Cleveland Cavaliers: Andrew Harrison signing is a youth move

The Cleveland Cavaliers reportedly signed guard Andrew Harrison to a two-way contract on Thursday night, and that had to have been a youth move.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are playing aging veterans too much, and I get it, as the team wants to have win(s); they are 1-10. That makes the point in itself, though. The team needs to find a way to unload their veterans via trade and allow their young(er) players such as Rodney Hood, Cedi Osman, Collin Sexton, Larry Nance Jr. and Ante Zizic to play as much as possible. The Cavaliers went with a youth move in adding guard Andrew Harrison, who is 24, and reportedly waiving John Holland, who is 30, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Head coach Larry Drew is going to have decisions to make in regards to who gets minutes with Cleveland having Hood, J.R. Smith, David Nwaba and Harrison potentially all warranting considerable playing time, and I would expect that this Harrison signing is signaling veterans such as Smith and Kyle Korver being traded soon.

With Wojnarowski emphasizing that Harrison is only with the Cavs roster in his 45 days in the two-way deal, that means (to me), he’ll get some minutes. As far as what Harrison brings to Cleveland, he’s a slasher who gets to the free throw line and does a solid job of setting up his teammates.

In two seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies (not counting one game this year), he’s averaged 7.4 points and 2.9 assists in 21.7 minutes per game. He does not pose much threat as a jump shooter other than in the 16 foot to three-point arc range (where his percentage was 41.4 percent last year, per Basketball Reference), so he won’t help provide more spacing.

As was mentioned, however, Harrison is a solid passer, and can make things happen for teammates both in halfcourt situations and in the open floor.

Despite not being much of a three-point shooter (as he’s just 30.1 percent in two career seasons), Harrison is not going to be passive, and that helps him generate his own production and helps his other teammates, especially his bigs. Harrison is a career 77.1 percent free throw shooter, and his career free throw rate is 44.6, per Basketball Reference.

With George Hill reportedly out for one to two weeks with a right shoulder sprain, per Cavs’ Official Twitter, maybe Harrison should get a crack at backing up rookie Collin Sexton in spurts, or handle some combo guard duties next to Jordan Clarkson or David Nwaba. Harrison is also a pretty solid defender against opposing 1’s and 2’s, and his 6-foot-6 height and 6-foot-9 wingspan helps him contest shooters and recover some on drives.

In summation, signing Harrison and waiving Holland (who did not fit the “development” approach), was clearly signaling the Cleveland Cavaliers are trying to get younger under general manager Koby Altman.