Cleveland Cavaliers: Kay Felder Still Developing
Kay Felder has played well in two of the three Summer League games, but has his performance been enough to potentially make the 15-man roster of the Cleveland Cavaliers?
Many fans were surprised of the Cleveland Cavaliers getting back into the 2016 NBA Draft and picking small point guard Kay Felder out of Michigan’s Oakland University.
On a team that had Kyrie Irving, Mo Williams and Matthew Dellavedova at the time, it was a position that was loaded. However, Felder showed rare leaping ability at 5-foot-9 and a great eye for passing at the collegiate level.
He led the NCAA in assists at 9.3 per game and was fourth in scoring at 24.4 points per game. In most cases, those numbers would warrant a lottery pick for teams, but he fell to the second round at No. 54 overall to the Cavaliers.
Felder has played in three Summer League games thus far in Las Vegas, Nevada. While Minnesota Timberwolves lottery pick Kris Dunn has been the most impressive–along with Thon Maker of the Milwaukee Bucks–Felder hasn’t been far behind.
Related Story: 25 Best Players to Play for the Cleveland Cavaliers
He immediately showed in the first game against the Bucks that he can play in the NBA. Felder scored 14 points and added five assists. He was consistently making the mid-range jumper, which was a big question within his game, and he showed active hands defensively.
More from Cleveland Cavaliers
- Latest intel calls Donovan Mitchell’s future with the Cavs into question
- 5 players who will challenge Victor Wembanyama for Rookie of the Year
- Cleveland Cavaliers: Analyzing the Max Strus acquisition
- Ranking the 5 best available shooting guards in 2023 NBA free agency
- NBA Rumors: Cavs have secret weapon to lure LeBron back to Cleveland
Felder also scored a lot of his points from dribble penetration among the bigs in the paint. He was unselfish, and he played with fearlessness.
In the second game on Saturday against the Brooklyn Nets, he took a step back. Some of it could be attributed to Jordan McRae going off for 27 points, but he struggled to find his rhythm. He only went 3-for-10 from the field and he also had three turnovers.
He finished the game with six points and four assists.
The third game was on Monday against the Timberwolves. I was looking forward to Felder against Dunn, but Summer League head coach Ryan Saunders decided to rest him. Felder looked much better in this game.
He was looking for his shot, and was also being aggressive penetrating to the hole as he did against the Bucks.
All of his passes didn’t lead to assist, but his vision on the court is that of a five year veteran. His passes are accurate, and his ball movement led to the offense being spread out.
He went 7-for-13 from the field and 1-of-6 from three-point range. This was his second best Summer League game as he finished with 15 points and three assists.
While these three games are a very small sample size, Felder showed me good and bad. The first good thing I noticed was how good his ball-handling is. It’s not yet Irving- or Stephen Curry-great, but he uses it to his advantage to get to the hole.
He’s also better at help defense than I originally expected. During some plays, when his teammate was matched up one-on-one against their opponent, he would either cheat to their side or go under the defense to try and make a play.
More from Hoops Habit
- 7 Players the Miami Heat might replace Herro with by the trade deadline
- Meet Cooper Flagg: The best American prospect since LeBron James
- Are the Miami Heat laying the groundwork for their next super team?
- Sophomore Jump: 5 second-year NBA players bound to breakout
- NBA Trades: The Lakers bolster their frontcourt in this deal with the Pacers
If he does that on a consistent basis, with his size, he will cause a lot of trouble to opponents, just like
Damon Stoudamire–another small guard–did for his teams.
He’s also great at using his size against bigger players. Even though he is only 5-foot-9, he uses his strength and size to penetrate to the basket at will and most of the time it leads to a foul or an And-one. That’s where he reminds me of Nate Robinson.
Some of the bad I saw, which is expected from rookies, was the willingness to play defense on every single possession. There was a few times on Monday where Tyus Jones was left wide open while Felder was either guarding somebody else or out of position.
He could have gotten help, but it’s his responsibility. They likely aren’t running many plays in the Summer League which would lead to switches or players going over and under screens.
Felder also must work on his jump shot. He was making them in the first game, as well as on Monday, but he has to be more consistent with it. That is something that will come with practice and more experience in due time.
More hoops habit: The NBA's 50 Greatest Players of All-Time
The Cavaliers will now go into tournament play for the Summer League. Felder will possibly have a chance to show his talent against all of the other top rookies playing. We didn’t get to see much of him, but things could definitely get more interesting as more games happen.