Cleveland Cavaliers: Reported agreement with Larry Drew was a necessity

The Cleveland Cavaliers and acting head coach Larry Drew reportedly came to terms on a contract agreement today, and that was a must for the team to have some sort of direction for this season.

The Cleveland Cavaliers haven’t had a start they would have liked. Tyronn Lue reportedly was fired due to the team not being competitive and him playing veterans over younger players in meaningful minutes, and the team has started 1-8. On a positive note, though, the team ended their reported stalemate with acting head coach Larry Drew, as the two agreed on a deal for the rest of this season and partially into next, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Drew has been around the NBA for a very, very long time, as he’s been a coach since the 1992-93 season, and also played for ten seasons in the league before that. The dude knows how to get through to players, and like the aforementioned Lue, he was also a point guard, which is a nice fit with Cleveland’s rookie point man Collin Sexton.

The Cavaliers need to give Sexton more and more opportunities to play in meaningful minutes this year, and although there’s “disillusionment with Collin Sexton,” per The Athletic’s Joe Vardon, the team needs him out there on the floor as much as possible.

I would expect the team to eventually unload George Hill (who only has $1 million guaranteed in his contract next season, per Spotrac) and Drew should have more leeway with Sexton at that point.

If veterans don’t trust Sexton right now on the floor, as Vardon demonstrated, then they’ll have to have an open mind.

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The kid has to play, and if Drew has a productive rest of the season, developing Sexton some will be a huge reason for that. So far, the rookie has averaged 11.1 points on 41.3 percent shooting, and 2.2 assists in 23.7 minutes per game.

It’s clear that the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to have problems at both ends. They are last in the league in defensive rating, and only three teams have a worse effective field goal percentage, according to NBA.com.

Taking that into account, Drew has to have at least a year to try to make progress with the young pieces on this squad. Kevin Love is reportedly going to be out for at least six weeks with a toe injury, per Vardon, and with being yet another issue Drew will have to overcome, the Cavs have to give him some slack.

He touched on how  it’s going to take time to figure things out after Cleveland’s rough loss to the Charlotte Hornets post-game.

Drew did coach Cleveland to their only win of the season over the Atlanta Hawks, and that truly showed what the Cavs are capable of going forward, as our own Robbie DiPaola highlighted recently.

Giving Drew a legitimate agreement was really a no-brainer for the Cavaliers; it’s unclear whether or not he’ll be here down the road, but as a guy who’s been around the block for a long time as both a player and coach, Drew is the right man to lead this team for the rest of this season.

He’s going to make adjustments mid-game, and he’s not going to be too up or too down in-game. That’s probably a good match for young pieces such as Cedi Osman, Sexton and Larry Nance Jr. this year.