Cavs: He’s not Isaiah Hartenstein, but Tacko Fall can work as depth 5

He’s not Hartenstein, but Fall can still help the Cavs off the bench

No, Fall is not a player that has the post-up viability, let alone the secondary playmaking feel of Hartenstein, but defensively, at 7-foot-5 with an enormous 8-foot-4 wingspan, he is going to alter and/or deflect his share of shots if opportunities present themselves for him.

I get that it wouldn’t be in a considerable amount of action, and he played sparingly with the Boston Celtics in his first two seasons as a two-way contributor. Last season, he appeared in 19 games and averaged 7.2 minutes, of which he had 2.5 points and 2.7 rebounds per game, to go with 1.1 blocks.

However, Fall having a block rate of 13.7 percent in those 19 appearances and 5.3 blocks per-36 minutes did stand out, and he would affect drivers and/or rolling threats with his length in spurts for Cleveland, if Fall were to land a roster spot. He’ll gobble up boards, too.

On the offensive end, he wouldn’t be much of a factor shooting-wise, and would not be a spacer in the traditional sense.

But Fall could provide an impactful rolling presence at times, and at least in theory, in a few spurts per game, could help as a lob threat here and there for the likes of Darius Garland or Ricky Rubio. His screening could aid shooters off-ball such as Markkanen, Kevin Love or Dylan Windler to some degree, too.

Fall’s touch inside of 10 feet has progressed over time as well, which is somewhat similar to that of Hartenstein, as an aside. And like Hartenstein, Fall can generate putbacks.