Ranking the 13 Worst Cavaliers starters of the LeBron James return era

Worst Starter No. 10 – Matthew Dellavedova

Another beloved role player, Matthew Dellavedova gave his all to the Cleveland Cavaliers every moment that he was on the court. The undrafted Australian point guard fought his way to a roster spot and then hung around when LeBron James returned, filling in as a rotation player and sometimes starter for the first-half of that second LeBron run.

Dellavedova, known for his propensity to dive for loose balls (no matter who was around) and to make life miserable for anyone he was defending, played reasonably well when asked to start — often in place of an injured Kyrie Irving. He put forth his usual excitable defense and capable ball-handling, putting up a 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

The issue for Delly was that when he started he lost the ability to score. As an off-ball shooter playing off of LeBron James or Kyrie Irving he was perfect, but ask him to run the action and he struggled. In his 27 games as a starter, he shot just 33 percent on 2-pointers. As with a number of cherished role players on this list, when he was asked to do too much he failed to deliver.

Delly did have a memorable Finals Game where he started and gave his all defending Stephen Curry, but otherwise his starts in the playoffs were more of the same. The franchise will always remember his role on those Finals teams, but hopefully they will forget most of his starts.