Cavs: Daniel Hamilton reported Exhibit 10 deal is likely about potential wing defense

The Cleveland Cavaliers have added another that’s set to be on their training camp roster; they reportedly agreed to an Exhibit 10 deal with Daniel Hamilton, and that was likely about potential wing defense help.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have not been making big moves in free agency this offseason, as we’ve touched on here at KJG often, given the team’s lack of cap space and with them focusing on player development.

They are still doing their due diligence in filling out their training camp roster, though, again, as we’ve often discussed; NBA teams each get a maximum of 20 players to be on their training camp roster, for reference.

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Playing off that, Cleveland is currently at 19 players that are set to be on the training camp roster at this point.

To review, Cleveland has reportedly agreed to Exhibit 10 deals with J.P. Macura and Marques Bolden, and also signed Sindarius Thornwell and Jarell Martin via non-guaranteed deals, which again, we’ve hit on.

When it comes Macura, the Cleveland Cavaliers were likely looking at potential perimeter shooting down the road as his selling point for having a shot at a regular spot, and with Bolden, it’d be regarding a presence at the rim at both ends, whereas with Thornwell, wing defense could be a good selling point, and then Martin would likely be a longshot with a touch of stretch-big qualities.

Recently, another training camp invitee was added to the list, as the Cavaliers and Daniel Hamilton reportedly agreed to an Exhibit 10 deal, where he’ll likely “officially sign in the next few days,” according to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.

Hamilton played sparingly with the Atlanta Hawks last season, as he appeared in 19 games, and averaged 3.0 points in 10.7 minutes per game (per Basketball Reference).

As Fedor noted, Hamilton spent his first year with the Oklahoma City Thunder’s G-League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue, in 2016-17, and then the following season (again, per Fedor), he was on a two-way contract. In the G-League, Hamilton has career averages of 15.5 points on 53.0% true shooting, to go with 8.5 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game (per Basketball Reference’s G-League statistics).

With the Hawks mostly last year, again, Hamilton did not play much, and per Fedor, was waived mid-season.

With his Hamilton signing via Exhibit 10 deal, though, Cleveland might elect to have Hamilton play with the Cavs’ G-League, the Canton Charge, in 2019-20 (again, as Fedor suggested).

The 24-year-old is a good, fluid athlete at 6-foot-7, has good feel as a cutter, is a solid ball-mover, and I would imagine what Cleveland saw in signing him is potentially adding developmental wing depth and defense that could steadily improve with the Charge in 2019-20, and maybe at some point, appear with Cleveland via two-way deal if injuries occur on the Cavs.

As was also detailed when it comes to Thornwell, the reason the Cleveland Cavaliers likely wanted to take a flyer on Hamilton is that he could help out young Cleveland guards Darius Garland and Collin Sexton in some minutes on occasion on the wing defensively, and would likely spell Cedi Osman here and there.

Hamilton is sound on the ball on the perimeter, and like a player with a similar build, is a good defensive rebounder, like Dylan Windler.

As of now, as Fedor highlighted, the training camp invitees will be trying to land Cleveland’s 14th roster spot going into the 2019-20 regular season.

There’s 19 players currently set to be on the training camp roster as of now, once again, and as Fedor has expressed throughout the offseason, the Cleveland Cavaliers will likely have a roster spot open going into the season, due to cap limitations (and I would think due to a fair amount of potential roster turnover as the year progresses).