Cavs: Nerlens Noel would be a quality defensive free agent addition

Noel would be a key defensive presence for the Cavs

The draw with Noel is the defensive presence he would provide, and I’d think he should have suitors on the market in this free agency period to come.

While Noel has had his share of injury problems and there were some strange things that seemingly happened with him/his rotation spot in his tenure with the Dallas Mavericks, Noel has always been a productive defender when he’s good to go.

And for Cleveland, Noel could be a high level interior defender they have on the floor for stretches in relief of Drummond, in large part due to his ability to atler shots/block interior looks and/or be a presence in passing lanes.

For his career to this point, Noel has had 1.4 blocks and 1.3 steals per game, and has had 2.3 blocks and 2.1 steals per-36 minutes. With the Oklahoma City Thunder in his past two seasons, Noel had 3.1 blocks and again, 2.1 steals per-36, which was on-script with him proving to be an impact defender in his minutes on the floor as a rotational 5.

Though he’s not the most switchable player, Noel in stretches could be honestly much more so than Drummond, comparatively, and for Cleveland in some matchups, I’d imagine Noel could be more useful in closing time for partly that reason.

But to be clear, Noel’s rim protecting qualities, even with him being a slender 6-foot-10, have always jumped out in-game.

Noel could really aid the Cleveland Cavaliers defensively for considerable stretches I believe, given how he often wreaks havoc with his timing, ability to play passes and using verticality with his 7-foot-4 wingspan.

Noel could maybe provide more in the defensive rebounding realm at times, but that’s not necessarily a key weakness, I wouldn’t say. So how about the offensive end, then?