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August 11, 2014
The Cavaliers have been making a splash with free agent signings and visits this summer. This isn’t one of those.
The Cavaliers announced on Monday that they have signed center Alex Kirk to an undisclosed contract. Kirk was with the Cavaliers’ summer league team in Las Vegas averaging 5.2 points on .524 shooting and 3.4 rebounds in 15.4 minutes per game.
Kirk went undrafted this year out of New Mexico.
An early entry candidate, the 7-0, 245-pound center went undrafted in the 2014 NBA Draft after appearing in 101 games (86 starts) over three seasons at the University of New Mexico. He averaged 10.0 points on .488 shooting, 6.8 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in 25.3 minutes per game over his collegiate career, where he was also a two-time All-MWC Defensive Team selection. Last season, he averaged 13.3 points on .490 shooting from the field, 8.7 rebounds and 2.7 blocks in 32.0 minutes per game, while receiving his second All-MWC Defensive Team honor.
The Cavaliers list him as 7-0, 245 pounds. If that is the case, he grew over an inch and lost a little weight since the NBA combine.
NBADraft.net listed Kenny Frease as his NBA comparison. Here’s what they had to say about Kirk–
Strengths: A versatile offensive threat, Kirk averaged a solid 16.6 points per 40 minutes this past season at New Mexico … Can score both inside and out; has a soft right-handed hook shot and a very smooth jumper, with range that extends to the NBA three-point line … Most effective inside 18 feet – according to Hoop–Math.com, Kirk made an impressive 70% of his shots at the rim and a respectable 38% of his 2-point jumpers … Not afraid to put a ball on the floor and drive past slower defenders … Can shoot off the dribble … Sets solid screens and effective on the pick and pop … Good size and length – had the 2nd longest standing reach at the NBA combine at 9 feet and 1.5 inches… Solid rebounder and shot blocker – averaged 10.9 and 3.4 per 40 minutes in those respective categories this past season at New Mexico… A coach’s son, Kirk plays within himself, hustles, is alert, and communicates well on the floor… Good stamina for a true center, averaging 32 min. per game this season for the Lobos.
Weaknesses: Not overly physical on either end of the floor, and as a result, struggles to carve out space underneath the basket … Not much lift – relies on his height and length when rebounding and blocking shots… Does not get many rebounds outside his area … Lack of speed greatly hinders his on-the-ball and help defense … He would fit into the NBA 40 years ago, much better than today’s game, as the game has gone to speed over size for bigmen … When defending the pick and roll, he often does not show strong and gets caught in no man’s land… Not shy about shooting, even when well beyond the college 3-point line. This past season, he made just slightly more than 21% of his threes, a number that would likely be significantly higher if he had better shot selection… Prefers to play in space – not afraid of contact, but sometimes struggles in a crowd… Has difficulty with double teams, frequently forcing up wild shots or committing turnovers … Struggled to stay out of foul trouble against athletic big men, including Joel Embiid (KU) and Khem Birch (UNLV) … Though an underclassmen early entrant, he’ll turn 23 at the end of this year, limiting his potential.
So that gives the Cavaliers Andy Varejao, Brendan Haywood and Kirk listed as centers.
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14 Comments
Judging by what I saw in Summer League, ‘basketball’ should also be listed as a weakness.
Interesting, I thought he played pretty well… nice range on his jump shot, did a decent job defending the post/rim, and set good screens.
My memories of him were him being too slow and unathletic to protect the rim and launcher of many an airball.
First of many. They’ve got to shake as many rookies, other teams’ training camp cuts and refugees from the Pituitary Basketball Association onto the floor as possible. Somebody in there might be a reasonable facsimile of a rim protector for 10-15 minutes per night. But it may not be Alex Kirk.
Yeah he did launch an airball or two, but I think that’s correctable. Seemed to happen when he didn’t allow himself to get set before shooting the ball. I think he will eventually be able to hit the NBA 3 with regularity, which may be why Blatt likes him enough to sign him. He’s definitely a matchup player… can’t guard small-ball centers who stretch the defense, but you can play him against traditional centers, and I think he is is the type of center the Cavs needed as only Haywood fits that description on the current roster. I wouldn’t be surprised if he fails to make the roster, but gets stashed in Canton and pulled up when the first injury happens (and it will).
I agree with both of you. He was very slow, unathletic ground-bound big man who also didn’t seem very strong. But, he was still willing to set hard picks, seemed to have good feet, and had some touch on his shots.
Considering our current backup is an unknown Haywood, I am not too surprised we are giving him a shot.
Basketball goon? 😀
pretty much. 18min / 5 fouls against Embiid.
Anybody fouls LBJ, Kirk drops the gloves, errrr, sweats.
How good does he really have to be, to be as good as Hibbert?
As long as he isn’t dropping his shorts as Harv suggested
Which version of Hibbert?
The current version.
I would venture to say that most of us know Alex Kirk as “that guy attempting to play defense in the Embiid Dreamshake video”.