Cavs will need some productive Ed Davis minutes here

The Cleveland Cavaliers reportedly had five players test positive for COVID-19 on Sunday, with those being Jarrett Allen, Lamar Stevens, Dylan Windler, Denzel Valentine and two-way contributor RJ Nembhard.

Clearly, with the likes of Evan Mobley and Isaac Okoro also in protocols, the Cavaliers are going to be yet another club that’s going to be shorthanded in coming weeks.

Hopefully those players can get healthy in due time here, but in the mean time, while Cleveland can’t replace what Allen provides on the interior individually, Ed Davis can help them to some degree in games, and I’d imagine two-way big Tacko Fall will get some run.

The Cavaliers were reportedly expected to sign Luke Kornet via the league’s 10-day hardship exception, which could provide some depth at the 5, and they did so, along with Justin Anderson, per general manager Koby Altman on Tuesday. However, it is meaningful for Cleveland to have Davis, for this kind of scenario. Davis is not a player that Cleveland will be playing much normally, and has only registered 11 appearances thus far this season, in which he’s averaged 9.6 minutes per outing.

He is a veteran that has had plenty of experience, though, and in a couple spot starts, did alright thanks to his effort inside, positional sense defensively and he’s a very effective screener.

The Cavs need some productive Davis minutes in upcoming games again here, given the current situation.

As we noted, Davis, nor other bigs, can provide what Allen has been able to this season, as he’s had an All-Star-esque campaign in which he’s more than substantiated his new offseason deal. Allen has had career-highs in points and rebounds per game with 16.8 and 10.8, respectively, to go with averaging 1.4 blocks, and him having just 1.9 fouls per game has been impressive.

Plus, Allen, to go with Evan Mobley, has formed quite a defensive frontcourt pairing. And those two, along with Isaac Okoro and Ricky Rubio and with great effort as a team around them from guys such as Lamar Stevens and Dean Wade, the Cavaliers have had a stifling defense this season. Cleveland is second in defensive rating.

As far what Davis can provide, though, it’s not going to be in the realm of Allen, as we know, but he can still provide a meaningful rolling and cutting presence for Darius Garland and Ricky Rubio to go to. As we saw in a couple of starts for Davis earlier on at the Brooklyn Nets and versus the Golden State Warriors, he has good timing in those plays, and generally, finishes well, even for a bit of an undersized 5 at 6-foot-9.

In any case, we know that Davis, who has had 1.7 points in 9.6 minutes per outing this season, is not going to be a significant scoring presence Cleveland will be going to a bunch in upcoming games, in his minutes.

That said, in these games with Cleveland needing key players to miss some games through the end of the year seemingly via the hardship rules, hopefully, Davis can get some easy looks to go down as a roller, and rim-to-rim cutter.

And at least on the glass, the Cavs will know he’s going to get the job done there, as Davis has had 12.1 boards per-36 minutes lifetime, and he can bring some rim protection with sound, high IQ play and verticality.

Anyway, as we know, the Cavaliers will be severely shorthanded, such as is the case with plenty of other teams, in upcoming games here. But if Cleveland can get some quality ball and man movement leading to perimeter shots going down, and they can mix in some zone looks on the other end, maybe the Cavs can weather the storm here.

A veteran player like the 32-year-old Davis can help them be steady, regarding the team dynamic, in this tough time, to some extent, too, along with Rubio and Kevin Love. That’s if others can stay healthy and not go into protocols, of course; we’ll see regarding that.