Cavs would be wise to take flyer on Mfiondu Kabengele

The Cleveland Cavaliers recently signed veteran point guard Quinn Cook to two 10-day deals, and while the play for Cook was somewhat spotty during those, I thought he did a decent job.

Cook, who was previously waived by the Los Angeles Lakers in late February, again, had spotty burn with the Cavs, but was a capable ball-mover in reserve minutes, and did hit 6 of his 13 three-point attempts in seven appearances, a 46.2 percent clip. He had 6.1 points and 1.9 assists per outing in those games with Cleveland, which in 13.6 minutes per appearance, was respectable, from my estimation.

Nonetheless, the second of Cook’s 10-day deals with the Cavs recently ended, and while they could have ended signing him to a rest-of-season deal, Cleveland didn’t do so.

According to a report from Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor on Friday, the Cavaliers instead chose to leave that roster spot open.

The season debut of Matthew Dellavedova (concussion complications/then appendectomy) was on Thursday, which should aid Darius Garland to some extent from a reserve playmaking standpoint, and likely played into Cleveland’s above decision.

So with two roster spots open, though, I would definitely be a fan of Cleveland potentially signing two-way Lamar Stevens to perhaps a multi-year standard deal, with the years non-guaranteed following this season. That’d be similar to Dean Wade’s deal, for instance.

Stevens’ defense in his reserve burn has given a lift, as KJG’s Zane Harris highlighted, and he has shown at least some flashes as a scorer/driver, and has provided energy.

Perhaps Cleveland were to instead look to do something in that realm with Lamar in the upcoming offseason, via-team-friendly contract, though, as a counter. We’ll have to see.

In terms of a different route for a signing, the Cavs would be smart to entertain a Mfiondu Kabengele signing.

It’d be wise for the Cavs to take a flyer on Kabengele.

Kabengele, who was originally a 2019 late first-round pick by the LA Clippers and played sparingly with them in his 1.5 seasons, was dealt, along with cash, by LA to the Sacramento Kings near the league’s trade deadline last week. But he was waived by the Kings shortly thereafter. He’s an unrestricted free agent currently, in other words.

So why would a potential Kabengele signing, feasibly via 10-day deal, be a smart move, then?  We’ll hit on the first reason for that next.

The Cavs could be taking a flyer on some untapped two-way/stretch big potential in Kabengele

Cutting to the chase here, Kabengele has not gotten much burn in meaningful minutes to this point in his NBA career with the Clippers. Given he’s still a young player, though, and with the likes of Montrezl Harrell last season, to go with still Ivica Zubac, and this season, to some extent, Serge Ibaka, that’s not been surprising.

The former Florida State Seminole played in only 12 games in his rookie campaign, and an average of only 5.3 minutes in those appearances. This season, he played just 4.1 minutes per game in 23 appearances. In his young career to this point, while it’s not exactly noteworthy, he’s had a career mark of 2.0 points and 0.7 rebounds per game.

With Kabengele, though, while the volume was only 1.8 attempts per outing, he did flash some potential stretch big qualities at FSU in his sophomore season, in which he hit 24 of his 65 three-point attempts, a 36.9 percent clip. In his freshman campaign, he hit 10 of his 26 triple attempts, a 38.5 percent hit rate.

And while the vast majority of his meaningful run with the Clippers’ organization was with their G League Affiliate, the Agua Caliente Clippers, he did show some more catch-and-shoot/pick-and-pop potential with them. In his 2019-20 burn with them last season, he had 18.7 points and 9.3 rebounds per outing and started each game.

In the potential floor spacing realm, he wasn’t the most efficient deep shooter in the world, clearly, as he 32.7 percent of his deep attempts then. But that was on a robust 6.0 attempts per game, so you have to factor in that, too. Again, as a potential 10-day flyer/two 10-day contract flyer, that stretch big viability perhaps could be something that he could display if given chances.

When it comes to the other end of the floor, Kabengele is more so a drop big, but even as kind of a 4/5 tweener at 6-foot-9, he is a rim protection presence, to some degree at least, and did have 1.9 blocks per outing in his G League burn.

Plus, Kabengele, while only 6-foot-9, does have a 7-foot-3 wingspan, which could help in some burn for spurts on the defensive interior, again if given the opportunities by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Kabengele is Dikembe Mutombo’s nephew, for added context, regarding the rim protection.

He is a highly capable rebounder at both ends of the floor, too, which could make a difference and aid seemingly the likes of Kevin Love, Dean Wade and/or perhaps, on occasion when he’s back (concussion), in lineups here and there with Jarrett Allen.

Again, via possible 10-day signing and/or a rest-of-season deal that could maybe also include a non-guaranteed contract for next season, too, Cleveland might be able to tap into something with Kabengele in the stretch/two-way big realm.

And secondly, the Cavaliers bigs being banged up right now would make a potential Kabengele free agent signing a wise one.

Kabengele could help provide some immediate big man depth for the Cavs

Secondly, if the Cavs were to sign Kabengele soon, he could help provide some immediate big man depth.

Jarrett Allen has missed Cleveland’s last three games due to that stated concussion and Kevin Love just came back from his calf injury complications after returning shortly post-All-Star break. His most recent absence was due to a recent scan “showing scar tissue breaking up,” for reference, per a report from Fedor.

From there, regarding 4’s/5’s, Larry Nance Jr. could reportedly miss each of Cleveland’s three upcoming games on their next road trip due to a “mystery” illness, per Fedor. Fedor did not say it was anything COVID-19-related, though.

Anyway, while the Cavaliers have again gotten solid play from Wade, and we’ll see if Love can keep being active in the near term, and Isaiah Hartenstein has shown positive signs, a potential Kabengele signing would be an understandable move for depth.

Now, Kabengele did have 4.2 fouls per-36 minutes in his G League season in 2019-20, and fouling was somewhat of an issue for him in college at FSU, but in spurts, he could help the Cavs in terms of providing rotational rim protection still. Between him and Hartenstein, that is, really.

Albeit Hartenstein has had major fouling problems, of course, but to aid Cleveland, particularly with Allen banged up, Kabengele could help the Cavs’ efforts for coming games if needed.

Moreover, if the Cavaliers were to take a flyer on the 23-year-old Kabengele, who could have some real stretch big/two-way capabilities if given the chances in the near future, that’d be a wise move.

Kabengele could provide some occasional post-up production for the Cavs in spurts, too, and at a solid 250 pounds, but also a player that moves and plays angles well, is a nice offensive rebounder. Those sort of things could give Cleveland energy, in turn, along with the rim protection/possible catch-and-shoot viability.

But we’ll have to see ultimately what plays out/if Stevens and/or two-way Brodric Thomas perhaps are signed to one and/or both of the two open roster spots, conversely. Although, I would expect the Cavs to probably leave one of the standard roster spots open for the rest of 2020-21.