The Cleveland Cavaliers should want an 8 team summer league

The Cleveland Cavaliers would be wise to push for an eight-team summer league.

The Cleveland Cavaliers were left at home as the NBA agreed to terms on a proposal that would see the NBA season restart at the end of July. The Cavs join the other bottom of the barrel teams in Charlotte, Chicago, New York, Detroit, Atlanta, Minnesota, and the Golden State Warriors, all eight teams were hoping at finishing out some of the regular season at the very least before the announcement came down this past week.

The Cavs let it be known that they’re disappointed but understood the decision why.

"While we are disappointed that the announced return to play proposal excludes the Cleveland Cavaliers, we understand all of the unprecedented factors that contributed to this outcome and we accept the hard decisions Commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA’s Board of Governors had to make. We also respect the exhaustive and life-altering measures that were considered as a result of COVID-19, but as a team, we greatly desired to be a part of the season’s resumption.We were hopeful to be granted the opportunity to continue the 2019-20 season and join our counterparts in Orlando to further the development of our young team in meaningful basketball games, and also feed off the positive momentum we had built prior to the league shutdown on March 11. Collectively, our players want to compete at the highest level and we will unquestionably use this as added motivation as we continue working towards a sustainable culture of winning.Although the time away from our incredible fanbase in Cleveland and across Northeast Ohio is unfortunate, we look forward to finding ways to continue utilizing our platform and available resources to reach out in our community to help affect change and take sustainable action in the fight against racial injustice. We are looking forward to returning to the court for the 2020-21 NBA season."

Part of the reason why the team was hoping for a return, despite having the worst record in the Eastern Conference and virtually no hope of a playoff birth was so the team could continue to gel with one another. The team made a big move obtaining perennial All-Star Andre Drummond and the team was hopeful they’d get to see more of him in the starting lineup. They were also hoping to see how he’d fit with Tristan Thompson.

There’s also the three young players, Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, and Kevin Porter Jr. who the team is still figuring out what they have in each player. With names like Obi Toppin and LaMelo Ball both being associated with the Cavs, figuring out if one of the three guards on your team is part of the future is mandatory.

So what do you do?

Well, that takes us to the idea of an NBA Summer League tournament. It happens every year but won’t happen this year due to the obvious; the league will still be playing. Usually, it’s for rookies, fringe veterans still young enough to qualify and undrafted hopefuls trying to impress coaches and scouts. There’s no real reward for winning the league and it’s usually just a marketing ploy by the NBA to highlight the most vaunted prospects.

Yet in 2020, it could be exactly what the league needs. Allowing the eight teams to play 8 or so games against one another before entering into a shortened four-team playoff could have a lot of added effects. The teams would be able to work on their conditioning, would be able to create chemistry, and get to know one another better, while clubs could do a better job of assessing future contract offers.

Sure you’d need to reduplicate the measures being implemented in Orlando, but it’s possible. Heck, you could even reward the winning team with a 31st pick in the first round, or a second-round compensation for incentive, as long as a team bonus of a million or so dollars to be split among the players.

It’s a novel idea in an unprecedented time. Considering the clubs would be off for nine months otherwise, it makes sense to consider this.