An insurance Cavs guard would be great role for impending FA Matthew Dellavedova

Delly would be a nice insurance piece for the Cleveland Cavaliers and his presence would aid youngsters

Delly not being likely an every-game piece and/or not playing much would be alright and be sensible again, though. Garland would likely to be set to still play a bunch of minutes, or if Cleveland ends up selecting a gifted playmaker such as LaMelo Ball of the NBL’s Illawarra Hawks, who is reportedly in Cleveland’s top tier of 2020 NBA Draft prospects, Garland would seemingly be pushed to a backup 1 role.

In that case, it’d be great to have Delly around anyway, because if either potentially/Garland were to miss time, Dellavedova would be nice rotational insurance. Ball’s NBL season was cut short due to a foot injury, and frankly, he does need to get stronger, and Garland last season was reportedly affected some by a prior meniscus injury dating back to college at Vanderbilt.

So while Delly has had issues with concussions previously, him playing a bit less than he did, realistically, last season, I’d imagine he should be just fine health-wise, as he was in 2019-20.

Also in relation to the injury front, Cleveland, especially if they don’t go with a guard in the upcoming draft, and go with a piece such as Auburn’s Isaac Okoro, for instance, the Cavs could end up with Dante Exum needing to play a fair amount of minutes.

A key reason why I’m far from sold on Exum doing so for a large stretch of next season, honestly, though, is because of his injury issues before with the Utah Jazz. He was seemingly set to miss more time after missing what ultimately were Cleveland’s last eight games leading into the hiatus due to a high ankle sprain. Exum’s injury problems could lead to more of a rationale to bring back Delly, too.

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Additionally, whether or not the Cavs do go with a guard in the upcoming draft, I’d still imagine that we could very well see Kevin Porter Jr. at the 1 for stretches. That was something Bickerstaff wanted to see in what was supposed to be more of a closing portion of this now-past season for Cleveland.

That could be a selling point for Delly to be re-signed in upcoming free agency by the Cavs, too. Moreover, as Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor seemingly touched on, Dellavedova could help young Cavs guards as a mentor-type next season.

With Delly’s passing feel, vision and ability to get pieces such as Larry Nance Jr., Kevin Love and others in their preferred spots, that’d be meaningful as well. He had just shy of a career-high 7.9 assists per-36 minutes in 2019-20.

Along with that, Delly is a willing and active team defender, and he could help pieces such as Garland, Sexton and KPJ, and/or potentially Ball or perhaps Iowa State’s Tyrese Haliburton in terms of defensive feel/ways to improve their perimeter defense on-ball.

Dellavedova, even while not being nearly as capable on-ball as he once was, is still a solid defender. Among Cleveland’s regular rotation players in 2019-20, he was tied with John Henson, who was a piece traded in the Andre Drummond deal with the Detroit Pistons, for the Cavs’ best defensive rating.

Lastly, Dellavedova could seemingly be brought back via team-friendly deal in the upcoming free agency period in likely late October.