Quinn Cook signed formally and made his first appearance last Friday for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first game of their season’s second half in what was a lopsided loss at the New Orleans Pelicans. Cook was signed to a 10-day contract then.
The expectation wasn’t and/or hasn’t been for Cook, who was waived last month by the Los Angeles Lakers, to play a considerable minutes-share in time with the Cavs, though.
The key reasoning for adding Cook was/has been to give Darius Garland a bit of a breather in terms of running things, albeit we know that Cook is not nearly the playmaker of Garland, nor Matthew Dellavedova. Cook is a capable ball-mover, in any case, and is a quality catch-and-shoot threat, though, and can shot create via some pull-ups, and can operate some in the pick-and-roll.
For Cleveland, anyway, it is sensible for them to bring back Cook, for depth in the short term. That’s because Dellavedova, while he is seemingly reportedly likely to be in action in Cleveland’s upcoming road trip, is still yet to make his first appearance this regular season due to concussion complications before and then has been working his way back from an appendectomy.
So in that realm, it was reported on Sunday evening by Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com that the Cavaliers will sign Cook to a second 10-day deal.
This is again, for depth/to help the Cavs work Delly back into the fold.
Cook, whose first 10-day deal was set to expire following Cleveland’s win over the Toronto Raptors, has had 5.0 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 12.8 minutes per outing, and four appearances. And he’s hit four of his nine three-point attempts, a 44.4 percent clip, for what it’s worth in that burn, too.
Granted, in the past three outings, Quinn has not been active, aside from three minutes played in a Wednesday W over the Boston Celtics. That said, for Delly insurance, if you will, it was understandable, from my perspective, for the Cleveland Cavaliers to have signed Cook to a second 10-day deal.
Is he going to likely play 18-plus minutes? I wouldn’t expect that to be the case regularly in this second 10-day deal to come for him, and especially with Dellavedova reportedly expected to make his debut during the Cavs’ upcoming four-game road trip.
Delly I wouldn’t imagine will be playing a bunch, but he still could help give a playmaking breather in a few spurts pretty soon for Garland, more so than Cook, who is more of a shooter. And that’s even while Dellavedova had really tough shooting struggles last season, and he’ll take some time to get fully back, if you will, upon his return physically.
Albeit from a depth standpoint, and for Cleveland to have a fairly competent reserve point guard option in a few spurts in coming games, I would think, Cook could be serviceable. That could aid Collin Sexton, to an extent, as well.
The Cavaliers bringing Cook back via second 10-day was again, sensible, to reiterate.