I can’t say enough positive things about a true team guy in David Nwaba, who has played very well when he’s been healthy for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season.
The Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the up-and-coming Brooklyn Nets by six yesterday in what was a valiant effort, but the contributions of David Nwaba should not go unnoticed. Nwaba has only played in 34 of a possible 65 games for the Cavs (per Basketball Reference), due to reported knee and ankle injuries, but when he’s been on the floor, he’s been productive.
Despite Cleveland being sloppy on many occasions in the Brooklyn game yesterday, Nwaba was outstanding, as he had a career-high 22 points on nine-of-13 shooting in only 20 minutes played, per ESPN. It’s unclear why Cavaliers head coach Larry Drew only played Nwaba 3.1 minutes in the fourth quarter (per NBA.com), as he was rolling.
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On most occasions (23 of his 34 appearances this season, per Basketball Reference), Nwaba has come off the bench. When he’s in the game, he makes winning plays.
When given the opportunity, he finishes well in transition, and has the strength to finish through contact.
While some players are non-factors without the ball in their hands, Nwaba moves without the ball well to put himself in position to score from cutting from the baseline when players such as Jordan Clarkson drive, and has shown the capability to find open space for kickout passes to the corner from the likes of Kevin Love or Cedi Osman when defenses collapse in the paint.
Obviously the 34-game sample size is relatively short, but Nwaba has shot 40.0 percent on three-point attempts from the corner (which accounts for 43.9 percent of his attempts) this year, per Basketball Reference, which is a far better percentage than in the 90 combined appearances in his two previous seasons.
On the season, his three-point clip overall is 35.7 percent on 1.7 attempts per game, which is decent, and at least proves he can be an okay catch-and-shoot threat when he’s open.
Outside of a few-minute stretch defending against Nets’ talented playmaker Caris LeVert, Nwaba also played well defensively (as he usually does) for Cleveland.
For example, according to Second Spectrum’s NBA Matchup Data, Nwaba only allowed two points in 12 possessions and conceded 0 assists to Spencer Dinwiddie, who torched the Cavaliers to the tune of 28 points yesterday and obliterated them in the fourth quarter.
Nwaba did have three personal fouls, but he’s generally not going to have a ton of those when he’s on the floor, and he’s clearly one of Cleveland’s best defenders, whose often tasked with defending players bigger than him, such as taller wings or even occasionally some 4’s.
Due to injuries plaguing the Cleveland Cavaliers all season long, Nwaba has had to line up at the 3 position 54 percent of the time, which is not easy, considering he’s only listed at 6-foot-4, per NBA.com.
That being said, he’s clearly been one of the most valuable members of the Wine and Gold this season based on the on-off numbers, as Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor detailed.
"“On the season, Nwaba has logged 633 total minutes. During that time, the Cavs have been outscored by just eight points. That’s the second-best plus-minus. In terms of net rating, only Love has been better. ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus? Nwaba is third, behind Nance and Love. Defensive RPM, Nwaba is also third.Dig deeper into the numbers and it shows the same. With Nwaba on the court, the Cavs boast an offensive rating of 111.8 compared to just 106.5 with him off the floor. That’s the difference between a Milwaukee-level offense, which ranks third in the NBA, and the Mavericks’ 20th-ranked unit.On defense, the impact is striking as well. The Cavs have a rating of 111.8 with Nwaba on the court. It’s an astonishingly-poor 119.0 when he’s on the bench.”"
Nwaba’s contributions, as we’ve touched on here at KJG, lead to winning basketball.
He’s an unselfish player who is very versatile on defense when it comes to who he’s able to guard, he gets through opposing off-ball screens easily leading to him staying attached to shooters, he cuts really well on the offensive end, and has a more-than-respectable career mark of 6.6 rebounds per 36 minutes, per Basketball Reference.
In a postgame interview after scoring his career-high yesterday, Nwaba had his usual team-first type of responses and didn’t have anything bad to say about him not getting many fourth-quarter minutes, which given how remarkably efficient he was, would be fairly understandable.
He even noted how his “plus and minus was a negative-3,” (per Fox Sports Ohio) which proves he’s not a player who is at all concerned about his individual numbers such as scoring to potentially increase his market value, but is entirely focused on helping the team win.
After dropping a career-high 22 points in three quarters, David Nwaba praised the @cavs bench bunch he's been playing with: "I think we're clicking." #BeTheFight pic.twitter.com/4bHciEYXFv
— Bally Sports Cincinnati (@BallySportsCIN) March 7, 2019
It’s reportedly likely that the Cleveland Cavaliers will bring back Nwaba for next season, with him likely getting a qualifying offer extended to him courtesy of him being a restricted free agent, and Fedor noted how that should definitely happen this summer, even with the Cavs currently allotted to have “$134 million in salary committed,” which would put them “in the luxury tax by about $2 million.”
The Cavs can get under the tax line, though, by hopefully moving (as we’ve touched on) and Fedor acknowledged, J.R. Smith, or one of the Cavs’ expiring pieces for 2019-20.
Fedor would go on to describe the terms with Nwaba for the summer, which seem reasonable for a player who projects to be a key part of the future for the Cleveland Cavaliers’ bench, and didn’t (other than reportedly the Indiana Pacers, as Fedor said), have much of a market last summer as a free agent.
"“Because Nwaba has three years or less of NBA service, he will be a restricted free agent this summer — if the Cavs extend a qualifying offer of around $1.9 million to him in late June. That would give Cleveland a chance to match any offer sheet he receives. Combining his injury-riddled season and the quiet that surrounded last summer’s free agency, it’s hard to envision another team prying him away.”"
This is a player that fits what the Cleveland Cavaliers are trying to build in the coming years in what relates to a team-first mindset that is all about winning basketball, as that aforementioned postgame interview demonstrated.
Nwaba doesn’t care about career-high scoring nights; he just wants to win, and he’s showing signs of him improving offensively. He’s a guy that the Cavs must keep around, because players like him establish a winning culture for young pieces such as Collin Sexton and Osman.