Cavs Roster Post Mortem: Part One “Past”

Hello fellow Cavs: the Blog readers and its patient editors!  My name is Ryan Yankee, though most of you know me commenting under the name “JudeElysium” around here.  The guys at C:tB have given me a crack at adding my own content to our great community in their ongoing efforts to keep me from losing my mind in lesser corners of the internet that don’t live up to the standards we’re spoiled with here.

For an end of season player recap I’m going to group the roster into three categories.

• Past: Players that don’t figure too highly into the team’s plans for next year and beyond.  Whether or not it is their fault these are the guys that likely will either not be playing for the Cavs next year, or if they do, it’s only because there wasn’t a pressing enough reason to use their roster slot for someone else.
• Present: These players are of the maybe/maybe not variety.  They will likely be on the roster at the start of next season.  There is always the chance any of the players here will be traded or even waived before the next season starts, but each of them has a case to be made to be a possible part of the Cavs future.  Likely one or more of this group will be traded next season to add assets, but if/until they are, they are going to be relevant pieces of the team moving forward.
• Future: These players figure to be a major part of the team going forward.  In the NBA crazy trades happen all the time but if one of these guys is traded, it will be a big deal.  I know I’ll be tempting fate and history by including Kevin Love in this group, but he’s still part of the team’s future and I will continue to believe that until the day a Kevin Love trade is reported and confirmed  by at least  two sources.

The Past

17 & 16:  Deng Adel & Jaron Blossomgame

Neither of these guys is actually a member of the true 15 player roster, but both have been used enough to warrant a mention.  I’ve seen very little of them with the Charge, but they both fit into a relatively similar category as far as the NBA is concerned.  Both show a mix of size and athleticism that qualifies them to have a chance at an NBA roster.  They ran the floor well and showed potential for decent to good rebounding.  Both displayed some potential to shoot from distance but struggled to do so consistently (each player shot below 30% from three point range in the NBA but managed to shoot above 30% in the G League at higher usage).

The two are good fill-in-the-gaps two way players.  There is no evidence yet that they will turn into anything more than bottom of the bench NBA players, but there is also not enough evidence to completely count them out either.  Depending on the offseason moves the Cavs make, there’s no reason not to keep these two in their respective roster slots as long as no other glaring need for said slots arise.  If next season’s roster ends up needing depth outside of wings or small ball 4’s, then expect one or both to lose their two way deal without much thought.

One big positive for Adel and Blossomgame is that the team seemed to like both of them (Channing Frye especially seemed to be fond of Blossomgame), and they also appear to have the right attitude for two way players.  They were able to hold their heads high and play like they belonged in the NBA while still remaining humble to their teammates on “true” roster spots.  Neither of them shrank away from taking shots or making plays, but they played with the proper awareness that their teammates were typically higher percentage options.  Promisingly, Adel and Blossomgame have each had a game winner for the Charge this season.  G-League game winning shots are not NBA game winning shots, but they are also not nothing.

15: J.R. Smith

Yes, technically J.R. Smith is still a Cav.  He played games this year and is still on the roster.  He also ironically might be one of the team’s most valuable trade chips this summer.  That’s where the value ends.  The truth is that there are a ton of NBA teams that would jump at the chance to pay JR over three million dollars to not  play for their team next year.  This is for the large chunk of cap relief that such a move would grant them, but the overall message should still resonate with J.R.  Cleveland may be the city in the NBA most willing to give J.R. the benefit of the doubt and yet it still seems that he has used much of that up.

Clevelanders remember that big eight point run he had for the Cavs in the second half of Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, but they also remember him assuring everyone this summer that he was ready to be “a good role model” and a “teaching vet” to a younger team, not to mention how he was “in the best shape in years.”  Instead those statements ran very contrary to his public complaining about the youth movement and whining about not getting enough playing time.  He may have been in “great shape”, but his game sure wasn’t.  It looked like he hadn’t worked on his jump shot since they day he signed his last contract.

