Cavs: If he’s back, David Nwaba will likely be better utilized next year

I’d expect Nwaba to be more on the perimeter on D

This is assuming Nwaba is back in the 2019-20 season, by the way, which appears to be a good possibility (according to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor) due to Cleveland being able to extend him a qualifying offer of roughly $1.89 million this offseason (per Spotrac), which would make them able to match any offer he receives per him then being a restricted free agent, and those would not seem to be many given his injury-riddled last season.

Plus, even though the Cavs won’t have much if any financial flexibility this offseason, majority owner/chairman Dan Gilbert’s reported willingness to spend/even go into the luxury lax penalty range should allow Cleveland to bring back Nwaba if it intends to.

Though it was at the college level, Beilein’s defenses, as our own Josh Friedman hit on, did a great job last year (and in the last number of years, really) defending on the perimeter, and stayed match-up sound well. Nwaba would fit that style of not over-helping, especially in pick-and-roll coverage, which he has been very effective at when it comes to staying locked in on ball-handlers in his NBA career when he’s been healthy.

I’d expect more of that next year playing for Beilein, who as Nik Stauskas (who is set to be an unrestricted free agent this summer) reportedly demonstrated recently, seems to always put his players in the best positions possible to succeed, if Nwaba is again on the Cleveland Cavaliers.

On the offensive end of the floor, Nwaba (as we’ve often emphasized), is adept at timing his cuts in both the halfcourt and in transition, and going forward, that skill should mesh well with Cleveland’s more motion-predicated offense in the coming years.