Matthew Dellavedova’s quicker shot release vs Canada is encouraging sign for Cavs

In his first game of the 2019 FIBA World Cup playing for his native Australia, Cleveland Cavaliers guard Matthew Dellavedova’s quicker shot release he’s been working on this offseason was on display, which is an encouraging sign from Cleveland’s perspective.

As we’ve touched on here many times, Cleveland Cavaliers guard Matthew Dellavedova is a player that is pretty reliable on both ends when he’s healthy, and is very valuable for Cleveland on and off the floor as a veteran playmaker.

Dellavedova is on an expiring contract after the 2019-20 season, though, and coming off an injury-plagued 2018-19 season, it is understandable for one to question how effective he’ll be at the upcoming season’s outset and whether or not he’ll potentially have trade value as the season progresses.

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I still would rather the Cavaliers keep Delly around, though and ideally, sign him to a reasonable contract extension before next season, because of the way the ball moves when he’s on the floor, and because he’s one of the few good defenders Cleveland projects to have on their roster in 2019-20.

That being said, the offseason is always about players improving their game, which includes veterans, too.

Playing off that, in a recent interview (per the Cleveland Cavaliers), Dellavedova hit on how he’s been working on “quickening up” his shot release.

Dellavedova has generally been a very capable catch-and-shoot three-point marksman in his career, as evidenced by him having a career three-point hit rate of 38.1% on 2.6 attempts per game (per Basketball Reference).

Last year he only knocked in 33.8%, but that was likely an anomoly, and anyhow, with him being a player that is more pass-first, and scores a good amount of points when he does let it fly from catch-and-shoots from deep, it’s good to hear that Delly is reportedly working on quickening his shot release.

In appropriate fashion, the work he’s put in with that was showcased against Team Canada in Dellavedova and Australia’s first 2019 FIBA World Cup game, too, as News.com.au’s Paul Johnson expressed.

Dellavedova had 24 points, which included six-of-ten three-pointers made, to go with five rebounds and five assists, and he also pressured primary ball-handlers well, too (highlights per Youtube user NBA BandWagon Fan).

Playing often alongside Australian playmakers Joe Ingles (of the Utah Jazz) Patty Mills (of the San Antonio Spurs) and Jock Landale (a good floor-spacer and ball-moving big), Dellavedova was able to get a bunch of catch-and-shoot looks from three-point land against Canada, and it’s clear that his shot release was quicker.

Of course, it’ll be tougher playing against all NBA competition with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the regular season for Dellavedova.

That being said, it appears that his efforts in quickening up his release should pay off.

He’ll likely be on the floor in meaningful minutes at times alongside a combination of players on Cleveland such as Darius Garland, Collin Sexton, Kevin Porter Jr., Dylan Windler, Larry Nance Jr. and Kevin Love, who can deliver to Delly if help comes after beating their primary defender or if they are swinging the ball, and with that quicker release, it should make Dellavedova tougher to account for.

I understand that with Cleveland locked into a full-rebuild and having so many guards, which is a situation they’ll need to address as the year progresses via trades to bring in a natural small forward or two (as our own Tyler Marling emphasized), Dellavedova’s minutes-share could be on the decline, but again, if he’s knocking down three-point looks consistently in his minutes and providing good defense on the perimeter and in pick-and-roll coverage, he’ll still be a key bench contributor for the Cavaliers.

However, if that is the case, it could also increase Dellavedova’s potential trade value a bit, but again, I’d still prefer the Cavs keep Delly around.

For now, though, it should be interesting to see how far Delly and Team Australia can go as the 2019 FIBA World Cup (which is being played in China) progresses, or at least from what one can gather from it. It’s unfortunate that the games in the tournament are streamed only on ESPN+, though, but either way, as was noted before, the Aussies could be a big factor.