The Cleveland Cavaliers will be conducting an in-market bubble minicamp in coming weeks, which is a positive for player development.
It’s been quite some time since we’ve seen the Cleveland Cavaliers in game action, as their last game was on March 10 in what was a close loss to the Chicago Bulls. The NBA’s novel coronavirus-induced hiatus happened shortly after that, and with Cleveland not being invited to Orlando for the season restart, their 2019-20 in terms of games has been over for a while.
That was unfortunate for them, as the squad was seemingly creating some momentum in what would’ve originally been the season’s last 17 games. It was a mid-season head coaching change, sure, but the Cavaliers were a respectable 5-6 in the 11 games post-All-Star break leading into the hiatus with J.B. Bickerstaff as their head coach.
The Wine and Gold were sixth in the league in assist rate and 10th in effective field goal shooting percentage in that span as well. Also, trade deadline acquisition Andre Drummond was starting to get more comfortable alongside teammates such as Kevin Love, Darius Garland and Collin Sexton.
Again, though, the Cavs 2019-20 season would essentially end out with them being at 19-46 and not being invited to Orlando, and from a player development standpoint, in particular, that was tough to miss out on for young pieces. Garland, Sexton, Cedi Osman and Kevin Porter Jr., for instance, could’ve benefitted greatly from being able to play in some more regular season games.
On the plus side, nearly two weeks back, the NBA and NBPA recently agreed on non-Orlando teams, such as the Cavaliers, having the go-ahead to conduct their own in-market bubble workouts from September 14-October 6. Those will have their own COVID-19 protocols to ensure player/staff safety, for context, and for further reported details involving those workouts, you can view those at the referenced link.
From a player development perspective, once again, and for young pieces, especially, these workouts, which are voluntary, should be a positive.
Albeit three individuals that will reportedly not be involved in these workouts will be Tristan Thompson, Matthew Dellavedova and Andre Drummond.
Those three not being involved in the Cleveland Cavaliers in-market bubble workouts is not a big deal, though.
According to a report on Wednesday from Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, TT, Delly and Dre will not be in attendance in these Cavs in-market bubble workouts, but again, I don’t see that as being a big deal.
Thompson and Dellavedova are both set to be unrestricted free agents, and Drummond, who is “highly likely,” noted Fedor, to pick up $28.8 million player option for next season, per Fedor, “isn’t expected due to a personal matter — even though sources say he was originally interested in attending.”
Fedor would go on to indicate how most Cavs players were recently in Cleveland to participate in individual workouts, however.
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Per him, Drummond, who is fresh off averaging a career-best 17.7 points per game and led the NBA in rebounding (in terms of average) for the fourth time in his eight-year career in 2019-20, was among that group, as was Kevin Love, which was noteworthy.
That’s at least good to hear involving Dre, whereas the expiring TT and Delly were not participants, according to Fedor.
To reiterate, though, I don’t see this as being a big deal, as TT could seemingly have a good possibility of not being back with the Cavs anyway.
Dellavedova, who I personally could very well see the Cavs re-signing via team-friendly deal, not being in these in-bubble workouts honestly isn’t particularly noteworthy, either.
The Cavaliers know what he brings from a mental/reserve playmaker standpoint and he’s the type of player that can mesh with a variety of teammates as a rotational ball-mover.
Conversely, for pieces such as Sexton, who did lead Cleveland in scoring with 20.8 points per game in 2019-20 but needs to keep progressing in the team defensive and passing sense, along with Garland, who had an up and down rookie year, and Porter, these in-bubble workouts will be more meaningful.
Those three could get some quality work in still with other pieces for their growth, and free agent pickup a few months back, Jordan Bell, could help prove his case to make Cleveland’s roster for next season as a rotational big in the Cavs bubble. In addition, as Fedor reported, Dylan Windler, who did not play at all in 2019-20 due to complications involving a stress reaction in his left leg, has “been given the green light.”
That’s great news to me in regards to Windler, who hit 40.6 percent of his 534 career three-point attempts in a four-year collegiate career at Belmont and could bring a sharpshooting element to the Cleveland Cavaliers, as KJG’s Matthew Fagan demonstrated.
So when it comes to these workouts, what jumps out is Love being set to participate, which from a leadership/team chemistry perspective, is big, and for young pieces, these in-bubble workouts should be valuable for them.
But TT, Delly and Dre not set to be participants is no big deal.