Alex Kirk: The Unknown Cleveland Cavalier

In what has amounted to be the busiest and most exciting offseason in the history of the Cleveland Cavaliers, no one can blame Alex Kirk for going relatively unnoticed, although it may be one of the few times that a man his size has done so.

Going undrafted out of New Mexico, Kirk measured in at 6’9.25″ (without shoes) during the 2014 pre-draft measurements, but also measured to have an absurd 7’3.5″ wingspan, and at 252 pounds Kirk appears to meet the physical requirements to be a center in the NBA.

After all, the old adage tells us that you can teach a lot of things, but size isn’t one of them, and that is exactly what the Cleveland Cavaliers are hoping for out of Kirk: that they can bring out the other skills in him, and help him to be more than just a man of great size/length/weight.

Despite playing in the Mountain West Conference, Kirk was a key part of the New Mexico Lobos earning a seventh seed in March Madness, where the Lobos were upset in the second round by the 10th seed, Stanford.

Just look at his stats from his final year at New Mexico:

Provided by Sports-Reference.com/CBB: View Original Table
Generated 9/4/2014.

Within the Mountain West Conference for last year, Kirk had the third highest field goal percentage, was fourth best in defensive rebounding (first in terms of career numbers), first in blocks per game, and had the eighth highest defensive win shares.

Although he has shown some ability to stretch the floor on offense (21.4 percent from three-point range last season), if Kirk is going to manage to stick in the NBA it will have to be with a focus on the defensive end.  This was true before he signed with Cleveland, and is even more so now that he will be playing alongside LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love. Because if Kirk manages to see the floor at any point this season, the only shots that he should take would be near the basket.

Even on defense it is unclear what Kirk brings to the table.  Here is what Draft Express had to say about him after last season:

"“On the defensive end of the floor, Kirk remains a mixed bag. On one hand, his below average lateral quickness renders him a liability against quicker and more athletic forwards. This matters both in terms of face-guarding perimeter oriented big men and defending the pick-and-roll, and, Kirk looks like he will struggle guarding NBA-caliber post players away from the basket, even if he did a decent job at the collegiate level. Likewise and while did a better job of bodying-up his man in the post as a junior, he still gets beaten more often than one would expect and it is still too easy to simply toss the ball over his head to an open man. In terms of his man-to-man post defense, he not only must maximize his physical tools, but he should also continue to work on his fundamentals.On the other hand, Kirk displays outstanding timing and patience, which coupled with his length, make him a very good shot blocker at the collegiate level. His 3.3 blocked shots per 40 minutes pace adjusted rank eighth among prospects in our top-100. He is also a solid rebounder whose 10.8 rebounds per 40 minutes pace adjusted rank in the upper quarter of our top-100.”"

But for the Cavaliers, Kirk wasn’t signed for what he can contribute right away, he was brought to Cleveland under the hope that he could develop into a capable role player in the NBA.  Anything that he can contribute this season will simply be a bonus.