Cavs: Matthew Dellavedova could be bench stabilizer for youngsters if healthier

Though Matthew Dellavedova’s 2018-19 ended before he wanted it to due to a reported injury, he still could be a valuable player for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2019-20 and in the coming years as a bench stabilizer if he can stay mostly healthy.

As we’ve often stressed here at KJG, the Cleveland Cavaliers had a bunch of injury issues in the 2018-19 season, and that played a significant role in them not having the year they would’ve wanted to at the beginning of last year.

A player that was one of several pieces that had his season handicapped due to reported injury was Matthew Dellavedova, who only played in seven games post-All-Star break (a 24-game stretch, per NBA.com) due to reported concussion symptoms.

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Though some of that was seemingly precautionary, it was clear that Dellavedova had to have been not nearly 100%.

That being said, the Cavaliers’ bench and the young pieces such as Cedi Osman, Ante Zizic, Darius Garland, Dylan Windler and Kevin Porter Jr., along with the coaching staff will be better off next season if Delly is mostly healthy, as Dellavedova could be the team’s bench stabilizer and help the young pieces be in the right spots more often than not (along with Larry Nance Jr., of course).

Though it was only for 36 games with Cleveland in 2018-19 (Delly was traded back to the Cavs in December of 2018, for the record), Dellavedova played well, as he had 7.3 points on 50.2% effective field goal shooting, to go with 4.2 assists in 19.9 minutes per game (per Basketball Reference).

As we’ve emphasized before here at KJG countless times, the ball and man movement is simply better with Dellavedova on the floor, as he doesn’t over-dribble a bunch, but does help young players around him get in the right spots in settled offense.

Plus, Delly has generally been a reliable catch-and-shoot player from three-point range in his career (a lifetime 38.1% three-point shooter, per Basketball Reference), which should help keep more spacing for players such as Windler and Porter as pull-up shooters, Zizic and/or Nance as rollers, and occasionally, should help Kevin Love or Osman have more room to operate inside the arc.

Though the sample size was shorter than others in the Cavaliers’ regular rotation last year, Cleveland its highest team assist rate when Dellavedova was on the floor, per NBA.com, excluding prior two-way Jalen Jones, who appeared in only 16 games with Cleveland.

So factoring that sort of thing into when Dellavedova might share the floor with young pieces such as Windler and Porter, who can both shoot from deep and attack closeouts but are still rookies, it would still be nice for Cleveland Cavaliers head coach John Beilein and his staff to have a heady veteran playmaker off the bench in Dellavedova to make sure young players (such as Zizic, too) are on the same page.

Along with that, Dellavedova is still a pretty competent defender when healthy against a good amount of 1’s and 2’s, and while giving some relief for Collin Sexton and/or Garland, that’d also be valuable for Beilein, and might enable pieces such as Windler and Porter to jump passing lanes and get some help and/or weak side steals from Dellavedova’s ball pressure.

Again as we’ve often referenced, though, Delly is one of the Cavs’ three expiring guards, with the other two being Brandon Knight and Jordan Clarkson, but in my opinion, of those three, I’d keep Delly around through the deadline and really try to extend him if possible on a relatively team-friendly deal before next season starts, given that’s he still a quality backup point guard when healthy and could be a veteran locker room presence (along with a bonus as a fan favorite) for the Cavaliers for a few more years.

Additionally, Knight and Clarkson, who is fresh a career year and led qualified Cavs in scoring last season with 16.8 points per game (per NBA.com), would probably more trade value, anyhow, as bench scorers/secondary playmakers for potential postseason teams, and Dellavedova is a more natural passer in terms of vision than those two, so I’d prefer Cleveland keep him as a mentor/lower usage player.