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Why Are The Cavs Reserving Larry Sanders For The Playoffs And Next Year?

By Duane Rohrbacher

Mar 14, 2017; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers center Larry Sanders (9) fights for position with Detroit Pistons center Boban Marjanovic (51) during the second half at Quicken Loans Arena. The Cavs won 128-96. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 14, 2017; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers center Larry Sanders (9) fights for position with Detroit Pistons center Boban Marjanovic (51) during the second half at Quicken Loans Arena. The Cavs won 128-96. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /
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Why are the Cleveland Cavaliers reserving Larry Sanders for the playoffs and next year? Is there a larger plan?

In an interesting turn of events, Andrew Bogut broke his leg 58 seconds into his Cleveland Cavaliers debut. This could be a blessing in disguise as Bogut is an $11 million man who needs playing time. Do the Cavs need someone who is going to NEED minutes? Absolutely not. The Cavs need someone who plays the part and will be honored to get a few minutes. Someone at minimal cost. That’s why Larry Sanders is probably who the Cavs should have signed in the first place.

The question is, what are they doing with him?

Sanders has been out of the league for two years, dealing with personal issues.

Everyone knows that.

He’s an athletic freak. Everyone knows that.

It probably takes someone who has been out of the league for so long an entire offseason to come back at peak condition. However, someone who is only going to be expected to log 10 minutes a night and no more? Probably a lot less.

So, it is intriguing that the Cavs decided to send Sanders to Canton for the remainder of the season.

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He will get work and back in shape down there. But the whole point of signing Bogut was to rest Thompson in the regular season.

Why are they treating Sanders differently?

My suspicion is that the Cavs have bigger plans. They committed all of their cap room to everyone who is currently on the roster for next season. In my opinion, they are going to try to resign Deron Williams, Derrick Williams, and Kyle Korver.

If that’s the case, the Cavs will have financial commitments to 11 players (all current Cavs except for Liggins and, of course, Sanders) next season. They can’t commit to Bogut.

That might be the master plan with Sanders. He has the potential to be an elite rim-protector (again) and, if not elite, then at least an above-average rim-protector this season and next season. If the Cavs are really looking for a rim-protector (this year’s experiment without one shows that they need one), then Sanders is the low-risk high-reward player.

He’ll also come cheap in a league where rim-protectors are expensive. The Cavs, as we all know, are on a budget. Remember, Timofey Mozgov got $64 million in the offseason. He has since been shut down for the remainder of the season so that the Los Angeles Lakers could open up more minutes for their young talent.

Thankfully, the Cavs figured out that the combination of Channing Frye, Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson will not to cut it as a rim-protecting trio, especially when Thompson cannot be effective on the offensive boards when he has so many other responsibilities.

When Thompson rests, the Cavs are giving up 5.6 more rebounds per game, even when Love plays. Losing Love, who averages 11.1 rebounds per game, exacerbates the rebounding deficiency.

Sanders provides rebounding and blocks, overall rim-protection, that the Cavs have lacked since Mozgov left. Even if Mozgov didn’t have a huge role in the playoffs, a rim-protector will always be valuable in the playoffs as an enforcer.

Sanders fell into the Cavs laps, and they should be thrilled to work him out in Canton to get him ready for the post season. He should come up for the last 2 or 3 games this season to see what he does against what could be lesser NBA competition as the last few games rarely matter for the Cavs and most of the NBA.

It will be interesting if the Cavs can negotiate a team option for 17-18. If they do, the Cavs set themselves up for a run just like this year. Likely, they are going to lose DeAndre Liggins next year, but they are looking to bring back 12 rotation players, which is insane. The Cavs are building a sustainable roster and Sanders only adds to that build.

Good on David Griffin for jumping on him quickly.

Griffin bringing in the Williams’ brothers, Korver, and Sanders could be the difference between a five-game Finals loss and a seven-game victory and it sets the Cavs up to be better than they have been since LeBron’s return (or since LeBron was there the first time). If you look at the Cavs roster construction in the LeBron years, they often pull in old guys on one-year deals, and they forget about bringing in the Iman Shumpert, Derrick Williams and Sanders types.

Bogut, Love and J.R. Smith going down (and an ineffective Mike Dunleavy) would have had a greater impact if he didn’t bring those young and athletic talents in.

Related Story: Larry Sanders To Play With Canton Charge

What do you think the Cleveland Cavaliers plan is with Larry Sanders? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or Twitter @KJG_NBA.