Cavs: Playing Dante Exum meaningful minutes right away is obvious move
By Dan Gilinsky
Play Exum a bunch, you’re rebuilding, Cavs
Fedor expanded on that meaningful minute for Exum sort of thing a bit more after the game versus Boston.
Most notably, he hit on how Beilein put in Exum over Brandon Knight, which I believe was the right call.
"“Beilein said before Friday’s game that he’d work Exum in slowly, not wanting him to be overloaded in his debut. After all, Exum’s been riding the bench for much of the season and boosting his minutes significantly is risky. Plus, he’s still trying to find his role and learn his teammates. Still, it didn’t take Beilein long to give Exum a shot, immediately putting him in Clarkson’s old spot in the rotation and skipping over Brandon Knight, who continues to ride the bench. Beilein went back to Exum in the second half during an important stretch. Friday showed that Beilein wants a closer look. Everyone does, seeing if this dart throw will hit the board.”"
Fedor would also mention how Beilein actually recruited the former Utah guard to come play for him while Beilein was in his last gig, as the head coach at the University of Michigan, but of course, Exum would get drafted by the Jazz in 2014.
Related Story. Power ranking the Cavs against the rest of the East. light
Anyway, though I get that Brandon Knight could theoretically be an expiring trade piece feasibly in a three-team deal by the February 6 deadline, it seems pretty unclear what Knight’s trade value is.
That’s especially the case with him due to make $15.6 million this season, according to Spotrac.
Allowing Exum to play meaningful minutes in that 15-to-18-minute realm seems reasonable, given the Cavs being in a full-rebuild.