shumpert‘s defensive presence.

Dahntay Jones has his advantage over Felder and Liggins because of his NBA experience. Jones isn’t just an available body, though he’s at the end of the bench for the Cavs.

Before being signed, Jones was averaging 15.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. He did so while shooting 54.6 percent from the field and 41.3 percent from behind the arc.

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After being signed, Jones started in the Cleveland Cavaliers and had 13 points, five rebounds, two assists, two blocks and one steal in 42 minutes of action against the Detroit Pistons, who weren’t playing their starters either. In the playoffs, Jones appeared in every game except for five and every game after the Cavaliers were tied 2-2 in their series with the Toronto Raptors.

In Game 6 of the 2016 NBA Finals, Jones had the most memorable 5 point performance of recent memory as he led the Cavaliers on a momentum changing 5-0 run before the half.

McRae and Felder have the best chance of making the Cavaliers roster. The last spot may come down a decision between the veteran Jones or the younger Liggins.

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If the Cavaliers sign another player then the chances for either Jones or Liggins to make the opening day roster are slim. Whatever the case, the Cavaliers will enter the next NBA season with a very championship-caliber roster.