As presently constructed, the Cleveland Cavaliers roster is sparse when it comes to guards, and they could potentially look to acquire guards to develop with a second-round pick purchase or through undrafted free agency.
Behind Collin Sexton, there are a lot of question marks when it comes to guards on the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Jordan Clarkson had a really solid 2018-19 coming off the bench in playing the role of primary bench scorer. Fan-favorite Matthew Dellavedova leaves much to be desired offensively, although he can knock down three-point shots when open.
Brandon Knight has one more year left on his deal with a cap hit of over $15.64 million (per Spotrac). There appears to be a chance all three of those guys could be on the roster at the start of the year, and it also appears there’s a chance none of them are.
General manager Koby Altman and the Cavs will most likely look for a backup guard in undrafted free agency or could feasibly draft one by purchasing a second-round pick from another team due to owner Dan Gilbert’s reported willingness to spend to help their rebuild; the Philadelphia 76ers, who have four second-rounders in the 2019 NBA Draft (per Tankathon), could be a realistic supplier of a second-rounder.
It should also be noted that per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, head coach John Beilein is “intrigued” by a two point-guard system, just furthering the need to add another guard/primary ball-handler for the near future, in particular.
There are a number of guys who the Cavaliers could potentially target to fill the reserve primary ball-handler role.
Jaylen Hands, PG, UCLA
Despite being on a disappointing UCLA team this past year, Jaylen Hands had himself a solid year. He’s a true point guard and a really solid distributor.
He averaged 14.2 points per game on 49.9% effective field goal shooting, to go with 6.1 assists per game and had double-digit dimes in six contests in 2018-19. Along with that, his assist percentage of 36.5% is higher than projected first-round guards Ty Jerome of Virginia and Coby White of North Carolina.
He would fill a need for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who really don’t have a long-term true backup point guard, as Dellavedova is expired and is injury-prone. Clarkson plays more of a shooting/scoring guard role, so Hands could play that true point guard position.
Sexton also is not much of a passer, although he is working on improving.
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Hands would be a nice pickup to bring a little distribution to a Cavs’ offense that will reportedly focus on motion and movement this year, and could be a player Cleveland could target with a second-round pick purchase.
Jaylen Nowell, Guard, Washington
Jaylen Nowell was a huge reason for the resurgence of the Washington Huskies. Nowell checks a lot of the boxes you’d look for as a bench scorer; he had 16.2 points per game in 2018-19 on 56.1% effective field goal shooting.
He shot the three-ball at an impressive 44.0% clip this past year, and that was while spending a lot of the time playing as the primary ball-handler and earned PAC-12 Player of the Year Honors (h/t Sports Reference).
He figures to hear his name called toward the end of the second round. He’s going to need to improve on his passing and ball security (as evidenced by his less-than-stellar assist-to-turnover ratio of just 3.1:2.9) in the pros.
Regardless, his shooting ability figures to translate to the NBA game and the 6-foot-4, 200-pound 19-year-old could be a nice piece in the near future for Cleveland.
Jalen Lecque, PG, Brewster Academy (High School)
Here is an intriguing prospect. Jalen Lecque was reportedly committed to North Carolina State before deciding to go pro out of high school (he attended three different high schools), and now since participating in the 2019 NBA Draft Combine, he’s foregone his career (per NBA.com).
In his final year of high school, he put up 12.6 points per game, 4.6 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game, h/t USA TODAY’s Cam Smith. These aren’t exactly eye-popping and it should be noted the prior year (at Christ School) he averaged 20.1 points, 9.1 rebounds and 9.3 assists (h/t the Citizen Times’ David Thompson).
His biggest strength is his athleticism. He had a 43″ inch maximum vertical at the combine (per NBA.com) and the prevailing feeling was scouts were very much impressed with his physical attributes.
He’s still more of an unknown since there is limited film, Lecque figures to be a developmental player who could learn from veterans like Delly, and seems to be a second-pick purchase or undrafted free agency target the Cavaliers might have interest in.
Jordan Bone, PG, Tennessee
Jordan Bone is more of a household name than the three Ja(y)lens mentioned prior in this article due to Tennessee’s success in recent years. Bone played a key role in the Volunteers’ tournament runs and seemingly is a very complete player.
He is an efficient shooter (35.3% career three-point hit rate in three seasons) and a willing passer (a career assist rate of 30.1%).
He doesn’t have the “star” potential of other players in the 2019 NBA Draft but in the latter portion of the draft, you’re looking for guys who can develop and play a role in the future; Bone may very well be that for the Cleveland Cavaliers with their several expiring guard pieces.
Shamorie Ponds, PG, St. John’s
Shamorie Ponds is a prolific scorer (19.5 points per game on 50.1% effective field goal shooting over three career seasons) who can put on a show when he’s hot, but there are questions about how his game translates to the next level.
Ponds is only listed at 6-foot-1, 175 pounds (per ESPN) and he is not a tremendous athlete. He is a capable three point shooter, but not exceptional, and has been streaky, as shown by his career 32.8% hit rate from deep with 5.9 attempts per game.
Mostly due to his size, Ponds will end up being a late second-rounder or an underrated, maybe even undrafted guy. He could also be a developmental prospect who could find himself in the G League working on his game.
Ultimately his competitive drive and nose for the game will land him on a roster, though, I would imagine, and he could be an interesting role player for the Cavs.
Unless otherwise referenced, statistics for this article were gathered from Sports Reference’s college basketball statistics.