Cavs make SNEAKY good signing

The Cavs are still looking to round out their roster ahead of the season. Today they got one step closer with signing another player. I have all the details and everything you need to know about the newest Cavalier in this video. Before I dive into who the Cavs signed and all the details about him, I first want to shout out the sponsor of this video, Calsheet. Now, on Calsheet you're trading directly against other users, not the house like traditional sportsbooks. You're buying yes or no contracts on the outcome of events across sports, politics, or even the weather. If you are interested in trying out Calsheet, use the link in the description to trade $25 with code DigestNFL or DigestNBA and get $25 added to your account instantly. Now, let's get into it. The Cavs signed Khalifa Giap, a 6'11 center from Senegal. He was the 39th overall pick in the draft in 2022. The Cavs drafted him. Since the Cavs drafted him though, he's been playing overseas in Spain in the EuroLeague. He hasn't played a single game yet in the NBA. He's been playing for Saskia Baskonia in the EuroLeague in Spain. Last year, he started 38 games for the squad and he averaged 3.8 points per game, 4.2 rebounds, a little under a block per game on 67% shooting. Obviously, those numbers basically averaging 4 and 4 as a spot starter. The one thing that does stand out though is the 67% shooting from the field. Now, all of Giap's shot selection, I took a look at some of his films, some of his highlights that are online and all his shots are dunks, layups. Everything's coming at the rim. He took single digit, three pointers over three seasons playing for Spain. So he's not a guy who can stretch the floor or space the floor at all. He's definitely a center, a guy who lives in the paint and he's just going to do his work down there. He's great in the pick and roll. He's a great screen setter, but only rolling. He can't pick or pop, anything like that. He's rolling to the rim, looking for a lob or looking for a mismatch. Just go up real quick with a little baby hook. But Giap, he's an enforcer. He brings an energy to the game where it's kind of missing on the Cavs right now. You have Jared Allen and Evan Mobley, but other than that, the Cavs really are lacking some depth at the center position. So the Cavs take a flyer on Giap. They bring him in. And the worst that happens is he plays on for the Cleveland Charge and the G League for the season or signs a two-way. There's really, it's not, there's not a lot of risk involved with this move. He has a lot of upside. He's super athletic. He's bouncy. He blocks some shots, but like I said, the numbers offensively are not blowing you out of the water. He's not scoring anywhere outside the paint. Just pick, picking and rolling. And with James Harden, he could be, you know, an asset that could come off the bench. Maybe if Jared Allen or Evan Mobley gets in foul trouble to maybe get some spot minutes at the end of a quarter. But realistically, I don't see Khalifa Giap cracking the rotation at all. I think he's just going to ride the bench, play in the G League, and the Cavs will just try and develop him moving forward to see maybe if he keeps on developing, that'll crack the rotation. Now, he's already 24 years old and even playing overseas in EuroLeague, he didn't really develop all that much. Like I said, he doesn't have an outside perimeter shot. He's not spacing the floor at all. He's just an athletic enforcer. If I had to compare him to somebody in the league, maybe today or recently in past years, I think he's Bismack Biambo is a name that comes to mind. Another name that comes to mind is Stephen Adams, a much less physical and not as much of the stature that Stephen Adams has since he's just a brick wall. Giap doesn't have that type of build. He's not that type of player. He's lanky. He's got a long wingspan. He's athletic. He's bouncy. He can just be a two-way big center. He has that enforcer mentality to his game. He can set ball screens. He can roll. He can finish the hoop. He can finish layups. He can block shots and add some length to our bench because right now our bench is really small. We don't have a backup center really because Jared Allen and Mobley are both going to start like they had been last season. And we don't have a center to bring off the bench besides Thomas Bryant. But when you think about it, is Thomas Bryant really a true center? He shoots more threes than he does inside the paint. And it's not like he knocks them down in a high clip. So Khalifa Giap is possibly a player who can come off the bench and fill in for Mobley and Allen if we ever need it. Now, if we do see Giap this upcoming season, in my opinion, something has gone horribly wrong, whether it's injuries or we have for some reason, Jared Allen or Mobley, there's something wrong with the rotation. That's when we would see Giap come in and start playing. But this is a guy who's just going to be between the G-league, maybe a two-way contract. He's really just going to ride the bench for us. I don't see him making an immediate impact this season, but the Cavs, they have hopes. They can try and develop him. He maybe wasn't developing at the rate they wanted him in Europe, the way they saw it. Maybe they can bring him back here to the States, into the NBA and try and develop him even more. Maybe work on that outside shot, see if he can develop into a true bench player, a guy who can come off the bench for Jared Allen and fill in. Because the Cavs, we really missed that type of player last year. We missed a backup center. It was really Jared Allen and Evan Mobley, and those guys would get tired sometimes. And we saw that in the playoffs when the other teams went on runs and we didn't have the defense or the paint presence to get stops. Jared Allen, Evan Mobley, those are only two true bigs that we have that we actually play a lot. So we just need some center depth, and this just provides a little bit of that. Now, the real reason that we brought in Giap and why we signed him was financial reasons. Kobe Altman knew what he was doing with this. The Cavs knew they wanted to sign one more player after we signed Peyton Watson. And we needed to sign somebody who wasn't going to cost a lot of money. And Khalifa Giap does just that. He is such a low risk signing. Nobody else is competing for Giap. Nobody else wants to sign this guy. The Cavs have the rights to him since they drafted him. There's no competition. There's no bidding war going on here for Giap. Signing Giap to his contract will give us more wiggle room underneath that second apron to maybe make some more moves, maybe move some stuff around so we're spending less money and just make that gap bigger between us and that second apron limit. Now, this contract, we're not going to be paying Giap a lot of money. And sure, we could have gone out and signed somebody still available who maybe would have a better impact, a larger impact for this upcoming season. Bruce Brown's still out there. Kevin Love, to name a few players. But those guys would have cost too much money signing a veteran like Love or Bruce Brown. Giap, low risk signing, just has so much room to develop as a young 24-year-old 6'11 center. And he's got room to grow. So the Cavs are just hoping to bring him in and develop him even more. But like I said, the biggest reason for this, Kobe Altman knows what he's doing. It's a signing to just keep us under that second apron, fill up another roster spot. Maybe we can put him on the G League team with the charge and we can bring in somebody else. We'll see what happens. He'll make that decision as the season gets underway. But right now, our roster is pretty much set going into the regular season. Harden still has some negotiations going on. He has to get officially signed. But really, other than that, this roster is set. The Cavs brought in Peyton Watson. That was the biggest move that we made. And we're trying to go win a championship with this team that you're looking up online. You're looking at the Cavs roster. That's the team that we're going to be going into this NBA season with. So Kobe Altman, Kenny Atkinson, think it's enough. I'm not sure. The East is so competitive now. But we'll have to see these guys gel. I mean, if you think about it, we brought in James Harden halfway through last season. He only got to play a couple of months and then the playoffs with this current Cavs team. So I'm looking forward to seeing them gel together, play even more moving forward into this next season. So I'm looking forward to see what Giob can bring to the table. If he's able to develop more in the G-League, that's great. And maybe he can play some spot minutes for us this upcoming season. But I highly doubt it. Before I end the video, I want to shout out our sponsor one more time, Kalshi. If you are interested in trying out Kalshi, use the link in the description. Trade $25 with code DigestNBA or DigestNFL. NFL season is about to get underway in less than a week. Go Brownies. And get $25 added to your account instantly. And lastly, stay up to date with any more moves that Cavs make as we head into the regular season. And to stay up to date with the team once the regular season starts, make sure to subscribe to Cavs Digest. And as always, go Cavs.