The fact that J.R. called out the team for “tanking” because they were going young and not playing him is really the most laughable.  It’s worth noting that the last game JR played was in a 113-102 loss to the Detroit Pistons.  The first game without him was a down-to-the-wire affair against the Lakers that saw the Cavs ahead down the stretch until LeBron did LeBron things and willed his team into a last minute victory.  Cedi (one of the young guys) even drilled two late clutch threes to keep it close until the very end.  The next two games?  Enter the Cavs first two game winning streak of the season against the 76ers and the Rockets.  Playing J.R. would have been a better tanking strategy.  With a season average 34.2 FG%, 30.8 3P%, 1.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, and 6.7 points in 20.2 minutes per game (per basketball-reference.com), he proved to be a tanking force to rival late season Marquese Chriss.  At least JR shot 80% from the free throw line, but that’s about the only positive about his game this year.

To be fair, J.R. did have one of my favorite moments this year when he called out the flopping of Marcus Smart.

“”For a guy who wants to be so tough in this situation, he leads the league in flops. Easily.  You can’t flop as much as you do and then be tough. How does that even work?”

A  common pet peeve about the NBA lately is the officiating (I complain about it far too much as well), but it makes it hard for the refs with so many bad actors in the league actively trying to cheat.  The recent resurgence of ragdoll physics flopping isn’t basketball and at times can render games close to unwatchable.  If players are honorless enough to cheat in this way then the threat of fines is obviously not doing its job.  Besides the fact that the NBA hasn’t fined anyone for flopping since the 2015-2016 (the two players fined that year were Isaiah Thomas and of course Marcus Smart) fines still really aren’t enough of a punishment. Since they can affect the outcomes of games, shouldn’t they treated similarly to flagrant fouls? Or at least add up and result in suspensions like technical fouls do?

But I digress as J.R. provided an excuse to hop up on my soap box.  Back to the point, if J.R.’s high point of the year sprang from some post game comments after a preseason game, then that shows how far his stock has fallen here.  I’m sure many of us hope that in the future we can look back at J.R.’s time in Cleveland and remember the shirtless rogue we cheered along with during the 2016 Championship parade, but it’s going to take some time and a bit of distance before that happens.  At least he didn’t go the route of Mo Williams playing surgery-chicken with himself and locking up a useless roster spot on a team looking to defend a championship. But, he did associate himself with words like “whiney” and “toxic” while the city was still working hard at forgiving him for the “I thought we had the lead!” moment at the end of Game 1 of the 2018 Finals.

So what are the chances that J.R. Smith plays professional basketball again in the NBA?  I’ll be optimistic for the old fun-time J.R. and give him a 50/50 shot.  Does that make me crazy?  Maybe.  But it definitely doesn’t make me crazier than J.R.

14:  Channing Frye

I feel somehow unqualified to sum up the valuable person Channing has been to the Cavs. When the team acquired him, it was as a useful weapon to have another big guy who could hit threes. This was the year after the 2015 Finals where most of the Cavs’ post season strategy was LeBron driving and kicking to an assortment of three point shooters. It generally worked, and it was fun to watch. Frye had a sweet stroke with a quick high release, and he provided more than his fair share of shots that got me jumping out of my chair. His hot night of seven threes against Atlanta in the playoffs was absolute gold. I still have that series recorded and watch it from time to time to remember the best of the recently passed “Finals Years.”

Fast forward, and now everyone in Cleveland would still love Channing even if the Monstars stole his talent. Now his legacy is Road Trippin’ with R.J., Lil Kev, and reminding both championship teams and lottery bond teams alike that basketball is a game and games should be fun. Sure it sucks to go from playing in the Finals to not even winning 20 games, but life isn’t non-stop success. J.R. complained about the youth movement, Channing bought in and held them up. All year you could see his goofy smile giving tips and love to everyone from Kevin Love to Jaron Blossomgame. The man has an amazing knack for looking at a set of problems and deciphering what matters and what is just noise.

The ear splitting cheers for each three he hit this season were well earned. Channing has always been a guy that puts the team first, sacrifices without protest, and makes everyone around him a better player and a happier person. With a young group of misfit toys like the Cavs this year it would’ve been easy for many of the kids to get down on themselves. Plenty of guys cycled through the wine and gold this year, playing for perhaps one of their only shots to prove that they belong in the NBA. That’s a long way away from the 80+ million dollar contracts that even the lesser stars of contending teams can rely on these days. Blossomgame, Adel, other G-Leaguers, and the parade of 10 day contracts were budgeting out their lives on what they could make for each game they were lucky enough to play. The way that Channing made these kids part of the team cannot be overstated.

