Cavs: Relationship-building seems to be primary Summer League focus

The primary focus for the Cleveland Cavaliers in Summer League seems to be about relationship-building, and not so much about the end result of games.

One can’t reasonably say that the Cleveland Cavaliers have had a stellar stretch of NBA Summer League play in both the Salt Lake City and thus far Las Vegas competitions.

Cleveland, though they did start well in their first game against the San Antonio Spurs’ Summer League team but eventually lost, lost all three of its games in the SLC Summer League, and it was likely due to the focus of opponents on Dylan Windler after the first game against San Antonio, in which Windler had 19 points and knocked in three three-pointers (per NBA.com).

Windler, as we’ve noted, along with Naz Mitrou-Long, who has created his own offense consistently as well (and especially the latter) have done a good job of making plays for others, too, though, and that has to make the Cleveland coaching staff encouraged at least.

Nonetheless, the Cavaliers did show some better ball and man movement on Friday against the Minnesota Timberwolves in a ten-point loss to open their Vegas Summer League play.

It was nice for the Cavs to get their first Summer League win (even without Windler playing reportedly due to him getting the day off due to workload the first four summer league games, per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor) Sunday, too, with a seven-point victory over the Chicago Bulls, led by Mitrou-Long’s 21 points on six-of-eight shooting, to go with eight rebounds and five assists (per NBA.com).

With the way Mitrou-Long has provided a steady dose of playmaking and pick-and-roll shot creation for the Cleveland Cavaliers in their Summer League play, to go with his improvement over two seasons as a two-way contributor for the Utah Jazz/their G-League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars, in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons, it would seem feasible for the Cavs to give the 25-year-old the team’s other two-way spot (alongside Dean Wade as the other two-way player) to at least begin 2019-20.

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It’s understandable why Cleveland assistant coach Antonio Lang, who helped coach Mitrou-Long on the Jazz the last two seasons, said that the combo guard has been “one of the standouts” since summer league training camp started, according to Fedor.

The aforementioned Wade, as we’ve noted previously, has shown he has potential to be a rotational inside-out scorer at the 4 spot, and he had 11 points (though it was only on four-for-11 shooting, but he did go two-for-five shooting from three-point range) along with six rebounds, two assists and two steals against Chicago (again, per NBA.com).

Furthermore, although the Cleveland Cavaliers haven’t been great in the results department with a 1-4 record in Summer League, it’s a positive that players such as Cedi Osman, Ante Zizic and Collin Sexton especially have reportedly been very engaged with the Cavs’ Summer League team and have been getting good exposure to head coach John Beilein in both SLC and Vegas.

Cavs sideline reporter (also affiliated with Fox Sports Ohio) Cayleigh Griffin (and h/t Cavs Nation’s Paolo Songco) initially touched on how Osman was really interested in getting to meet Beilein, and you can see Osman supporting his teammates in Vegas Summer League play, along with Tristan Thompson, John Henson, Zizic and Sexton, for instance.

That’s nice to see from an intangibles standpoint, and with the Cavaliers having a new head coach, even moreso.

Additionally, even with 2019 Cleveland draft picks Darius Garland and Kevin Porter Jr. reportedly not likely playing at all in Summer League due to health precaution, they are still supporting Cleveland’s Summer League team just like the other names mentioned, and are getting quality time in with learning what the Cavaliers’ coaching staff wants to do from an x’s and o’s standpoint in practice sessions/things of that nature, based on reports, which is making their time in Summer League worthwhile.

In a recent interview with The Athletic‘s Joe Vardon (subscription required and h/t Cavaliers Nation’s Omar Guerrero), Garland also emphasized how he (along with Porter and Jaron Blossomgame, who could potentially be a two-way player next year again or a minimum contract signing by Cleveland) and Sexton are getting to know each other and sharing some laughs in this time in Vegas, and that relationship-building from Cleveland teammates along with the coaching staff is ever-important in this full-rebuild for the Cavs.

Sexton and Garland are reportedly both “excited” to work together on the floor, and forging relationships off it, and continuing to with other teammates via practice/film sessions, among other ways, should only help them in the coming years maximize their ability to play off each other and help the Cleveland Cavaliers progress in their rebuild.

There will obviously be growing pains with a Sexton-Garland backcourt, but a positive mindset from those two about their pairing’s prospects, and players supporting the Cavaliers’ organization in Summer League and getting more exposure to the new coaching staff in the summer can only help the team grow closer in the near future (of course, it’s unclear about Thompson and Henson’s near future with Cleveland, given both being expiring players after next year).

Granted, it still would be nice to see Porter and Garland play a bit in Vegas, but it is just Summer League, anyway, and it’s encouraging that both are getting exposure to the organization and their teammates.