- The Cavaliers improved their talent pool this offseason in the estimation of Zach Harper of The Athletic. The addition of lottery pick Evan Mobley gives them a potential star at both ends of the floor, and the acquisition of Ricky Rubio provides much needed veteran leadership in the backcourt. However, they’re still a little thin depth-wise at the wing and forward spots, Harper notes.
- The Cavaliers have officially added Sidney Lowe to J.B. Bickerstaff’s coaching staff, according to a team press release. The news that Lowe was leaving the Pistons’ staff to join their Central Division rival surfaced two weeks ago. “Sidney brings a wealth of coaching experience and familiarity to our staff,” Bickerstaff said. “He is a great teacher of the game and his ability to build lasting relationships across the board is integral to the growth of our overall culture here in Cleveland.”
Undrafted Winthrop guard Chandler Vaudrin, who played for the Cavaliers‘ Summer League team, has been diagnosed with a torn ACL and will soon undergo surgery to repair the injury, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter links). The injury occurred in his third Summer League game.
Vaudrin had reportedly agreed to sign an Exhibit 10 contract with the Cavs, meaning he likely would’ve attended training camp with the team and competed to earn a two-way contract. Instead, it appears his rookie season will be postponed by a year as he recovers from a major knee injury.
Vaudrin – who grew up in Uniontown, Ohio – filled up the stat sheet with 12.0 PPG, 7.3 RPG, and 6.9 APG in 25 games (31.6 MPG) as a senior at Winthrop in 2020/21. He spent his last two college seasons at Winthrop after playing for the Division II Walsh Cavaliers from 2016-18.
We’ll see if Cleveland still ends up signing Vaudrin to an Exhibit 10 deal — if the Cavs like him enough, they could sign him, waive him, then have him report to the Cleveland Charge as an affiliate player. That would allow Vaudrin to rehab his injury with the Cavs’ G League team while receiving a $50K bonus as a result of the Exhibit 10 agreement.
However, it’s also entirely possible that the deal simply doesn’t get finalized due to the injury. In that scenario, the Cavs could circle back to Vaudrin a year from now.
Former Gonzaga guard Kevin Pangos, who has spent the last several seasons playing in Europe, is garnering interest from the Cavaliers, according to reports from Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com and Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com.
Pangos, 28, has carved out an impressive career overseas, having spent time in Spain, Lithuania, and Russia since going undrafted in 2015. In 2020/21, he averaged 13.5 PPG and 6.6 APG on .449/.390/.845 shooting in 39 EuroLeague contests (28.9 MPG) for Zenit Saint Petersburg, earning a spot on the All-EuroLeague First Team.
According to Fedor, Pangos has received “big” offers to remain in Europe, but it sounds like he’s interested in making the move to the NBA. Urbonas and Blake Murphy of The Athletic (Twitter link) both suggest that the Canadian guard would likely need a guaranteed contract offer to justify a return stateside.
As Urbonas writes, the Grizzlies are among the other teams eyeing Pangos, but they already have too many players on guaranteed salaries on their roster and likely aren’t in position to offer more than an Exhibit 10 contract. Murphy names the Raptors as another NBA club with interest.
Cleveland could ultimately be the best fit for Pangos. As Fedor has previously reported, the team remains in the market for one more point guard even after acquiring Ricky Rubio earlier this offseason. The Cavs also have plenty of roster flexibility, with just 10 players on guaranteed contracts so far — Lamar Stevens, Damyean Dotson, Dean Wade, and Mfiondu Kabengele don’t have full guarantees.
Bucks All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo has bought a stake in MLB’s Milwaukee Brewers, the Brewers announced on Friday (link via ESPN). He certainly has the means: the 6’11” reigning Finals MVP inked a five-year, $228MM+ supermax extension with Milwaukee ahead of his championship 2020/21 season with the Bucks.
“This is a dream come true for a kid from Sepolia, Athens, Greece, born from immigrant parents. I could have never imagined I would be in this position,” Antetokounmpo said during a news conference about the purchase on Friday. “I want to be involved in the community as much as possible. I know Milwaukee invested a lot in me, and I want to invest a lot of me back into the city of Milwaukee.”
For more on Antetokounmpo’s foray into MLB ownership, check out the story at MLB Trade Rumors.