The whole city will miss Frye Island and the joy he brought to the team, but he may yet be around more than we think. He’s already hinted at being offered a job by the Cavs in some capacity, and I for one hope that transpires. Welcoming the young kids, bringing Jordan Clarkson out of his shell so he now looks like the most gregarious player in the NBA, riding Cedi Osman and Collin Sexton while still believing in them, and helping Kevin Love come to grips with this new position as a team leader and a voice on mental health. I could all go on and on about how this city loves Channing, and you have to respect that he went out on his own terms, choosing to do it here in Cleveland. His heart condition couldn’t stop him, the tragic loss of both of his parents couldn’t stop him, and even being traded away couldn’t stop him from coming back. In spurts and glances we saw that Channing could still hoop this year, but his window was closing and he probably chose the perfect time and path to check out and move on.

He didn’t play enough basketball this year to bother diving into his stats, but with Channing to a Cavs fan, that’s not what you wanted to read about anyways.  His most important stat was also a quintessentially Channing moment.  In the last minutes of the last game of the year he launched a final salvo from Frye Island for his last three pointer as a Cavalier and as an NBA player. The cheers and the three points on the board from that shot were definitely nice, but the perfect metaphor for Channing Frye as an NBA player and a Cavalier is that the shot he sank was also Collin Sexton’s (the rookie that needs to work on his passing) 10th assist of the game. It marked a career high in assists, and gave Sexton his first points-assists double-double of his career.  How perfect is that?  Channing’s last moment was doing something awesome for himself and the team, but more importantly it was helping to develop and encourage the future of the team by helping a rookie look good at something that he’s supposed to be bad at.  Perfect.

13:  Marquese Chriss

Moving down the list closer to players that had more of a real role on the Cavs this year unfortunately leads to Quese. I’ll admit, when the Cavs first acquired Chriss I had seen only bits of his play, and for some reason I had a good feeling about him.  Size, athleticism, and right off the bat he looked like he had a good shot from long distance. I was convinced we landed a hidden gem.  And, as it happens sometimes, I was horrifically wrong.

Chriss plays basketball like Kyrie Irving talks to the media. Every time he does something that makes you want to forgive his past mistakes and start liking him again, all you have to do is hold your breath and he’ll light another dumpster fire long before you get dizzy.

After the first few games, his jump shot went straight to hell and looked like he wasn’t sure he even wanted the ball to go in. On defense he constantly fell asleep or just looked lost, and for the life of me I can’t understand it. Quese could become engaged in a play and show real effort, hustle and athleticism only to end up a quarter step slow, stop, look around, and seem not entirely sure what he was doing a few seconds ago. The only explanation I can surmise is that he has one of the most severe cases of ADHD I’ve ever seen… or his ancestry is half goldfish. “Oh Look! Basketball!” pause “Look at all the people!” pause “Oh look! Basketball!” pause “I’m gonna try to catch this lob” pause “Put it in the basket? Ooops, too late.”

Yeah, I know. That’s mean. It was also mean to us as viewers to watch the Goldfish Tank Machine stumble down the court and ruin plenty of stretches of good basketball. Time and again he was criminally guilty of the “Ooops, that guy blew past me.  I’m gonna foul him as he goes by so it at least looks like I’m playing defense.  And-One.  Guess that was a bad idea.  Anyone notice?”  Yes Quese.  We noticed.  We really, really noticed.

Quese does have his moments, to be fair. When his shot was on, it looked sweet. When engaged, he really can run and jump. He’s had some sweet blocks and slams. It’s everything in between that is the problem.

So could he somehow someday be a decent NBA player? Yes. Is he now? No. If the Cavs bring him back to use in a solid role next year that might be a warning sign of the sequel to this year’s tank-a-thon. The only way Chriss has a shot at a team that isn’t signing him as a sandbagging aide is as a 15th man or on a two way contract.

