Cleveland Cavaliers expected to bring some Summer League talent to training camp

The Cleveland Cavaliers will be looking to bring a few Summer League players to training camp.

Yesterday, when speaking with NBA TV’s Dennis Scott, Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue has mentioned that he’s looking for guys who can fit the team, make the right play and be a two-way player. He then mentioned bringing some Summer League faces to training camp and the preseason so that he doesn’t run his players, many who are older veterans, “into the ground”.

With that, the Cleveland Cavaliers can be expected to bring quite a few players from their Summer League roster.

Normally, in this stage of the Summer League, teams begin to have their regular season roster players sit out. Though Edy Tavares played in yesterday’s game against the Toronto Raptors, he’s on a non-guaranteed deal and hasn’t looked as dominant as you’d expect a 7-foot-3 player to be, though he’s been solid. Kay Felder is also on the Cleveland Cavaliers roster but he didn’t play.

In looking at the players who sat out with Felder during yesterday’s exhibition against the Toronto Raptors, Anthony Gill, Casey Prather and Malcolm Thomas sat out.

According to Euroleague.net, Gill signed with Khimki Moscow Region on a two-year deal. There’s been no such news of an overseas deal being reached with Prather or Thomas.

With that said, it’s certainly a possibility they’re two of the players the Cleveland Cavaliers would bring to training camp.

Prather averaged 9.0 points per game while shooting 37.5 percent from three-point range. He also showed the ability to attack the rim in transition. During the Cavs Summer League circuit, Prather played tough defense both on-ball and as help defender. Thomas averaged 5.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game for the Cavs in 16.5 minutes per game. Thomas showed the ability to finish around the rim, though he didn’t show off his outside jumper. He was both a mobile defender and rim-protector on the other end.

For a team that likes athletic three-and-D prospects and needs a mobile big man to add as depth behind Tristan Thompson, bringing Prather and Thomas on with training camp deals makes sense.

However, their additions would only give the Cavs 16 players in training camp if there were no other signings, although it’s possible Cedi Osman joins the team in time for training camp as well. Considering that Lue mentioned bringing 18-20 players to camp, there are two to four more spots for the Cavs to fill (it’s possible the Cavs bring veteran’s to camp too).

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Looking at the players who did play in yesterday’s game, forward Sir’Dominic Pointer, shooting guard Andrew White III and point guard T.J. Williams are three two-way prospects who played heavy minutes.

Pointer scored 14 points (7-of-14 from the field, 0-of-1 from three-point range), had 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 7 steals and 2 blocks. He averaged 10.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.0 block per game while shooting 58.1 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three-point range for the Cavs during Summer League competition.

Pointer isn’t much of a shooter but he’s a smart player who will make the right play at the right time, whether it be to shoot, drive or pass the ball. On the defensive end, Pointer can be a terror both on and off-ball with how well he moves laterally, his defensive instinct, quick hands, energy and his ability to act as a shot-blocker.

White, the shooting specialist, scored 18 points (6-of-16 from the field, 3-of-5 from three-point range), had 6 rebounds and 2 steals. He’s prone to making the wrong play on offense, as he has a hair-trigger on his jump shot and at times plays too anxious on offense. However, on defense, White moves very well and is rarely, if ever, beat off-the-dribble. Yesterday, he made the game-tying three-point shot to bring the game into overtime and had the highest plus/minus (+16) of any player on the Cavs.

After the Summer League circuit concluded for the Cavs yesterday, White finished with 7.0 points per game on 50.0 percent shooting from three-point range.

Williams  has been inefficient as of late with his shots rattling or rolling off the rim, scored 21 points, He was 6-of-19 from the field and 1-of-4 from three-point range yesterday. However, he also made 8-of-10 free-throw attempts. He’s a big guard who knows how to make the right play and has been pretty effective at getting all the way to the rim. On the defensive end, Williams is solid when it comes to containing perimeter penetration and has shown the ability to defend both guard positions with his 6-foot-3, 205 pound frame.

Williams averaged 12.2 points (34.5 percent shooting from the field, 25.0 percent shooting from the three-point range) and 1.6 steals per game for the Cavs.

Now, if these players (Pointer, White, Williams, Prather and Thomas) don’t make it onto the Cleveland Cavaliers roster with regular season deals, there are two-way deals (or traditional deals) they could sign with their NBA G-League affiliate, the Canton Charge. A two-way contract would allow the player to be called-up from the G-League and receive NBA-scaled pay for 45 days. Pointer, White and Williams are prime candidates for a two-way contract.

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