With Kyrie Irving out of action on Wednesday night and Iman Shumpert needed off the ball, the Cavaliers’ point guard duties fell to Jordan McRae, Kay Felder, and LeBron James during the team’s loss to Chicago. Asked after the game about the point guard spot, James acknowledged that it has been “obvious since day one” that the team lacks a “reliable veteran” to back up Irving.
“Kay’s in the process of learning on the fly,” James said, per Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. “He’s a rookie and is going to have his mistakes and things of that nature. It’s tough on him because we’re a franchise trying to win a championship. He has to have a fast-track mind. But we don’t have a backup point guard.”
As LeBron noted last night, the Cavs’ hole at point guard has been a topic of discussion all season. Still, the team’s injuries lately have further depleted that spot. At the start of the season, James, Shumpert, and J.R. Smith all assumed some ball-handling duties when Irving was on the bench, but with Smith sidelined and Shumpert playing on the wing, Cleveland has been forced to explore other options, with McRae and Felder getting more reps.
The Cavaliers have kept their eyes open all season long for a veteran backup point guard, but there are reasons to believe the team will address the issue soon. Teams can sign players to 10-day contracts as of today, and James’ comments may spur the Cavs to seek out a short-term fix.
Additionally, as ESPN’s Marc Stein details, several veteran point guards on the free agent market – including Jarrett Jack, Mario Chalmers, and Norris Cole – are getting healthy and will be looking to land NBA jobs. Vardon mentions Chalmers as someone on the Cavs’ radar, and notes that the team is also keeping an eye on the Rajon Rondo situation in Chicago. The Cleveland.com scribe isn’t sure either player is a fit for the Cavs, but it’s clear the club is considering all its options.
According to Sam Amico of NEO Sports Insiders (Twitter link), the Cavs are “highly likely” to add a veteran point guard soon enough.
I feel like Norris Cole would be the best fit for them. He also wouldn’t cost much and Rondo is just a head case and would actually cost them most since they would need to trade for him
Rondo seems like a good fit except that he can’t score, shoot 3’s, and also he probably would not want to play behind Kyrie Irving. Plus he tends to make the offense more slow and he tends to cause spacing issues on a team that doesn’t have good perimeter scorers.
So basically he’s not a good fit at all.
Mario Chalmers seems like the perfect fit cause he can drop 3’s and is more versatile. It’s just a matter of whether he’s actually good enough.
Mario is injured
That is another reason why they won’t sign him
They contacted Kirk Hinrich in September.
Cavs have a lot of good perimeter scorers; Kyrie, K-Love, Frye, Shump, JR Smith
But those guys are injured or won’t be playing at the same time as Rondo.
Rondo needs perimeter guys on the floor with him.
Taking Kyrie out of the group because he plays the same position, they have K-Love, Frye, JR, RJ, Dunleavy, McRae and Shump. It’s not like Rondo is only going to be playing with the bench warmers. But I agree that Rondo would be a bad fit. If he was bought out by the Bulls and signed for the minimum, then it wouldn’t hurt to take a flyer on him. But they should avoid a trade for him.
As a Bulls fan. Cavs can’t have Rondo until he thumps on Paxon!
Other than being a head case, I think Rondo would be a great fit. One of the best defensive point guards throughout his career. Distributes the ball very well. This team doesn’t need scoring from the position.
Does he want to win a title?
Will he accept the role?
Does he want to reinvent himself?
Either Chalmers or Cole would be good(and both ironically have played with Labron) but I just see Cole being the better option because i think Chalmers will ask for more. I even think that they could target Devin Harris as well
Chauncey Billups sure was adamant about the Cavaliers needing a back up PG last night lol
They’ll be getting Rondo. Besides veteran knowledge and a championship pedigree, they’ll want his defense, especially for Lowry, Walker, Curry, etc.
Rajon Rondo won’t be going to Cleveland. I think he should stay in Chicago.
Korver was a perfect fit. Surprised it wasn’t rumoured till it happened.