There’s more out of the Central Division:
- Point guard Keifer Sykes has a chance to stick with the Pacers thanks to his solid Summer League play, writes J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star. New Indiana head coach Rick Carlisle appears to be in favor of Sykes’ addition. The 5’11” Sykes has been playing in various international leagues since going undrafted out of Green Bay in 2015.
- The Cavaliers explored adding a variety of wings during free agency, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Josh Hart, Doug McDermott, Alec Burks, Reggie Bullock, Furkan Korkmaz and Kent Bazemore were all considered. Cleveland committed significant long-term money to Jarrett Allen this summer and drafted Evan Mobley with the No. 3 pick, prompting Fedor to explore whether the team might trade big man Larry Nance Jr. to bolster its wing depth, now that most appealing free agent swingmen are off the table.
- In case you missed it, restricted free agent forward Hamidou Diallo re-signed with the Pistons on a two-year, $10.4MM deal, with a team option for the second year of the contract.
Evan Mobley appears to be the best candidate to start at power forward when the Cavaliers open their season, writes Kelsey Russo of The Athletic. The No. 3 pick in this year’s draft showed during Summer League that he’s mobile enough to handle the power forward duties. The coaching staff is reluctant to use Mobley extensively at center until he adds more muscle, so he’ll probably play alongside Jarrett Allen, giving the team two seven-foot rim protectors on defense.
If Mobley is named the starter, that will mean bench roles for veterans Kevin Love and Larry Nance Jr. The Cavaliers have already spoken to Love about reducing his time on the court, and he talked last month about no longer being the No. 1 option who plays 35 minutes per night. Russo notes that Love, who still has two years and more than $60MM left on his contract, can still be valuable as a floor-spacer and rebounder.
Nance is coming off an injury-plagued season, but he started 27 of the 35 games he appeared in and averaged a career-high 31.2 minutes per night. He’s useful as a big man who can pass and defend, and he provides a veteran on-court presence for a very young team. Nance is also under contract for two more seasons, but only at a total of a little more than $20MM.
There’s more from Cleveland:
- Newly-acquired Ricky Rubio will probably be used off the bench, as the starting backcourt of Collin Sexton and Darius Garland remains together, Russo adds. Rubio is expected to run the offense with the second unit and can defend either guard position.
- Allen left a contending team when the Nets traded him to Cleveland in January, but he didn’t hesitate to re-sign with the Cavs this summer, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Allen’s new five-year, $100MM contract means he will be a long-term part of the rebuilding process. “Seeing a team like this, knowing what it takes, we have all the right guys and the right mindsets to do it,” he said. “So, I thought, ‘Hey, I’m willing to be part of this again, especially with these guys.’ I see a bright future here that I fit in perfectly.”
- The new schedule that was announced Friday includes a tough early stretch that could set the tone for the Cavs’ entire season, Fedor notes in a separate story. Cleveland has one of the most difficult starts in the league, with eight of its first 11 games on the road and 11 of the first 12 against teams that were in the playoffs last season.
- A first-round pick in 2019, Cavaliers wing Dylan Windler tells Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com that his NBA career has been a “really bumpy and rough road” so far. Windler, who is recovering from left knee surgery, has been limited to 31 NBA games in two seasons due to various health issues and acknowledges that he may be facing a make-or-break season. “I don’t really want to put that much pressure on myself, but in reality, yeah it is,” Windler said to Fedor. “The league is a hard place to stick around. Not a lot of guys last. I’m just hoping this season I can be fully healthy and pain free and then I will be able to show people what I can do when I’m at 100 percent. If that isn’t enough, then at the end of the day, you have to live with that.”
The Cavaliers remain on the hunt for a wing who can play rotation minutes, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, who reports that Denzel Valentine is among the free agents drawing interest from the team.
Valentine, 27, spent the first five years of his NBA career in Chicago. He had a promising 2017/18 season (10.2 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 3.2 APG, .386 3PT%), but missed all of the ’18/19 campaign due to an ankle injury and has provided inconsistent production since then.
Here’s more on the Cavaliers from Fedor:
- The Cavs have interest in adding a third point guard and/or a backup center. However, Fedor believes addressing the wing remains Cleveland’s top priority — the point guard spot would be next, followed by the five.
