1 stud and 1 dud for Cavs in preseason win over Hawks on Wednesday

Cavs dud: Raul Neto

For the Cavs dud in this one, I’m going with Raul Neto. Neto has done some good things thus far in preseason, and I do believe he’ll be able to fill in some as a depth lead guard presence, and he was a sensible team-friendly, veteran signing with Ricky Rubio feasibly not back until December/January.

While Lamar Stevens did not have much going well on Wednesday, and had 0 points in a start as a fill-in 4, and he did have five fouls in 16 minutes, his activity on the glass (six rebounds) and his activity did help Cleveland a bit. Granted, looking onward, Stevens does need to be a bit more under control with his defensive approach; still, I do want him making offensive threats feel his presence on that end.

Anyway, I ended up going with Neto as the Cavs dud from this preseason win over the Hawks, because he just couldn’t seem to get it going, and appeared to be out of sorts in relation to the ball movement aspect.

Neto’s in a new situation, and I know he’s not necessarily a crucial offensive player to keep an eye on, however, him going 1-of-7 on Wednesday was rough to watch, and though he did have two assists, he was in some compromising spots on-ball, and had two turnovers, too.

He was out of sorts in spots, and while it’s not a huge concern, and the lineups had plenty to do with it, Neto was pressing a bit, which seemed odd to me.

Again, I don’t read much into it from him, as it’s preseason. But even with plus-minus being somewhat misleading at times in games, on Wednesday, him being a game-low minus-16, from the Cavs’ perspective, wasn’t shocking to see.

But, I’m not necessarily too concerned about Neto within his role.