Cleveland Cavaliers: 8 quality free agents who will accelerate rebuild

6. Christian Wood

Another sleeper, Christian Wood exploded onto the scene down the stretch of last season for the New Orleans Pelicans before finding a home in Detroit. Here, he has had the most successful year of his career as one of the league’s most improved players.

It’s hard to overstate the impact Wood has had with the Pistons. He leads the team in offensive rating, defensive rating, net rating, effective field goal percentage and true shooting percentage. Had it not been for 49 games from Andre Drummond, he would have led them in each rebounding statistic as well.

On the season, Wood averaged 13.1 points and 6.3 rebounds. His 6’10” frame and 7’3″ wingspan helped him be a consistent finisher around the rim, converting close to 70 percent of his attempts in the paint. This placed him in the top 20 for effectiveness under the basket. He also got to the free throw line at a decent rate where he connected on 72.3 percent.

The Cavaliers will potentially have an open spot for Wood on the roster if Tristan Thompson leaves in free agency. Though he will battle Kevin Love and Larry Nance Jr. for minutes, there is a strong possibility Wood could carve out a large role for himself as a player capable of playing both the power forward and center positions. Wood played a heavy chunk of last season at center for the Pistons. He was at his best following the Andre Drummond trade, averaging 22.8 points and 9.9 rebounds in the final 13 games of the season.

It obviously isn’t ideal that Wood would be forced to share the floor with Drummond again but there is still a possibility for this pairing to work out. The Cavaliers would absolutely love to add Wood, the only challenge is convincing him to join the roster.