Other Bench Options?
2012-11-14On Monday, I wrote about possible options to improve the Cavs rotation / bench play.  Sometime contributor Tom Pestak requested that I mention my free agent target from this summer: Derrick Brown. As best I can tell, he is still unemployed after getting cut by the Spurs in training camp. While I have not seen alot of his play (who was watching Charlotte last season?), over three years, he has totalled 2500 NBA minutes, with every readily-available advanced stat indicating respectable performance. PER, Adjusted plus / minus, Win Shares per 48 minutes, Wins Produced, the opponent PER stuff at 82 games.com, WARP; each indicates that the Xavier-alum has performed acceptably through his young career. Plus the Ohio ties, hailing from Dayton.
DERRICK BROWN!!
Why can’t he find a job then? I don’t know; he is young, cheap, athletic, plays two positions, and produces. Maybe he’s a knucklehead? Anyways, some competition for Casspi, Miles and Walton is certainly warranted, and Luke Harangody appears to be un-used roster space.  Let’s add “Buy out Big Luke and sign DERRICK BROWN!!!” as #7 on my list from yesterday.
(Tom also wants to call attention to Chris Wright, recently of the University of Dayton and more recently playing garbage-time last year for the Golden State Warriors. He notched an 18.6 PER, thanks to strong rebounding and a huge propensity to draw fouls. He’s available, and must currently be more capable than Walton.)
This bench makes me long for JJ. 17+ PER, averaging 11 and 11. He may have holes in his game as so abundantly mentioned in these pages, but would you rather have any of the Cavs bench bigs (Zeller TBD) than JJ right now?
I say we just keep the bench the way it is and go for an all time worst ever bench. I think we have a real shot.
As for back up pg. what about the timber wolves slew of competent over performing backup pgs. they would part with one when RR comes back to stay under the cap right?
Ok I was just looking at the what the cavs future assets are. If we can get another top ten, preferably top 7 as pointed out above we could be really set even if we don’t exactly hit a home run. If we can just find a starting caliber player with this pick I’d be excited. Then we go into the offseason and either sign a big free agent or trade ala Joe Johnson Brooklyn salary dump for a big contract all-star or near all-star player. Pau Gasol if the lakers suck it up. Danny Granger if the pacers are… Read more »
Rodney mac Demoralizing to you maybe. These guys are young and they know that the team will get better over the next couple of years. Knowing that we have Irving, Waiters, Thompson, Zeller, and maybe Andy over the next few years means we are going to get better. Gilbert will spend when the time is right and Grant seems to be making mostly good moves. A losing year this year really doesn’t matter. Maybe you will be demoralized, but I highly doubt the young guys are going to worry about it. Especially since they are competitive in pretty much every… Read more »
Rodney
Demoralizing to you maybe. These guys are young and they know that the team will get better over the next couple of years.
Knowing that we have Irving, Waiters, Thompson, Zeller, and maybe Andy over the next few years means we are going to get better. Gilbert will spend when the time is right and Grant seems to be making mostly good moves. A losing year this year really doesn’t matter. Maybe you will be demoralized, but I highly doubt the young guys are going to worry about it. Especially since they are competitive in pretty much every game.
hurt corrected to hurt for some reason
Cols. I highly doubt this team without a major injury ends up in the bottom 7. I think the bottom 5 are pretty set with the wizards, pistons, bobcats, kings, an magic. The suns, raptors are worse than us and without granger the pacers are bad. Once Bogut gets here the warriors are bad. So that puts us somewhere between 6-10 as is. I think its closer to 10. I’m not against losing but this is going to lead to quitting. Leave the game up 2 come in down 12 4 minutes later is demoralizing.
Delonte West is a nut. Do not want,
DELONTE WEST. He would be by far our best bench player. and is league minimum. and holds a special place in cleveland’s heart. He must do some crazy shit to still be unemployed, given how good he is at basketball.
I agree with Cols714. They aren’t getting embarrassed. Most NBA stars lost quite a bit early in their careers. I understand fans being sick of Cleveland sports ineptitude. The Browns are always in a cycle of rebuilding. The Indians are just a mess. The Cavs have already landed a future/current superstar in Irving (4th in scoring!?!?!). Waiters last two games have been meh, but he’s a rook and it’ll happen. There’s no point getting upset by the bench. Grant doesn’t agree that he should have built it up to just miss the playoffs or get swept in the first round.… Read more »
I’m not sure I would trade Andy for anything less than a Valanciunas or Barnes AND a pick, perhaps an end of first rounder. He’s a top 5 center in the league right now, arguably top 3.
