The Cleveland Cavaliers have found their frontcourt extremely short-handed thanks to injuries. First, they lost power forward Kevin Love at the end of January to an injury that will keep him out until at least the end of March. After that, they lost center Tristan Thompson to an injury that will keep him out until the middle of March. While a hugely pleasant surprise rose up in the amazing play of Larry Nance Jr., who stepped in as the new starting center while Thompson is out, scoring double-digits in five straight games, with two double-doubles in a row – they need depth help.
Here is a look at three centers that the Cavaliers are looking at when it comes to signing centers to 10-day contracts to help out until Thompson returns from injury.
Willie Reed
Willie Reed is a former Detroit Pistons center that also had stints playing for the Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat and Brooklyn Nets. He has the experience necessary to fill in as a bench role player, backing up Larry Nance Jr. for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He would serve as the defensive presence that the Cavs have needed all season long. This could be a nice move, but there are downfalls when it comes to signing Willie Reed.
However, this signing could come with some serious problems. Reed is serving a six-game suspension after an arrest for domestic violence.
This means that the first six days of the 10-day contract will be spent suspended, so what is the use of signing a player for four days?
Andrew Bogut
A safer choice would be for the Cleveland Cavaliers to reach out to Andrew Bogut with a 10-day free agent contract. Bogut has not played well this season, only averaging 1.5 points and 3.3 rebounds this season.
Of course, the Cavs might have buyer’s remorse from last season when they signed Bogut to a deal and he ended up breaking his leg less than a minute into his first game with Cleveland. The Cavs responded by waiving him.
The Los Angeles Lakers signed him, but they ended up waiving him. The fact that he was with the Lakers means that he has a familiarity with the new Lakers that the team traded for.
The fact that Bogut is a veteran and won’t be expected to play a lot of minutes makes him a good option.
Amida Brimah
The better of the three players for the Cleveland Cavaliers center options for 10-day contracts is Amida Brimah. He has averaged 6.4 points, seven rebounds and 2.7 blocks this season in the G-League – making him the perfect defensive weapon the team needs. This is also someone that the Cavs could look at for the future, a 2017 undrafted free agent who has played for the San Antonio Spurs G-League affiliate, the Austin Spurs. He is still playing great defense and could be a huge prospect for the Cavs to look at.