Per RealGM’s Keith Smith, the Cleveland Cavaliers have waived forward Bonzie Colson, guard Kobi Simmons and forward-center Emanuel Terry, whittling their regular season roster down to the maximum of 15 players. Point guard Isaiah Taylor will remain on the team despite reports that he’ll be out for a month as he recovers from a leg injury.
Guard John Holland and forward Billy Preston remain on the team as two-way signings that will spend the majority of the season with the Canton Charge, the NBA G-League affiliate.
Although there are no surprising names in the 15 players remaining on the roster, there was opportunity for Colson, Simmons, and Terry to make the Cavaliers make some tough decisions with Taylor signing a non-guaranteed one-year deal to join Cleveland in August.
The prospects were less bright for Terry, who only had one game and a few days in training camp to make an impression on Cleveland’s coaching staff after being signed to a deal on Thursday. He did well in his lone preseason appearance, showing solid mobility and applying some defensive pressure against the Detroit Pistons. He finished the game with two points, two rebounds and a steal in six minutes of action.
Simmons, Taylor’s direct competition for the third point guard spot, was underwhelming. Though neither Taylor nor Simmons impressed in the Cavaliers preseason debut, Taylor had a strong performance in Cleveland’s second game and showed himself to be more capable as a playmaker than Simmons.
Colson had a decent preseason, better than Simmons, but simply wasn’t as effective as Taylor. A star player at Notre Dame who was supposed to play for the Cavaliers in the Summer League, Colson doesn’t look like a player who will excel at any one area in the NBA and he’s not an impressive athlete but he does look as if he could fit a stretch-four role in the NBA.
It would be unsurprising to see each of Simmons, Colson, and Terry join the Charge next season.
