Kay Felder on the trade block
Cleveland Cavaliers second-year point guard Kay Felder is on the trade block.
According to Sam Amico of AmicoHoops, second-year point guard Kay Felder has been made available in trade talks as the Cleveland Cavaliers try to open up a roster spot for Dwyane Wade.
"Meanwhile, second-year point guard Kay Felder has a partial guarantee in his deal, and he too has been made available in talks, a source said. Felder, however, has drawn little interest. He is considered a long shot to make the Cavs’ final roster."
Felder is now the fourth or fifth point guard on the Cavs depth chart after the signing of Wade and Tyronn Lue’s inclination to play Wade as the backup point guard in Isaiah Thomas’ absence. Currently, Derrick Rose is starting at point guard in place of Thomas, with Jose Calderon a trusted veteran who will be the Cavs’ third-string point guard for the time being.
After Thomas returns, Rose will likely shift to backup point guard while Wade slides down to be the backup two-guard. Even in that event, the Cavs are still three-deep at the point guard position and there’s no need for Felder to remain on the regular season roster.
Felder isn’t likely to earn a two-way contract either. The team already signed John Holland, a volume scorer who can handle the ball in a point guard role, to a two-way contract last month. The other two-way contract would seem to be reserved for center Ante Zizic, a player that the Cavs requested from the Boston Celtics after hearing about his potential. Since his arrival, Zizic has shown off his skills in both training camp and the Cleveland Cavaliers annual Wine and Gold scrimmage. The Cleveland Cavaliers aren’t lacking on point guards but they are lacking on true centers, with both Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson (and even Channing Frye) undersized for the position.
A 5-foot-9 point guard with a knack for scoring but lacking the experience he’d need to learn how to control the flow of the game, Felder is an expendable player for a team with championship pursuits and a deep roster. Even if the Cavs spent $2.5 million on the second-round draft pick they bought from the Atlanta Hawks to select Felder with the 54th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft.
Felder was one of the best players in the country when he played for Oakland University, explosive and stuffing the stat sheet with 24.4 points and 9.3 assists per game.
He was even in line to be the Cavs’ backup point guard at the start of last season before an elbow from Chris “Birdman” Anderson left him concussed and Iman Shumpert in the backup point guard role. Felder, who received an endorsement from LeBron James in college, was a highly-anticipated arrival last year because of his youth, scoring potential and the loss of fan favorite Matthew Dellavedova – a player it was thought he’d be replacing.
Outside of his high-octane performances in the NBA G-League, he did string together a few solid games for the Cavs when he did get playing time.
However, after scoring 29.9 points per game for the Canton Charge, and developing his ability to score at the rim, shoot outside shots and defend, Felder also failed to carry his momentum into the offseason. He looked like much the same player as he was last season with his Summer League play this offseason, a volume scorer who doesn’t understand how to control the flow of the offense – still pressing too often. A player with an inconsistent three-point stroke and whose far too inefficient.
After two Summer League circuits, Felder is averaging 15.5 points, 3.7 assists and 2.2 turnovers per game while shooting 37.9 percent from the field and 18.9 percent from three-point range.
Felder may be on his way out and his lack of size does him no favors but there’s still potential for Felder to succeed. The Cavs and rival teams need to look no farther than the Land for evidence of that, with Thomas another 5-foot-9 guard who had to overcome a lot of obstacles and play for a few times before finally earning the respect he deserved as a player.
Felder might not have the trade value necessary for the Cavs to be able to deal him without cutting him but they shouldn’t ask for much. There’s always a diamond in the rough to be found in the second-round, like Thomas or Jae Crowder. Felder himself could be a diamond in the rough, if there’s a team willing to take the chance on putting the ball in his hands and letting him grow.