Khalifa Diop

injuries.

Khalifa Diop has been on the injury list, too.

Yeah, well, not expecting to see

him.

And, you know, with how expensive the top four of the roster is, They brought back Thomas Bryant.

They've got – they brought in someone who their draft rights they've had for years, a Diop.

They had his draft rights for four years.

That's how you really know a team is scrambling – not scrambling, but like really exhausting their resources to add a player to position.

I think the issue here is that Jared Allen doesn't have much positional versatility.

He is a center through and through.

And when you look at some of the incumbent options off the bench, especially the one that they just brought in in Khalifa Diop, these are centers through and through.

I guess you could pair Thomas Bryant and Evan Mobley together, but that's not really a pairing that the Cavaliers... really tended to go to towards last year and for mobley in particular a player that they have tried and tried and tried to get more five minutes out of over the last couple of seasons i think that there is a clear limit there in terms of how much do you want to maximize his ability to space before out of that position and so you can get some more shooters around him at spots one through four and still try and factor in Jared Allen and how impactful and how important his minutes have been at times.

Cleveland Cavaliers last season, 52-30, fourth in the East, lost in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Added Khalifa Diop, added Mario Hazonia, added Malik Thomas from the draft,

and traded for Peyton Watson.

Cavaliers coming off their deepest playoff run of the post-LeBron era, even though it didn't end the way we wanted it to because they got swept by eventual champion New York Knicks.

Because obviously we're not asking for it.

Yeah, we're not asking for injuries.

But if, for example, Jared Allen misses two weeks, are you really running Thomas Bryant and Naquan Tomlin and Khalifa Diop out there? You don't have much of a choice.

Ain't like you got cap room to go get anybody if there's anybody to get.

Tomlin has not played thus far in preseason.

We have yet to see Khalifa Diop as well.

I think I will be releasing Khalifa Diop's season preview within the next 24 hours.

And there's no film really is the NBA variety to really give you guys outside of the summer league.

So you will probably end up with a mix of and match, uh, you know, you're, you're going to see a bunch of clips from Baskonia and beyond for, for D out.

And Thomas Bryant, James Harden does resign.

Peyton Watson, your guy, comes over from Denver, Khalifa Diop, and Mario Herzogina, or however the hell you say his last name.

James, reason for hope, reason for concern for Cleveland.

Reason for hope for me is that they have an incredible backcourt.

Donovan Mitchell agreed to terms on a four-year extension worth 273 million, while Cleveland landed Peyton Watson on a four-year, $88 million deal via Denver as part of a five-team sign and trade, as well as Mario Hezonja, who returned stateside after a six-year hiatus from the NBA on a one-year deal.

Khalifa Diop and Ernest Ude Jr. signed on a two-way deal.

Keon Ellis, Larry Nance Jr., Georges Niang, and Dean Wade all depart via free agency for the Nets, Pacers, Warriors, and Sixers respectively.

Dennis Schröder and Max Strus depart via trade for the Hornets and Clippers respectively, while guard Malik Thomas was selected in the second round, 34th overall, out of Arkansas.

He shoots from three very, very well, and he can score at every level.

I just think, uh, Vezenkov would mix in very interestingly with Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, and even, like, Khalifa Diop and Thomas Bryant.

He would bring a look that the Cavs haven't had from the b- big man position, like a dominant scorer from every level that can chip in in other ways, rebound the ball well, and also play well enough defense.

He's a super vet, uh, coming off a EuroLeague championship run.

That was no different this year.

Khalifa Diop, he showed a lot in my eyes during training camp.

I mean, we kinda know what he is and what he can do, but he did it at a high level and he dominated the paint at times.

He fi- If he gets the ball close to the basket, he is dunking the ball and anyone trying to stop him from finishing.