Scarlet and Gray is stacked (again) for The Basketball Tournament
July 10, 2018Indians Bullpen Implosion Aided by Inexplicable Miscommunication
July 11, 2018Life after LeBron James will be interesting for the Cleveland Cavaliers. At this point, it seems as though they’re going to do their best to be a mediocre team and potentially sneak into the postseason next year, rather than tank and make sure they keep their top-10 protected first-round pick.
With that said, without No. 23, they will be quite a younger squad than they have been over the last four years. It all starts with second-year players like Cedi Osman and Ante Zizic, to go along with rookie Collin Sexton, but it seems as though the Cavs are looking to get younger through free agency as well.
With the team and most of the coaching staff and front office already out in Las Vegas for the 2018 Summer League, the wine and gold worked out unrestricted free agent shooting guard Treveon Graham, who they supposedly have “strong interest” in. It wasn’t just head coach Tyronn Lue at the workout either. General manager Koby Altman and assistant general manager Mike Gansey were also in attendance, according to nba.com’s David Aldridge.
Cavaliers had a group in this morning to see workout of UFA @TreBall21, per league sources. Cleveland has strong interest; Minnesota in as well. Hornets did not give Graham a QO in June, making him unrestricted. Good 3 and D wing potential.
— David Aldridge (@davidaldridgedc) July 9, 2018
GM Koby Altman and assistant GM Mike Gansey among the Cavs’ contingent that saw Graham work out in Vegas.
— David Aldridge (@davidaldridgedc) July 9, 2018
The 25-year-old didn’t put up big numbers in his second season, but Graham is considered a low-risk, three-and-D wing that has plenty of potential. He averaged 4.3 points and 1.9 rebounds while shooting 43.4 percent from the field and 41 percent from beyond the arc in 16.7 minutes per game in 63 games (two starts) during the 2017-18 season. Although he shot over 40 percent from long distance, the second-year shooting guard totaled just 97 three-pointers last season.
Out of Virginia Commonwealth, the 6-foot-5, 220-pound wing went undrafted in 2015. During his rookie season, he spent time with both the Charlotte Hornets and G-League’s Idaho Stampede in 2015-16. With the Hornets, he averaged 2.1 points in seven minutes per game (27 games).
Due to the Hornets declining to give Graham a qualifying offer, the young wing became an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. This means that Charlotte won’t have the ability to match any offer that is given to the second-year player, unlike they would have been able to do if he was a restricted free agent.
Whether or not the Cavaliers will actually make a serious play for Graham is still in question, but they do have at least two open roster spots and both its mid-level exception and bi-annual exception to use this offseason. Since the Timberwolves are hard capped,1, Cleveland can outbid Minnesota if the wine and gold are in fact really interested and want to sign Graham.
- Hat tip to Fear The Sword’s Chris Manning. [↩]