The Cleveland Cavaliers had a lot of young and talented players on their roster this preseason, but the cuts have begun. On Thursday, the Cavs waived forward Nick Minnerath. He rarely played and the Cavs don’t need any more small forward/power forwards on their team. On Friday, the Cavs took another step towards finding who will make the final roster spot.
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The Cavs waived forward Austin Daye, guard/forward D.J. Stephens, guard/forward Dionte Christmas, and power forward/center Jack Cooley. That means the only two players that remain are guards Jared Cunningham and Quinn Cook.
Daye played in six preseason games for Cleveland, and averaged 5.0 points and 3.5 rebounds in 11.9 minutes per game. Stephens appeared in four games, and averaged 3.3 points in 7.4 minutes per game. Christmas appeared in four games, and averaged 6.8 points and 2.5 rebounds in 19.9 minutes per game. Cooley, who made some noise with a 15 rebound game in 19 minutes of action, appeared in two preseason games, and averaged 4.5 points and 8.0 rebounds in 12.1 minutes per game
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Cunningham played in all seven games, averageing 12.4 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in 25 minutes per game. Cook averaged 3.3 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in just 12.9 minutes per game.
The Cavs roster, with the addition of Tristan Thompson, currently stands at 16 players which means that only one will make it while the other will be sent packing. At this point. Cunningham has the clear upper hand in terms of making the team, but Cook is a young and talented rookie who’s just getting started in the league. Many fear that although the Cavs didn’t see as much as they hoped to from Cook, they would be making a huge long-term mistake by letting the former Duke Blue Devil go.
Cunningham took to Twitter to show his confidence in making the team after he made the second cuts.
They know
— Jared Cunningham (@J1Flight) October 23, 2015
Stay tuned for the latest on who the Cavs will decide to keep when its all said and done.
