The Cleveland Cavaliers signed center Edy Tavares from the Raptors 905 of the D-League, an affiliate of the Toronto Raptors. What can he bring to the team?
The Cleveland Cavaliers might have finally found their shot blocker for the future.
Center Edy Taveres was signed from the Toronto D-League squad Raptors 905 on Tuesday. Unfortunately, this mean’t the end of the Larry Sanders era in Cleveland.
Sanders wasn’t progressing as the team wanted him too, and they wanted a player that could help contribute immediately instead of waiting. I’ve mentioned in previous articles how Sanders wouldn’t truly be utilized until he had a full training camp under coach Tyronn Lue‘s system.
General manager David Griffin spoke to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com on Sanders’ release.
"“I think it got to the point that we realized he’s pretty far away from playing meaningful NBA games. Larry was really far away in ways that we didn’t think that he was really far away. And if we knew that we weren’t going to play him at all, it’s difficult to feel good about holding on to him heading into a year where he’s non-guaranteed. I think we made the decision to do something different now rather than play it out and know he wouldn’t play.”"
Hopefully he gets an opportunity elsewhere, and shows teams what he can still bring to the NBA.
The signing of Tavares, however, finally gives the Cavs the interior presence they have been missing all season.
At 7-foot-3, 260 pounds, with an eight-foot wingspan, Tavares can be a force. In 24 minutes against the Toronto Raptors Wednesday, he put up six points, with 10 rebounds and a franchise tying high six blocks.
It was the most blocks by a Cavalier since big Zydrunas Ilgauskas did the same thing in November of 2007.
It was refreshing to see a force in the middle of the defense again. Over the years in my articles, I’ve always stressed how size was important in the post. While I love what Tristan Thompson brings to the court every game, he’s undersized, and it shows.
Channing Frye has the height at 6-foot-11, but he’s a stretch center whose game revolves around the perimeter. The Cavs have also been known for their extremely tall centers over the years.
From Brad Daugherty, Ilgauskas, Martynas Andriuskevicius, Timofey Mozgov and now Tavares, they’ve had their share of giants.
Edy Tavares on sharing the locker room with LeBron James for the first time: "I see him and it's like a movie to me. Like, it's not real"
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) April 13, 2017
Cavs fans immediately noticed a change when Tavares checked in. Opposing players weren’t penetrating to the basket so easy, and everything was challenged. He didn’t get to every shot, but just his presence was enough to make players go the other way.
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He’s still raw on the offensive side of the ball, but Lue is looking for him to defend rather than score. Tavares also needs to work on his aggressiveness. Numerous times when he was boxing out Jakob Poeltl or Lucas Nogueira for the offensive rebound, he was getting bullied, and moved away from the ball.
He must add muscle, and use his size better against opposing centers.
The biggest question is will Tavares get playing time in the playoffs? His size would definitely be needed in the first three rounds in the Eastern Conference.
With potential matchups against the Boston Celtics, Washington Wizards and Raptors, his presence would be needed against their physical centers.
If the Cavaliers are able to make it back to the NBA Finals, he would be used against the Los Angeles Clippers, Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs, but he wouldn’t get much time against the Golden State Warriors unless JaVale McGee came in since they focus on small ball.
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He needs more time in the Cavs system, but his size and presence could make all the difference defensively. He is signed for two years, and if he develops properly, Cleveland could have found a steal for the future.