Cavs: A recent interview with Matthew Dellavedova shows he’s fully bought into changed role

A recent interview with Matthew Dellavedova shows how the Cleveland Cavaliers veteran guard is fully bought into his changed role, which is refreshing.

Cleveland Cavaliers veteran guard Matthew Dellavedova is a team-first player through and through. That, and his defensive tenacity, are in large part why I’ll always be a big fan of Dellavedova.

Delly is not nearly the same player as far as a three-point shooter off-the-catch at this point it appears in the 2019-20 season, unfortunately. In his career (he’s now in his seventh season), he’s shot 37.2% from three-point range on 2.6 attempts per game; so far this season, though, Delly has shot a horrendous 9.4% on 1.8 three-point attempts per game, as noted by Basketball Reference.

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Dellavedova has had success in the mid-range area when opposing bigs have dropped in the pick-and-roll to protect against his lob passes to players such as Larry Nance Jr. and Tristan Thompson, but overall, Delly’s shot has not been there.

His abysmal effective field goal shooting clip of just 28.7% is by far and away the lowest on the Cavs this year, as shown by NBA.com.

Could Dellavedova reportedly spraining his thumb a while back be a reason for his lack of shooting? Possibly, but Delly has seemed fine.

On the bright side, Dellavedova has averaged a respectable 2.1 assists in his only 13.1 minutes per game, and he’s done a good job for the most part of setting up the offense, still.

He is second on the Cleveland Cavaliers in assist rate so far at 24.2% in 2019-20, too, as NBA.com indicates. As NBA.com also shows, Delly has the best defensive rating on the Cavs, and outside of two-way big Dean Wade who has barely played with Cleveland, Delly has the best net rating on Cleveland thus far, too.

Moreover, the key now with Dellavedova is that he is just fine playing less and now serving as more of a “coaching” presence for Cleveland’s young starting backcourt of Darius Garland and Collin Sexton. Cleveland is just 5-15 on the season, and with the team rebuilding, it’s a plus that Delly understands that the young guys should be getting the bulk of the minutes as initiators.

A recent interview with Cavs.com’s Joe Gabriele showed that Delly is fought bought into his role now, which is more of that coach-like presence, as opposed to a lead playmaker in a more considerable minutes-share off the bench, as was even the case last season. Dellavedova came to the Cavs, for reference, as one of the pieces sent over in a three-team trade from the Milwaukee Bucks in the early portion of last season, of which also included the Washington Wizards.

Delly touched on how him having more experience at the college level likely made the NBA even more of an adjustment for Garland and Sexton, who had anything but close to the four-year collegiate experience Delly had. Garland appeared in just five games at Vanderbilt (according to Sports Reference), due to a reported meniscus tear and Sexton played one season at Alabama.

Here’s what Delly said about the process/adjustment for the two young guards, as transcribed by Gabriele.

"“Well, I played four years of college, so that definitely helped a lot. And it was a winning program. So that helped me.But I mean, these guys are so talented, it’s just learning how that talent fits into the NBA game. And I think they’re definitely finding out what works. Especially last Friday’s game against Milwaukee. I think DG (Darius Garland) had six assists, Collin had five. (They were) really finding guys, getting Kevin [Love] open threes and things like that. And that shows their progress.”"

Garland is starting to get his shot, mostly from three-point range, going, which is a positive. Garland’s shot 39.4% from deep on 4.4 attempts per contest in his 15 last games, as noted by NBA.com, which has brought his average on the season to 37.2%.

Though there’s been the turnover issue in spurts, I still have been encouraged by Garland’s playmaking feel, too, and he is leading the Cavaliers in assists per contest.

Sexton, as Delly hit on, has really brought it again and again as a scorer, too, and as noted by NBA.com, he’s currently leading Cleveland in that category with 18.1 points per game.

Anyway, Delly then detailed how his role has now changed since his first stint and/or last season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he seems fully bought into that role change.

Here’s what Dellavedova (who has played a bunch with his native Australian national team) said, as transcribed by Gabriele, and this further highlights the veteran’s team-first mindset.

"“From the first time I was here, you know, older, more of a veteran-type compared to being a younger guy.But even when I was a younger guy, I didn’t that feel inexperienced because I had already played internationally quite a bit and four years of college.So I’m just trying to help guys out with what I’m seeing out there – different reads and things – that they can use and trying to communicate on both ends. Like, a lot of teams run similar actions, or I’ll explain different (opposing) players’ tendencies, things like that.I think that’s the point guard’s role – to make sure everyone on the floor is organized on both ends of the floor. And then, you know, as one of the leaders of the team, just try to make sure everybody knows what they’re doing and keep everyone focused.”"

That sort of insight from Dellavedova is invaluable to Sexton and Garland, and I’m sure Cleveland head coach John Beilein and the coaching staff love it, too. Though Delly is on an expiring contract and could maybe be a veteran add-in piece in perhaps a three-team trade at some point this season, I’d prefer he’s kept through the 2020 deadline.

Furthermore, I’d like to see Delly, who is a new father to a son, named Anders, and again, key coach-type presence on and off the floor, be brought back by the Cavaliers next season.

That’d be good to see from a locker room standpoint, and if a cap-friendly deal can be agreed upon.

Congratulations again to Delly and his wife, Anna, by the way!

Lastly, it’s great that Dellavedova is fully bought into his new role as more so a coach-type presence for Sexton and Garland.

I’m sure Darius and Collin are especially appreciative of Delly’s pointers when it comes to point-of-attack defense and getting teammates, such as Kevin Love, Cedi Osman and others, involved. I’d imagine fellow veteran guard Brandon Knight, who reportedly helped Sexton, too, last season, has done his part for the young guards as well.