Burying him at the bottom of the bench would probably be the worst thing for Quese’s career. The G-League on a two way seems the only way this former lottery pick has a chance at becoming a real NBA player. Let him play with some easier competition where hopefully he can dominate. If he can learn the team’s plays and system against players that allow him a greater margin of error, maybe he’ll start to learn the game enough to go back to the NBA level.  Until then, he has the look of a gamer rage quitting every 30 seconds when he realizes the game is too hard.

I’d like to see him get a chance as a two way (Sorry Blossomgame or Adel). He actually seems like a likable guy with some character to him. I loved him making a fool out of Serge Ibaka’s ragdoll flop, and I especially loved how the ejection was a twofer bonus for the Cavs. Quese could no longer be a liability and the Raptors lost a player in Ibaka that actually helps his team. And who didn’t love getting at least one good stomping in on the boys from up north?

For Chriss time will tell, but if he ends up playing anywhere in the NBA next year for more than the minimum salary, I’ll be shocked. I hope that if the Cavs do decide to keep him around, that they don’t waste a roster slot and his time on making him a 15th man. Give him a two-way so he has a chance to play basketball…just don’t do it as a tanking anchor on the Cavs.

12:  Nik Stauskas

Sauce Castillo gets immediate points for a sense of humor and some marketing smarts, and I have to give him a bit of love as a fellow Lithuanian. As for basketball, he caught me off guard. I knew little about him when the Cavs acquired him, and his game of musical chairs across the NBA before he ended up back in Cleveland left me with little hope that he was going to be a difference maker. He looked decent for about 15 minutes or so, but then things went south. For a few games in a row it seemed every time Sauce was subbed in the team went to rags. Sometimes it was hard to pin on him, but plenty of times it wasn’t. Lazy passes and catches, shots that didn’t look like they had a chance, and a general malaise of “not quite an NBA player” seemed to be his calling card.

Then something happened. Did he just chill out? Did he finally memorize the Cavs’ plays and schemes? I couldn’t tell you when or how it happened, but one day Sauce Castillo was a basketball player. I’m not ringing the future all-star bell or anything like that, but after this year Stauskas showed that he has something to add to an NBA team.

He has the size, speed, and skillset to play the 1-3. That alone makes him somewhat valuable even if he’s a net zero on the court. Having a guy that can play tough at the wing and cut for a dunk isn’t unique, but if he keeps his sweet shooting going that seemed to come on down the stretch this year (42.9% from 3PT as a Cav vs. 34.4% from 3PT in Portland for a season total of 37.2% from 3PT per basketball-reference.com) then he is starting to enter valuable territory.  His shooting starts to look a little more likely to be sustainable with his free throw percentage as a Cav of 89.3% (88.9% in Portand for a year total of 89.1% FT% per basketball-reference.com).  His Cavs three point and free throw shooting percentages were both career highs, and year by year it looks as if he is steadily improving his shooting as his career continues.

Stauskas has played point guard in the past and he seems like a capable playmaker, especially in a secondary capacity.  On a Cavs team that is building around Collin Sexton, playmakers are the order of the day. With a scoring point guard that has shown himself to be actually elite as a catch and shoot guy, I like the idea of a team that can almost play-make by committee. I wouldn’t want to rely on Stauskas as a starter or even as the 2nd string point guard but I do like the skills being there, especially because they don’t come at the expense of shooting. Put him in a reserve role where he can be an auxiliary guy that can create, and he could have a place on the Cavs in at least the near future.

We know all too well how the injury bug can disrupt a season, so a guy like Stauskas that can legitimately play the 1-3 when you need him offers decent protection. Sign him to a one year deal or maybe two at around the minimum and give the guy a chance. The Cavs have enough roster spots opening up this summer with J.R., Channing, and likely Chriss that holding onto a guy who has shown some promise doesn’t feel like a waste of a spot. Maybe he is a part of the Cavs going forward, maybe not, but assuming they have the roster space available I’d be happy to see Sauce suiting up for the wine and gold next year. A few hot long range shooting nights every now and again will make them glad he’s there, and if the Cavs improve enough next year that Sauce gets buried at the end of the bench, at least he doesn’t seem all that likely to throw soup at one of the coaches.

[Stay tuned for Part 2: Present]