Cleveland Cavaliers: The buyout market might not offer a quality rim protector

With two open roster spots left, the lack of competent buyout options could hurt the Cleveland Cavaliers, especially since they still lack a rim protector.

Unlike last season when the Cleveland Cavaliers were able to acquire Andrew Bogut, this post-trade deadline buyout market is much more scarce. Whether it be due to the unusually large contracts that the fluctuating CBA created a few seasons ago or some other reason, the pool of veteran talent just isn’t there this season.

According to HoopsHype’s Frank Urbina, who expanded on the buyout market on February 9th, there is not a single player that is a “likely” buyout candidate and over 6-foot-8. Even in the “possible” buyout range, there still isn’t much talent.

Kosta Koufos is the only real shot blocker in that range. Koufos could be interesting prospect though. The 7-foot 28-year-old is averaging just 18.9 minutes per game and isn’t contributing much to a young and frankly bad Kings team. Koufos hasn’t been struggling to protect the rim this season, averaging less than one block per 36 minutes for the first time in his career.

Would the Cavs settle for Koufos? If added, would he even see court time? Just a few questions to ponder if the former Buckeye is eventually bought out.

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The Cavs are a bottom five team in both blocks per game and opponent’s effective field goal percentage. That said, they need to get a proven contributor like they did last season in Bogut, not a struggling veteran that might not even be in the league next season.

When you get into the “unlikely” stage of Urbina’s article, players like Tyson Chandler start to pop up. Chandler would be a terrific addition to the Cavs. He’d replace the veteran leadership and locker room personalities that were lost in the Cavs trade deadline fiasco, and he’d provide the team with a formidable rim protector down in the paint.

The only other potential buyout option that would strengthen the Cavs internal defense is Brook Lopez, but he’s a “long shot” to be bought out.

Therefore, Chandler seems to be the only real option this buyout season. Although the fallback plan of bringing up and signing Kendrick Perkins is also a possibility, it’d be much more ideal to gain a contributor such as Chandler.

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The options are extremely limited this season. If the Cavs can’t add him, they may stumble a bit when they play larger and more physical teams like Boston and Atlanta, who have Al Horford and Jonas Valanciunas respectively.