The Cleveland Cavaliers have reportedly signed Yogi Ferrell via the NBA’s hardship exception.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have had such tough injury luck to this point, as it seems they will be without Kevin Love for perhaps still a few weeks due to a right calf strain/reaggravation.
Dylan Windler (fourth metacarpal fracture in his left hand) hasn’t played since Cleveland’s first game, too, and unfortunately, Dante Exum it appears could be sidelined realistically for the rest of the first half of 2020-21 because of a right calf strain.
Darius Garland (right shoulder sprain) missed the Cavs’ past week of games, and Collin Sexton (left ankle sprain) was sidelined for Cleveland’s past two outings at the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday and Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday.
On a positive note, it appears that Sexton could maybe be back in the fold for Cleveland on Monday versus the Grizzlies, or maybe on Tuesday versus the Utah Jazz, and Garland it would seem should be back this week, perhaps on Friday versus the New York Knicks.
Additionally, though, Matthew Dellavedova (concussion) and Kevin Porter Jr. (personal) have yet to appear for the Cavs this season.
Anyhow, given that the Cavaliers have been so banged up, and thin at guard, and point guard, even more so, they applied for the NBA’s hardship exception, as was reportedly set to be the case. For details/information in relation to the specifics with the hardship exception/reported suggestions, you can view more on that here.
And in that realm, Cleveland ended up signing Yogi Ferrell via that, per a report from Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor. For further background on the hardship exception, though, as Fedor noted, squads are “able to apply for the hardship exception if they have four players who have missed at least three consecutive games due to illness or injury and will be out for at least two weeks.”
Fedor then reported how following a third straight absence for Exum on Saturday, that the “Cavs officially received approved from the league early Monday morning.”
Fedor, who reported how this will be as expected, a 10-day deal for Ferrell, also stated how Ferrell will be available versus Memphis on Monday “after conducting the necessary COVID-19 testing.”
This Ferrell signing should provide perimeter scoring/playmaking help for the Cavs in this brief stint.
When it comes to this Ferrell addition, which is again just via 10-day deal/a short signing, he should help fill in as a temporary 1 for the Wine and Gold for sizable stretches, one would think.
Damyean Dotson and Cedi Osman, quite frankly, have filled in pretty well in the past few games for the Cavs, especially with the absence of Sexton, even, as de facto primary playmakers.
Albeit this Ferrell addition should aid Cleveland by getting guys some open looks, and/or take some playmaking pressure off others, such as Dotson/Osman again, and Larry Nance Jr.
Ferrell didn’t have much of a role with the Sacramento Kings last season, in which he had 4.4 points and 1.4 assists per game in what was a career-low 10.6 minutes per contest in 50 appearances.
That said, he did have more of one in 2018-19 with the Kings, and had 5.9 points and 1.9 assists in 15.0 minutes per contest then.
And with the Dallas Mavericks over the course of two seasons, where he initially started out via 10-day deal, Ferrell had 10.6 points and 3.0 assists in 28.2 minutes per outing in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons.
For the Cavs, Ferrell could help provide another on-ball scoring presence along the perimeter during this 10-day stint, and he does have the ability to change speeds off-the-bounce to get to his pull-up spots in the mid-range area. Plus, Ferrell, who is really quick, can find his way to the basket at times.
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Ferrell can get himself going in the pick-and-roll game, too, and while he has seemingly been streaky from three-point range in his four NBA seasons, he can get it rolling from deep as well.
He hit just 30.4 percent from there last season, but did hit 37.3 percent from deep with Dallas in 2017-18 and 36.2 percent the following season with Sacramento.
In terms of playmaking, Ferrell should be a functional ball-mover, and could help generate looks by getting Andre Drummond some low-post touches, and I’d think Ferrell could aid in getting Nance/JaVale McGee some interior looks via rolls.
I’d imagine some drive-and-kicks to shooters/ball-swings to Osman/Dotson and/or others could be the case more, too, and ease their playmaking burden, once again, to some extent.
Defensively, against point guards, Ferrell, although he is listed at only 6-foot and 178 pounds, can apply ball pressure, and will compete on that end. That can lead to some steals at times, too.
Regardless, I’d still expect Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff to deploy zone defenses here and there, anyhow, as that’s seemingly had some success for Cleveland when the Cavs have had their hands up in passing lanes/had high hands to contest.
We’ll have to see how Ferrell shakes out during this 10-day, and while again it won’t be an addition that will stick just being via hardship exception, he could provide some real energy/perimeter help on-ball.
And that will be a welcomed add for Bickerstaff and company.