After arguably the best offseason in NBA history, the Cleveland Cavaliers head into the 2014-15 season with a glaring hole in the 15-man roster: quality depth at the center position.
The Cavs dealt 7-footer Tyler Zeller to Boston in a salary dump to facilitate a max contract for LeBron James. The 26-year-old Spencer Hawes darted Cleveland for the mid-level exception with the Clippers. Anthony Bennett, hardly an interior defense specialist, was moved to Minnesota in the Kevin Love deal. Health concerns pushed likely No. 1 pick Joel Embiid down Cleveland’s draft board. And Andrew Bynum, last summer’s prized acquisition, flamed out months ago.
Cleveland’s 18-man training camp roster lists two centers, Brendan Haywood and Alex Kirk. Haywood (7'0", 260 lbs) missed all of last year with a foot injury. Kirk (7'0", 245 lbs), barring a major injury to a teammate and/or a complete 180 from summer league, will not see the floor often, if at all.
That leaves Love (6'10", 245 lbs), Tristan Thompson (6'8", 225 lbs) and Anderson Varejao (6'10", 250 lbs). Varejao is the likely starter at center, with Love at the 4. The C ...
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Article written by Patrick Duprey
Analyzing the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Depth or Lack Thereof at Center
September 30th, 2014 by Patrick Duprey Leave a reply »
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