It was evident that the key cogs for the Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t play up to their standard nearly enough in Cleveland’s first round series loss to the New York Knicks. The Cavaliers’ core four guys had to be better, and that’s completely fair to say; the four guys couldn’t put it together as a group enough in that series.
One should still have confidence in Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley, though, and there’s reason to believe Jarrett Allen can rebound next season and in the playoffs from here, he can still aid this group, particularly if he improves in a few areas.
The Cavs to need to give the core guys some relief, too. Objectively, it’s clear the Cavaliers do need to find ways to get better shooting around Garland and Mitchell to give the team more pop on the wing, and it seems realistic to think potential wing upgrades via a trade and/or in free agency could be in-store this offseason.
There are other tweaks that could occur along the margins, too, beyond the wing outlook and whether or not Caris LeVert is re-signed this summer. Cleveland could seemingly look to bolster their reserve point guard depth, considering Ricky Rubio was less than stellar this season and is not getting any younger.
From there, the Cavs would be wise to possibly target backup 5 in free agency with perhaps some of their Non-taxpayer Mid-Level Exception (roughly $12.2 million). Cleveland needs more legitimacy there than Robin Lopez, and improving 4 man depth beyond Evan Mobley could be sensible as well.
Here, we’ll suggest a couple of young bigs who could bolster the Cavs bench and improve the reserve offensive outlook.
The first of the two backup 5 options we’ll take a closer look at here could give the Wine and Gold bench a different dynamic.
No. 1: Naz Reid
Naz Reid wouldn’t be your traditional backup 5, that’s for certain. Reid has made his mark at various points in recent seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves, who initially signed him via two-way deal after the 2019 NBA Draft, and shortly thereafter converted him to a standard deal.
Over the course of his four NBA seasons thus far with Minnesota, Reid has had his share of moments offensively and there’s reason to believe he can keep making further strides toward being a stretch big.
In the 2022-23 campaign, Reid had 11.5 points and 4.9 rebounds in 18.4 minutes per contest in 68 appearances. His season was cut short in the closing stretch due to wrist surgery, leading to him not being available in Minnesota’s first round series versus the Denver Nuggets, who would win that 4-1.
But that unfortunate ending to the year doesn’t take away from Reid having a solid season. We touched on the scoring splits as a reserve big, and while his role was trimmed a bit in the season prior, Reid had 11.2 points per game in 2020-21 in his first season regularly involved, and for Cleveland, he’d provide a different element to their 5 man outlook.
Reid could feasibly fill in in some minutes backing up Jarrett Allen, and in those, he could help as a roller, and also as a player with some pick-and-pop capability and/or as a possible catch-and-shoot target. Reid’s 34.4 percent three-point hit rate through four seasons isn’t earth-shattering, but he could knock down some open deep looks, and he is an ever-improving finisher inside.
Plus, he has displayed some impressive shot creation in recent seasons with the Twolves, which is nothing to sneeze at, with him having a 6-foot-9, 264-pound frame.
Reid has gotten to push shots from an array of dribble moves, including a filthy in-n-out on his drives, he can make plays in the mid-post and can take advantage against slower bigs with nasty spin moves and Euro steps. His ability to create and convert on looks in transition, countering hard closeouts in set offense, and also at times out of the corners could all lead to him giving Cleveland a quality bench 5 that could give the Wine and Gold a jolt for stretches.
Those offensive attributes make Reid an attractive target, but Reid has natural rotational shot blocking feel as well, which is always meaningful. Through four seasons, his block rate has been a fairly notable 4.6 percent, and ditto for his blocks per-36 minutes at 1.9. His 7-foot-3.25 wingspan aids him there as well, and the same goes for the glass cleaning department.
Now, Reid didn’t fit in as well this season in lineups with him and either Rudy Gobert or Karl-Anthony Towns with Reid at the 4 some, which could cause some reason for hesitation. It’d be worth considering for Cleveland with him in lineups more so with Evan Mobley, still, given how Reid can function as a de facto 5 with Mobley and with Mobley being an instinctive passer and defender.
Reid is set to be an unrestricted free agent this summer, and maybe he ends up re-signing with the Wolves. One couldn’t blame the Cavaliers for potentially trying to add Reid with some chunk of their MLE via multi-year deal, though. He’ll turn only 24 still later this year, and for the playoffs in ensuing years, would be a quality player to have.
No. 2: Mo Bamba
Mo Bamba is another young big who should warrant consideration from the Cavaliers this offseason.
Bamba had some ups and downs with the Orlando Magic over the course of his near-five-year tenure with them following him being drafted by them sixth overall in the 2018 NBA Draft. With Orlando, Bamba averaged 7.7 points and 5.8 in 18.3 minutes per outing in 266 appearances.
Upon him being involved in a multi-team trade near this season’s deadline, Bamba played sparingly with the Los Angeles Lakers, making nine appearances post-deadline and playing 9.8 minutes per game then. He hasn’t played much with them in the playoffs to this point, and really only in garbage time, partially because of ankle soreness but that’s more so due to Anthony Davis playing so well.
So what might the Cavs foresee in Bamba, then?
For one, he could provide high level rim protection and some true rim deterrence in various lineups. Bamba is a 7-footer and has a monstrous 7-foot-10 wingspan.
That would add another shot blocker to the rotation for Cleveland, which is always valuable. Throughout his career, Bamba has had shot blocking splits of 1.3 blocks per outing and a block rate of 6.7 percent.
Granted, part of the reasoning for Bamba’s minutes-share being what it was with Orlando, aside from Wendell Carter Jr.’s emergence, has been the fouling concerns. Bamba has had 2.2 fouls per game, and maybe more notably, 4.3 fouls per-36 minutes. Despite that, his defensive impact on the interior and help on the glass (11.6 boards per-36 minutes) would be a welcomed add for reserve 5 minutes for the Wine and Gold.
Additionally, while Bamba isn’t the potential on-ball presence the aforementioned Reid is, he could be a capable roller for stretches and Bamba has made strides toward being a legit stretch 5 and/or pick-and-pop threat.
He did connect on 38.1 percent of his 4.0 deep attempts per game in the 2021-22 season, when he had a career-best 10.6 points per contest, and though the attempts were trimmed to 2.7 per game with Orlando this year, he did hit 39.8 percent of those in 40 appearances pre-trade. There’s going to be some inconsistencies with Bamba offensively, and he hasn’t played up to what many thought his potential could be.
Some of the reasoning for that has been the role and others involved, and he was a regular starter only once with Orlando last season, and he’s had injury issues, namely with back and ankle injuries being the culprits at times, and/or some other lower extremity ailments. Bamba being in action for 71 games last season was a career-high, and previously, he was involved in only 46, 62 and 47 games in his first three NBA seasons.
There’s some flaws/concerns with Bamba, who hasn’t been able to play much with the Lakers, and Cleveland, like all teams, has to be fully aware of his issues with injuries over his career.
Still, Bamba could prove to be a valuable rotational player to have as a three-and-D presence at backup 5, and he could feasibly fill in as a spot starter when needed, provided he’s healthy.
It’s not clear if Bamba’s $10.3 million contract for next season will be guaranteed, as an aside. The guarantee date for that deal is set to be on June 29, but it would appear to be more than likely that isn’t exercised from LA’s perspective, and in that scenario, Bamba would be an unrestricted free agent.
In that case, it’d seem feasible that the Cavaliers could possibly take a team-friendly flyer on Bamba, who will turn 25 Friday, for a season, or that he could maybe be added with a deal with the second year non-guaranteed. His extension with Orlando previously had the second year non-guaranteed, as was essentially touched on earlier.