The Point-Fourward: Little Dreams Do Come True! (Walter Tavares Finally a Cav!)

Four points I’m thinking about the Cavs…

1. Let’s take a little trip in the “Wayback-not-so-Wayback Machine”. It was 2014. Going into that last pre-LeBron 2.0 season, the Cleveland Cavaliers looked like a playoff contender, but injuries, laziness, and a complete lack of defensive intensity fueled an incredibly strange campaign that came to be known as “The Season of Huh”. That team missed the playoffs largely because its players and coaches weren’t exactly buddies off the court. On the court, they were straight annihilated in the paint on a regular basis. Most people covering the Cavs at that time agreed that a rim-protector was the primary off-season target. Before Cleveland won the 2014 Draft Lottery leading to LeBron’s return, guys like me were scouring planet Earth for possible bigman gems. In one of my first pieces for this fine website, I took a look at some international guys who had a chance of becoming useful to an NBA team. I feel in love with one. His name was(and still is) Walter Tavares.

I’m sure that David Griffin already knew who Walter “Edy” Tavares was before his block fest against the Charge, but that refresher probably didn’t hurt the bigman’s chances of landing on the Cavs’ roster. Let’s remind ourselves what I wrote about Edy in 2014.

Walter Tavares C Spain

Projected Top 40The Word:

Remember when I said Nurkic was huge? Mr. Tavares is gigantic. At almost 7’3″ and about 270 lbs, this 22 year old fits the upside potential narrative. Just recently started ballin’? Check. Is he unnaturally athletic for a man so big? Check. He has played well in limited minutes, but that’s not really the point with him.

My Questions Answered:

The fact a man this large can move laterally at all is impressive. He keeps his chest up with pretty good regularity and has good balance. His natural talent lies in the PnR game. This is an example of a guy who will likely be much more productive in the NBA than in Europe. He has zero post game, but that doesn’t even matter anymore with way the game has changed. If he can continue to develop his footwork on both sides of the ball, he can be a monster. I’m in love. Though, it must be noted that I fall in love with at least one raw bigman per draft season.

He doesn’t shoot a jumper yet, but his release is surprisingly good for a virtual beginner. He hit 71% from the stripe. That says a lot right there about his potential.

He finishes above the rim, but mostly because he is so tall. Either way, I will take it. He does rely on that size, but again, he is just learning. He actually does a decent job of boxing out on the glass. Most guys that size don’t ever need to until it’s too late to learn. He needs to use that same leg strength to work earlier on defense and not allow his man to pin him.

Cavs Relevance: Yes. Yes, and please yes.  Could be the rim protector and lob catcher that Cavs fans dream about.

NBA Future: Ok, you can say Hasheem Thabeet if you want to. He does have similar problems getting pushed around by stronger players. But, he isn’t a lottery pick and already has a better shot release than Thabeet ever dreamed of.

2. Well, what has the young Cape Verdean center done so far in the NBA? Not much. Selected by the Atlanta Hawk with the 43rd pick of the 2014 Draft, Edy has spent most of his time in the D-League rejecting opponents’ drives to the cup. One may wonder why he hasn’t gotten more run with the big league squad. I would point to Coach Budenholzer’s five-man-out-motion offense as the primary reason. “But Dwight Howard plays there!” Yeah, I don’t get that last one either. I would venture to say that Coach Bud is equally horrified by that reality. In any case, there hasn’t been a lot of room for Tavares, but I am still bullish on his potential. At 7’3″ he has shown a consistent ability to shoot 70 plus percent from the stripe. On occasion, he will use that solid stroke to net an elbow J. His shot release looks a bit like Big Z, though obviously I am not comparing their production. Still, there is room for growth in that department. Defensively, he is a monster. His weakside shading is fundamentally sound and his full-blown rotations lead to highlights. Edy is also solid at tracking a small player on switches without leaving his feet as poor Kay Felder learned in the video above. As much as I liked the idea of Larry Sanders making a triumphant return to the NBA, Tavares is certainly more ready to contribute immediately. I couldn’t be happier. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JVh3Ao849w

3. Speaking of happiness, it seems to be in short supply when discussing the Cavs right now. Admittedly, it was a tough weekend for Cavalier fans. The Boston win that served as corner turned, a switched flipped, and a new chapter started, was quickly forgotten in a haze of Hotlanta misery and South Beach hangover. I’m still firmly in the “regular season is essentially irrelevant” camp. The Cavs don’t need the number one seed. At all. It only comes into play if the Celtics make the Eastern Conference Finals and take the Cavs to seven games. That is incredibly unlikely as I don’t see the Celtics getting past the second round. In all likelihood, the Cavs are going to have to go through the Raptors and Wizards to get to the Finals. It’s going to be a tougher grind than the last two seasons, but not because they don’t have the one seed. If anything, it might be advantageous to face the Raptors earlier while Kyle Lowry is still getting his rhythm back. Most importantly, the Cavaliers seem to be relatively healthy going into the tournament.

4. Ok, fine. If seeding doesn’t matter, and regular season doesn’t matter, what does matter? For three franchises in very different stages of development, Game 82 means everything. The Hawks, Heat, and Pacers will try to claw their way into two playoff spots for what now becomes a very important turning point for the NBA. Say the Pacers end up facing the Celtics in Round One. Are you really taking a Celtics squad whose offense relies solely on a guy who is an incapable defender over a team with a legit superstar in Paul George and developing monster in Myles Turner? Lance Stephenson also gives Indiana more toughness and play-making on the perimeter with the added benefit of reducing Monta Ellis’s minutes. If the Pacers have a strong playoff run, knocking off the Celtics and pushing their second round foe to the brink or better, what do they do with Paul George? Would he want to go to a Celtic team he just destroyed? How would the Boston fanbase treat him during the series? If the Pacers don’t make it in, his departure becomes a near certainty. If they squeak through the door and make some noise at the party, things could get interesting.