- The Cavs have been exploring the trade market as they search for another wing, but appear unwilling to part with a first-round pick – even if it’s protected – for any of the currently-available options, Fedor writes. The club has been in contact with the Hawks about Cam Reddish, Fedor adds.
- Sources tell Cleveland.com that the door remains open for free agent center Isaiah Hartenstein to re-sign with the Cavs. Assistant GM Mike Gansey watched Hartenstein work out for teams in Las Vegas, according to Fedor, who says the Thunder, Clippers, and Nets also had reps in attendance. If the Cavs were to sign Hartenstein or another center, Mfiondu Kabengele‘s roster spot would be in jeopardy, Fedor notes.
- The Cavaliers were satisfied with their Summer League showing, which included the first on-court experience for No. 3 pick Evan Mobley, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. In three games, Mobley showed off the skills that made him one of the top prospects in the draft, but also displayed areas where he needs work, as he shot just 1 of 8 from three-point range and didn’t have reliable moves in the post. Summer League also provided a showcase for Lamar Stevens, Fedor adds, who could end up fighting for the final roster spot with Mfiondu Kabengele and Damyean Dotson if the team makes more roster additions.
The tenure of Cavaliers rookie center Evan Mobley in this year’s NBA Summer League in Las Vegas is over, confirms Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter link). Fedor adds that the Cavaliers were only ever planning to have the former USC big man, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 draft, suit up for three contests while in Vegas.
In 33 games for USC, Mobley averaged 16.4 PPG, 8.7 RPG and 2.9 BPG. He was named the 2020/21 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year as well as the 2020/21 Pac-12 Player of the Year during his lone college season. Mobley was also a consensus All-American selection.
There’s more out of the Central Division:
- A Cavaliers team representative attended a Las Vegas workout for free agent center Isaiah Hartenstein this week, tweets Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Hartenstein played with Cleveland to conclude the season, as part of the team’s return package in the trade that sent center JaVale McGee to the Nuggets. Fedor notes that, though Cleveland may be open to a reunion, the club’s priority is adding wing depth. The seven-footer averaged 8.3 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 2.5 APG and 1.2 BPG across 16 games for Cleveland after the deal.
- Pistons rookie big man Luka Garza is aware that he may have to use effort to compensate for his shortcomings in speed. “I know every guy in the NBA can beat me in a 3/4 court sprint,” he said, per James Edwards III of The Athletic (Twitter link). “But is everyone going to run that hard in the game? No, but I’m going to.” The 6’11” Garza was the No. 52 selection out of Iowa in this year’s draft.
- New Bulls wing DeMar DeRozan anticipates that his All Star teammate Zach LaVine will see his play improve thanks to a galvanizing Summer Olympics stint in Tokyo this year, according to K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. “Just being around the greatest players in the world, the greatest minds, the greatest coaches, it does something unconsciously to you that gives you the ultimate confidence, the ultimate work ethic, makes you realize that you belong in the elite category of guys,” DeRozan said. “You see their work ethic, the way they approach the game, the winning mentality that they have and what it feels like to win. And something like that carries over whether you realize it or not. It goes a long way.” DeRozan won a gold medal with Team USA during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Sidney Lowe is joining the Cavaliers’ staff as an assistant, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Lowe, 61, was most recently on the Pistons’ staff. Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff lost an assistant when Lindsay Gottlieb left the organization to become the women’s head coach at USC. Lowe has coached in the league for 30 years.
We have more on the Central Division:
- The sign-and-trade with the Pelicans brought Lonzo Ball to an organization that wanted him — the Bulls. Acquired in a sign-and-trade, Ball appreciates how his new bosses feel about him, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times writes. “Just me personally, I feel like they wanted me,” he said. “And I want to play for someone that wants me to play for them. So that was attractive.’’
- When DeMar DeRozan saw that Bulls were bringing in Ball, they didn’t need to do a hard sell to convince him to join the team, Cowley notes in the same story. DeRozan also came aboard in a sign-and-trade. “You could see what they were working toward, and it was something I wanted to be a part of,’ he said. “It wasn’t too much of a pitch that they had to make after that.’’
- The Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the Pacers’ G League affiliate, will play nine games in Indianapolis next season, Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files reports. The Mad Ants will also play 15 games on their home court. Those games in Indiana will make it easier for the Pacers to shuttle players back and forth between the NBA and the G League, if necessary.