Cavs: 3 reasons why losing Matthew Dellavedova will hurt the team

The Cavs don’t appear to be interested in bringing back Matthew Dellavedova.

Matthew Dellavedova won’t be back with the Cavs for the 2021-2022 season. Olgun Uluc of ESPN tweeted this out on Thursday, indicating that Dellavedova would be signing with his home countries’ Melbourne United of the Australian National Basketball League.

The veteran point guard was fundamental in the team’s 2016 NBA Championship win, playing strong defense and providing solid energy off the bench. He was a great backup bunch for Kyrie Irving, and Dellavedova made some real waves during his playoff win to the championship.

He made the decision to leave the Cavaliers after winning a title and signed a massive deal with the Milwaukee Bucks, but eventually lost his starting gig to Malcolm Brogdon. Injuries started mounting and eventually, Dellavedova left the Bucks and rejoined the Cavs in 2018 and has been with them for the last three years; albeit while he battled injuries.

Losing Matthew Dellavedova will hurt the Cavs in three ways

The Cavs lose depth at guard

I genuinely believe that the Cavs are going to trade away several guards this offseason, and having kept Matthew Dellavedova would have given the Cavaliers some flexibility in making these moves. Without him on the roster, the Cavs also have no real backup point guard as well. Sure, this kind of points to them drafting a guard, but even if they did, who’s to say he wouldn’t a been a solid end of the bench kinda player?

Inexpensive player affords flexibility

It’s unlikely Dellavedova would’ve demanded a lot of money, and considering his history with the Cavaliers, it makes sense that the Australian could have re-signed. With the Cavs so over the cap and needing a dramatic overhaul of their roster, having a guy on an expensive, multi-year deal, would’ve given the Cavs some insurance to maneuver for bigger contracted guys.

When healthy, Dellavedova was a great defensive antagonist

Even if his shooting was inconsistent lately due to injury, what Dellavedova always did well was antagonize people. Yes, there were times he got beat, and other times he just simply got outmatched due to size. Yet, Dellavedova was always there to get in your face and give you a hard time. That’s something he would’ve been able to provide no matter how good or bad his shooting night was.