Rodney
Maybe, but we are talking about two 20 year olds. A year of competing but losing is quite alright. It’d be different it they were getting blown away but they aren’t.
I really think that losing is not the advisable course here. Unless an injury to Andy or Irving occurs then this team is somewhere between 8 worst and 15th worst. I don’t think there’s a huge difference between 8th and 14th in the draft but I do think that frustration that losing like this brings affects players
Nate
I think you’d have to. If offered valuncianus you’d have to make that trade. Getting a young guy to grow with Dion and Kyrie.
Chris K
I agree. This team is fun to watch this year with a decent starting 5. Then the bench sucks which causes them to get a reasonable draft pick for this year. Use that pick and build around Dion and Irving. There isn’t any reason to win tons of games this year. The great thing is that they are a fun exciting team to watch while losing. It’s really a perfect way to have this season go.
As a Cavs fan and Xavier grad I would love this move. Brown always seemed to be a team player at X and I always wondered why he can’t seem to find a job in the NBA while players like Harangody and Walton have an NBA roster spot. His athleticism would fit in well with this team and would be a welcome change from seeing Walton attempt to run the floor. I didn’t get to watch him much in the pro’s to know if he couldn’t handle the speed or couldn’t keep up on defense, but I can’t imagine he’s… Read more »
Derrick Brown deserves a look. Much younger, more productive than Pietrus. Pietrus has some name recognition from a high profile playoff series. But he’s pretty old and not that great anyway.
Leuer has played better than Casspi this year. Period. This may be an useless exercise, mind you.
First, scott, nice David Wesley layup reference–I can always have a smile on my face so long as I recall that. Secondly, let this team rot from the bench. I consistently see “Future MVP, Future all-star, current all-star, future rotation players” to describe Irving/Waiters/Andy/Thompson/Zeller on this blog, which is great…and yet I cannot for the life of me recall a second unit so seemingly desolate of focus or purpose. This team’s rotation seems almost created from a 1970s-style line change (5 in, 5 out), building first-unit cohesion at the expense of second-unit competitiveness…and losing leads/games in the process. I feel… Read more »
@Nate Smith-I was for trading Andy for a long time but I’ve backed off of it because I doubt they could get fair value for him. It seems Andy would only have value to a team who is in contention…Or a GM who is trying to save himself. Colangelo is at that point in Toronto. The only way I would trade Andy is for a solid young prospect at a position of need or a contender who has a lottery teams draft pick. Valanciunas is one of the few young prospects who fit. Maybe Barnes. I’d rather have either than… Read more »
Sadly Cassepi plays SF and we could never truly start a grassroots effort to get him voted to the All-Star game…
I don’t see Grant making any moves until he makes a trade. This is all part of the long term plan. Walton was only kept to be traded. He and Boobie have nearly $11 million in expiring deals. If an serious injury strikes I’m sure Grant will go D-League fishing again.
Here’s a question for the collective: Would you trade Anderson for Valanciunas?
http://hoopshype.com/free_agency.htm A list of who’s available. It’s not pretty. The best is probably Michael Pietrus, who would immediately be our best wing off the bench. He’s supposedly healthy this year, and when healthy Pietrus is a good spot up shooter, finisher, and mean defender. Shaun Livingston, Carlos Arroyo, or the ageless Earl Boykins would be an improvement at the PG. Andrew Goudelock is a guy I liked coming out of college who didn’t make the Lakers in his second year (who already had too many point guards). He HAS to be better than Sloan, right? I want no part of… Read more »
Kevin,
Have you actually watched Leuer play? It’s kind of like Casspi. Good idea in theory…
He had a play last night where he almost cracked his head open going for a block on a pump fake.
Haven’t cringed like that since the Jiri Welsch “3 off the side of the backboard” or maybe the David Wesley Layup.
Scott,
Yes, I have watched every painful minute of the Jon Leuer experience.
I actually agree, Kevin. To me he is still better than Casspi and Walton.
I’m holding out hope for Casspi who does not get nearly as much slack as other crappy bench players, and as I’ve said before, unlike Miles and Walton, at least he rebounds.
Yes please, anyone! It’s not my money, but it would be nice to see someone else at least get the chance to audition.
I would just point out that Leuer’s PER last year excited both of us, Kevin and so far that seems like an illusion, at best! While Brown might not be in that category, Wright clearly could be…
Kj,
I’m still holding out hope for Leuer; it’s only 70 minutes of playing time. He’s 3 of 13 shooting outside the paint, and will get better. I like his ball-handling. As is the case with much of the second string, I would like to see him get periodic minutes with Kyrie and / or Andy.
I may be blinded by hopefulness though.