Last season was not a notable one for Matthew Dellavedova. Unfortunately for Dellavedova and the Cleveland Cavaliers, the veteran lead guard couldn’t shake the injury bug.
Dellavedova suffered a severe concussion in Cleveland’s preseason opener of this now-past season, and that, combined with him previously enduring concussions in his career and not being able to ramp up his workouts for a while after limited his availability.
Dellavedova then, while it appeared as though he was getting on track to return, ended up having an emergency appendectomy in late February, and that seemingly sidelined him further. Eventually, he would make his 2020-21 season debut on April 1 in a loss against the Philadelphia 76ers, and when he was available, he had his moments, particularly from a rotational playmaking standpoint.
Although it was only 13 games in which he was active, Dellavedova did have 4.5 assists in 17.2 minutes per contest, and had 9.3 assists per-36 minutes.
Now, Dellavedova again as a shooter/scoring presence, as was the case in the season prior as well, did not have his shot going much at all, objectively. He had just 2.8 points per game on 28.6 percent effective field goal shooting in his appearances; the shot for him at this point is simply a non-factor and the altered motion doesn’t seem to have worked.
The playmaking and feel as a passer, and team defensive positioning were still there for Delly though, which was a plus. And while it was rough that he would be sidelined again after those 13 games to end out 2020-21 (neck strain), he did give some of a lift when he was in still as a passer.
With that sort of thing in mind and his veteran presence, it was cool to see that Dellavedova again was chosen to represent his native Australia for the third time in the Summer Olympics, of which is set to be in Tokyo this go-round. Patty Mills and Joe Ingles, meanwhile, will represent Australia for the fourth time with their Men’s Team in Olympic play, and Aron Baynes will match Dellavedova as a three-time participant.
.@matthewdelly & @aronbaynes return for their 3rd Games & @ChrisGoulding43 makes his 2nd Olympic Team. Olympic debutants @daanteee, @JoshBGreen, @Nickkay04, @JockLandale, @DuopReath, @sobes2zero & @MatisseThybulle complete the squad which is bursting with international experience pic.twitter.com/GYciwelTtJ
— AUS Olympic Team (@AUSOlympicTeam) July 3, 2021
Soon following the news, Dellavedova showed how pumped he was, and has always been so thrilled to rep his Boomers.
Dreamed about this as a kid 🇦🇺 https://t.co/jOBucKnaVR
— Matthew Dellavedova (@matthewdelly) July 3, 2021
Cleveland Cavaliers: This is great to see for Dellavedova once again, who will provide a veteran presence for the Boomers.
Dellavedova is set to rep Australia for the third time in Olympic play, as we noted, with him participating in Rio in 2016 and in London in 2012. In that last go-round, he and Australia ended up finishing respectably, albeit at fourth.
As has often been the case when he’s been able to be in there over the years for the Cavs, Delly in that run with the Boomers again demonstrated his passing abilities/vision, and was second in the Men’s Basketball competition in assists per outing with 7.0, as h/t Marla Ridenour of the Akron Beacon Journal.
We’ll have to see in regards to how Delly does for Australia this time, however, and hopefully the veteran is fully good to go/can stay healthy throughout to contribute for them game-to-game. But Dellavedova should be a key leadership presence for the Boomers, in a general sense, as he has been in recent campaigns for Cleveland.
In any case, while of course I’ll be rooting for Team USA overall, of whom Cavs big Kevin Love will be representing, I’m hoping Delly’s squad has their share of success, given what he’s given over the years for the Cavaliers. The Boomers should have a pretty nice looking squad in their own right, too.
Moreover, though I again wish him luck, and it’s great to see for Dellavedova that he’ll be in his third Olympics, with the injury concerns and scoring limitations from here, I don’t personally believe he should be back with the Cavs next season, nor would I expect that.
Delly is set to be an unrestricted free agent, and I’m not sure if he’ll end up getting signed by another NBA team this offseason; perhaps he could continue his playing career in the NBL, though.
Either way, this is quite the honor for Dellavedova, who I’m sure the Aussies are big fans of for his vision/passing feel, grit and team-first mindset.