Cavs: While his role is unclear, Kevin Pangos has the right mindset

Of the offseason moves made by the Cleveland Cavaliers, their team-friendly signing of Kevin Pangos was not a particularly notable one. They weren’t necessarily splashy, per se, but it’s apparent that trade acquisition Ricky Rubio, from the Minnesota Timberwolves, and sign-and-trade acquisition Lauri Markkanen, from the Chicago Bulls, should have crucial roles.

For Rubio, that’s with him being Darius Garland‘s primary backup, and with Markkanen, he’ll seemingly be a go-to shooter to target when he’s in there and/or the team’s top bench scoring option.

In the case with Pangos, though, he’s not going to likely be a rotational regular. Now, could we see him here and there? Sure, if injuries to Garland and/or Rubio were to occur, of course, and maybe in some spurts, Pangos could get some playing time occasionally, from a playmaking depth standpoint.

As far as a bit of background on Pangos, he wrapped up his collegiate career at Gonzaga back in 2015, and in years since, has been playing overseas in Europe. In recent seasons, he’s established himself as one of the EuroLeague’s top lead guards, and last year, was named First-Team All-EuroLeague while last playing for Russian club Zenit St. Petersburg.

He had 13.5 points per outing with them in 2020-21, and was third in the EuroLeague in assists per game with 6.7, and he led the EuroLeague in made three-pointers last season, with 89. Over the course of his time in Europe, across all leagues he’s appeared, he’s been a very effective shooter from three, as evidenced by him hitting 41.7 percent from there.

Anyway, while it’s unclear as to what to expect from him with the Cavaliers this coming season, it is nice to know that Pangos has the right approach/mindset. In media availability on Wednesday, which was Day 2 of training camp, Pangos touched on how he can aid the likes of Garland and Collin Sexton, and the team as a whole day-to-day, via Evan Dammarell of Fear The Sword and the
“Locked On Cavs” podcast.

He had “high praise” for the young starting backcourt pairing, too, and I’d imagine because of his relentless work ethic and leadership by example/competitiveness, via Dammarell, Pangos referred to Sexton as a “warrior.”

His Cavs role is unclear, but Pangos has the right mindset.

Pangos, simply put, is not going to be a consistent member of the rotation for the Cavaliers. That’s with him not likely being a contributor game-to-game for the Wine and Gold, with Garland, who is a player on the rise, and Rubio well in the fold as a rock solid backup 1 option.

Despite that seeming to be the case, by and large, it’s encouraging that Pangos, even with him being 28 and having plenty of success overseas, seems to be fully bought-in.

Of course, he’s not the talent of Garland or Sexton, who are two of Cleveland’s best players, and appear to be the club’s top two scoring options for this coming season. Garland is arguably the Cavs’ best passer, too, although I’d probably put Rubio in that category.

Regardless, while the Cavs only wrapped up their second day of training camp, and don’t even begin preseason play until Tuesday at the Chicago Bulls, it does seem as if Pangos will have the right mindset and be an exemplary teammate.

And despite the role being unclear for him, it is a plus that Pangos is on-board with helping the young backcourt duo in practice/behind the scenes seemingly as much as he can.

Granted, he won’t be nearly the leadership presence of Rubio, a veteran Garland will learn a ton from in that way and also on the floor, as KJG’s Amadou Sow highlighted, but I’d still think the young guys will benefit from Pangos’ experience, too.

To reiterate, however, it’s evident that the Cavs and head coach J.B. Bickerstaff will seemingly always get full buy-in from Pangos, and him helping the youngsters day-to-day should be meaningful. We’ll again have to see as far as potential minutes, though.