Cavs reportedly sign potential interior D presence in Marques Bolden to Exhibit 10

The Cleveland Cavaliers reportedly signed Marques Bolden to an Exhibit 10 deal on Thursday, which could potentially give them a young interior presence they could bring along gradually with the Canton Charge and eventually give some run as 2019-20 progresses.

The Cleveland Cavaliers currently have Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, Larry Nance Jr., John Henson and Ante Zizic as the bigs in their rotation, but as we’ve often touched on here at KJG, both Henson and Thompson are on expiring contracts.

As a result, they could both be feasibly moved by the 2020 trade deadline, if not earlier.

Henson is really the only rim protector Cleveland has on its roster at the moment, too, but again, he doesn’t project as a player that should be getting a bunch of run as an expiring veteran in a rebuilding situation, though I’d imagine he’ll play a bit in the first month-plus of 2019-20 to show some trade value (likely packaged with another expiring piece, such as Brandon Knight perhaps).

Taking that into consideration, that’s likely why the Cavaliers reportedly signed undrafted free agent Marques Bolden to an Exhibit 10 deal on Thursday, according to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, who noted how that Exhibit 10 contracts don’t count against a team’s salary cap.

Bolden played with Cleveland on both their Salt Lake City and Las Vegas Summer League teams, and made a nice showing for himself.

He posted 6.8 points on 47.6% shooting, to go with 4.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 20.8 minutes per game in five appearances in Vegas, and 5.0 points on five-of-five shooting, to go with 5.0 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.0 blocks in 14.5 minutes per game in two SLC contests (per NBA.com’s Summer League statistics).

On an Exhibit 10 deal where Bolden will have a chance to compete for Cleveland’s 14th roster spot in training camp/preseason along with potentially J.P Macura, a two guard Cleveland reportedly signed to an Exhibit 10 deal last week, and just like Macura, Bolden could realistically, have a chance to grow more as a player in 2019-20 mostly playing with Cleveland’s G-League affiliate, the Canton Charge, if he is sent down there after training camp.

Additionally, given the Exhibit 10 distinction for Bolden, Fedor (who noted that Cleveland will likely not have a full 15-man roster at the season’s outset but has some minimum-contract pieces in mind for the 14th spot opening) said that Bolden’s deal could be “converted to a regular-season contract or a two-way deal.”

With the Exhibit 10 distinction which is a one-year, minimum deal, players can have an “optional bonus ranging from to $5,000 to $50,000,” per Fedor, but as Fedor also hit on, players are only able to get that bonus if they “spend at least 60 days with the G League team.”

Stretch big Dean Wade currently has one Cleveland Cavaliers’ two-way spot, for the record; when it comes to the 21-year-old Bolden’s potential reason for being a role piece down the road for the Cavs, it’s due to him being a player Cleveland can develop gradually as a rolling presence, hard screener and rim protector.

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Though he reportedly had injury problems at Duke in his three-year career there, which capped his overall ceiling as a contributor there, he did show he can be a nice developmental piece for the next level with him averaging 1.0 blocks in 2017-18 and 1.7 blocks in 2018-19 in 12.9 minutes per game and 19.0 minutes per game, per Sports Reference.

He had a career block rate of 7.6% and a career 3.1 block per-40 minute clip (again, per Sports Reference), too, and with the Cavaliers last in blocks per game last year and bottom three the year prior (per NBA.com), Bolden could potentially get some run next season with Cleveland as a rotational rim protector (with Thompson and Henson expiring).

Bolden can occasionally switch out in pick-and-rolls, too, which is better than Zizic, who is a solid interior defender based on position, but simply drops in PnR against ball-handlers and is not much of a shot blocker (a block rate of 1.8% last year and 1.0 per-36 minutes, per Basketball Reference).

That being said, I’m still a fan of Zizic on the offensive end as a low-post scorer and improving mid-range shooter.

Either way, if the Cleveland Cavaliers as 2019-20 progresses favor the shot blocking presence, and also hard screening (much like Zizic) of Bolden over Zizic in their rotation, I can understand that to see how Bolden can play in NBA minutes as feasibly part of a converted two-way deal.

Again, though, I still like Zizic’s game, but for what it’s worth, Cavaliers head coach John Beilein and assistant coach Antonio Lang see Bolden as a good fit for the NBA game and better one than for the college game, per Fedor.

Here’s what Lang said in regards to why Bolden fits better in the NBA than at Duke, and this is likely what made Cleveland decide to bring in the 6-foot-11 Bolden for training camp (again, per Fedor).

"“Because he’s a hard roller, he’s a rim protector, he has good hands and he can guard on the floor in switch situations,” Lang said. “In college you don’t have space. Here you have space and he can create space if he continues to roll hard. Everything you look for in a big he has, he just has to be more efficient with his footwork and learn the game more. That comes with practice and time. He’s more suited for the NBA game.”"

Bolden is not a player that will likely develop into a stretch big, but that’s fine, as that won’t ever project as his role.

He’s also not somebody you’ll be asking to run offense through in rotational minutes, as I believe you can with Zizic on occasion as an inside-out aspect to your offense.

Nonetheless, this kind of signing at least is encouraging in that it shows the Cavaliers are fully aware that they need rim protection for down the road, whether that comes from this kind of developmental piece or potentially high in future drafts.

It again, though, is unclear as to if Bolden will play meaningful minutes for Cleveland next season, but I would imagine he’ll have his chances to prove some worth in training camp and/or in development with the Charge.