Cavs’ Brandon Knight and Marquese Chriss should feel free to attack

Cleveland Cavaliers’ new additions Brandon Knight and Marquese Chriss should have little to no pressure on them in the last two months of the season, and they should not be passive.

The last two months of the Cleveland Cavaliers 2018-19 season will likely revolve around giving young pieces ample playing time, and getting a few notable veterans back on their way to normalcy on the basketball court after dealing with the injury bug and potential playing rust. The two newest additions to Cleveland’s rotation for the rest of this year, Brandon Knight and Marquese Chriss, fit both of those molds. The two came over from the Houston Rockets near the February 7 trade deadline in an initially reported trade by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that our Eli Mooneyham touched on, and they should be able to play freely in a little-to-no-pressure situation.

As a number of contributors have demonstrated when it comes to both of Cleveland’s new pieces, Knight and Chriss did not get to prove themselves with Houston this year. Combined, they both played just 28 games for the Rockets this year before being dealt to Cleveland, and they only played 16.3 combined minutes per game in those contests, per Basketball Reference.

Chriss has done a nice job in his first two games, relatively speaking, with him being thrust into a bigger role after not playing much in Houston. In his first two games as a Cavalier, he’s posted scoring numbers of 13 and seven points, while shooting 47.1 percent from the field, per NBA.com.

Chriss is a player who brings energy, much like Larry Nance Jr., and is a physical presence at the rim, which is something Cleveland is currently missing to a large degree on both ends with Tristan Thompson still sidelined with reported foot soreness. Chriss, although he’s not been a consistent perimeter shooter, should not be hesitant in letting the three-pointers fly for Cleveland, particularly from the corner after drive-and-kicks from Jordan Clarkson and Matthew Dellavedova.

His career average from three of 30.5 percent (per Basketball Reference), is not great, no, but that shouldn’t deter him from taking those looks in the flow of Cleveland’s offense, which does feature good offensive rebounders in Ante Zizic, Thompson, Nance and Love.

One of those players will likely be on the floor with Chriss, and considering Cleveland has nothing to lose the rest of the way this year, Chriss should keep playing with this same mindset he’s shown thus far. He’s a player that should be attacking in transition when he sees daylight, too, with his above-the-rim capability and bruising style near the basket being a good source of offense.

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The Cleveland Cavaliers would be better off with Chriss being aggressive in the last few months of the year, considering he’ll be expiring after this season (per Spotrac). So him being passive and not taking advantage of a bigger minutes-share (23.5 minutes on average the last two games) the next two months won’t serve any purpose for him, or Cleveland, for that matter.

When Love is back more into the fold, Chriss’ minutes will go down some, but it’s feasible for him to still get a considerable amount of run, because he’s only 21, and can be another great lob-catching threat for Cleveland’s primary ball-handlers.

Knight has only played 12 minutes for the Cavs thus far, with those coming in yesterday’s loss to the Indiana Pacers, per ESPN, but it appears that he should be ready to roll in no time when he gets on the floor. He showed flashes of his shooting ability, with nine points on three-of-three shooting (all coming from threes, obviously), and two assists.

As our own Marcus Grey and Robbie DiPaola recently highlighted, Knight is a natural that can create for himself in a variety of ways off the bounce and can fill it up from all three levels. He can make things happen for others as well for Cleveland’s reserves, and should help Collin Sexton from a shooting standpoint.

As he gets more and more healthy, he should become more and more assertive.

It seems as though Knight is comfortable with his situation with the Cleveland Cavaliers as well, despite the sudden change mid-season. Here’s what he said about his current situation and seems to be excited for his opportunity, per Fox Sports Ohio.

The Cavs’ newest additions seem to be adjusting nicely to their new situations, which is not always easy when you’re traded mid-season.

Hopefully Chriss and Knight keep getting ample opportunities to show what they can do, given that both players can provide a boost for the Cavs’ bench.