The NBA is slowly but surely starting to return back to normal. A report from the NBA announced the return of the summer league, giving upcoming rookies, sophomores and others a chance to play offseason basketball.
The 2021 NBA Summer League will take place from August 8-17 in Las Vegas. Each team will play at least four games with the two teams with the best records competing for the championship on August 17.
With the amount of youth on the Cleveland Cavaliers, there should be a handful of players from the team that look to participate in the team’s quest to win a championship.
With that in mind, here, I’ll look to make my predictions on who will be on the Cavaliers’ Summer League team, taking current players, potential draftees and free agents into account.
The strongest area of the Cavaliers’ Summer League roster projects to be their potential wing rotation. In a recent podcast, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (45:07) stated that the plan for Isaac Okoro, the fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, was for him to play in the Summer League and how many games he plays is yet to be determined.
Okoro had this opportunity taken away from him last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and this could be a chance for Okoro to showcase improvements in both his offensive and defensive play. For Cleveland, this opportunity could be used to put Okoro in a setting with a larger offensive role, similar to his role to end his rookie season.
After Okoro, the wing rotation may seem like an unknown but the team has a handful of wings who could look to join the roster.
One wing player that should look to capitalize on off-season basketball is Dylan Windler. Windler, a 2019 first-round pick, has had as rough a start to his NBA career that a player could have.
Windler has played in just 31 out of a potential 137 games for the team due to injuries. Drafted out of Belmont to be the team’s top spot-up shooter, his shot hasn’t been as anticipated and to make matters worse, drafting Windler meant that the Cavs had to pass on Keldon Johnson, who has established himself as one of the best young players on the San Antonio Spurs and has earned a spot on this year’s Team USA roster.
Turning 25 in September, Windler’s time to show his worth for this team is diminishing but this year’s Summer League could be a chance to do so. Not only would this opportunity allow Windler to play basketball again but, it would give him a chance to become comfortable from three, with the hope that he can get touches coming off screens and as a spot-up threat.
Going into the season healthy should be the first priority for Windler but getting reps after an injury-riddled season would be big. Time will tell on what Windler’s decision will be regarding the Summer League.
The rest of the team’s potential wing rotation could be filled with end-of-bench guys like Brodric Thomas and Lamar Stevens as well as any undrafted players, free agents, or even late-round picks that the team looks to make in their reported/rumored pursuit to add more talent in this year’s draft (Cameron Thomas? BJ Boston?).
With the wing rotation looking strong, the Cavaliers will now have to formulate a solid foundation around that potential depth to be competitive during this year’s Summer League.
From there, we’ll touch on Cleveland’s #3 overall pick in this sense, and Mfiondu Kabengele.