Cavs shouldn’t and realistically, can’t be too active in 2019 free agency

Nwaba should be more of a priority than outside free agents

For the record, Fedor has previously noted how he essentially believes that there’s a high possibility of Nwaba being brought back, which is a plus, as Nwaba proved to be arguably Cleveland’s best defender last year when he was healthy, as he brings versatility in being a quality defender on the perimeter and can switch on to some 4’s on occasion due to his strength and great instincts.

Nwaba’s impact went way beyond his statline of 6.5 points on 52.7% effective field goal shooting, 3.2 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game (per Basketball Reference), and a glue guy like him is a nice piece to have stick around to help in building a winning culture, and next season could essentially be another “prove-it” scenario for the 26-year-old.

Taking that into consideration, though, it’s worth noting that, according to Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale, given Nwaba’s potential compensation and with Cleveland being one of the NBA teams where the postseason is not realistically in the cards for next season, “they don’t have the incentive to tap into the mini mid-level ($5.7 million).”

With the two draft picks hopefully both being involved in the rotation in 2019-20 so they can get a jump on their development, just like Sexton (who played in all 82 games last year) did, and with Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert reportedly willing to take on bad contracts attached with future draft picks in trades in the near future, Cleveland shelling out a significant portion of their mid-level or even mini mid-level exception doesn’t seem like a wise idea.

For reference, Favale mentioned Mario Hezonja, who has shown flashes of all-around scoring and athleticism but mostly inefficient play in four NBA seasons (as evidenced by him being a career 32.1% three-point shooter and overall 41.7% shooter with a 19.2% usage rate, per Basketball Reference), to go with a mostly unproven Furkan Korkmaz and Stanley Johnson (who is set to be a restricted free agent) as potential targets for the Cleveland Cavaliers in free agency.

While I am somewhat intrigued by the 21-year-old Korkmaz, who is a teammate of Osman’s on Team Turkey and is not likely to truly blossom on the Philadelphia 76ers in the next few years, I’m not too sure signing him outright makes a ton of sense.

For these reasons, once again, Altman and the Cavs are not likely to be too involved in bringing in outside players in free agency this offseason, and that’s for the best. They just need to stay the course.