What we learned from Cavs Summer League, and who’s poised to earn real rotation minutes: Wine and Gold Talk podcast

Takeaways:

• Jaylon Tyson and Nae’Qwan Tomlin Emerged as Summer League Standouts: Jaylon Tyson and Nae’Qwan Tomlin were identified as clear standouts. Tyson “looked like he was too good for summer league at times,” and Tomlin performed at a level that could land him on an all-tournament team. Both players demonstrated significant development and potential to earn rotation minutes under new head coach Kenny Atkinson.
• Craig Porter Jr.’s Summer League Cut Short by Injury: Craig Porter Jr. suffered a hamstring injury in the first game, leading to a precautionary shutdown. This prevented him from showcasing his development and mental growth after recognizing he needed to do more to maintain his place in the NBA.
• Jaylon Tyson’s Shooting Mechanics Show Significant Improvement: Jaylon Tyson’s jumper is “so much more smooth” with a faster release compared to his rookie season. This addressed a key weakness, and Tyson showed no negative effects from these technical changes.
• Tyson Took on Expanded Playmaking Responsibilities: With Craig Porter Jr.’s injury, Jaylon Tyson stepped into an expanded playmaking role, leading all second-year players in “points scored, assisted or otherwise created as a ball handler.” This demonstrated his versatility and adaptability.
• Nae’Qwan Tomlin Used in an Evan Mobley-Like Role: Nae’Qwan Tomlin was utilized in a system similar to how Evan Mobley is used, demonstrating surprising passing ability and the potential to fit into the Cavaliers’ system that values versatile big men.
• Tyrese Proctor Exceeded Expectations as a Second-Round Pick: Tyrese Proctor, the 49th overall pick, “didn’t look like the 49th pick.” He scored 35 points in his Summer League finale and demonstrated playmaking ability, shooting touch, and defensive intensity.
• Cavaliers May Convert Nae’Qwan Tomlin’s Two-Way Contract: The Cavaliers might wait until the trade deadline to convert Tomlin to a standard NBA contract if he performs well, allowing them to retain his Bird rights.
• Tristan Enaruna Being Considered for Third Two-Way Contract: Former Cleveland State player Tristan Enaruna is being considered for the Cavaliers’ third two-way contract spot, noted for his “NBA player” skill set, including size, length, athleticism, and three-point shooting.
• Dean Wade Trade Rumors Continue to Circulate: Discussions continue about potentially trading Dean Wade, which would create additional opportunities for players like Nae’Qwan Tomlin in the rotation.
• Cavaliers’ Financial Considerations Will Impact Roster Construction: The Cavaliers’ long-term financial challenges will force difficult decisions, making the evaluation of developmental players on minimum or two-way contracts increasingly important.

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Transcript

NOTE: This transcript was generated by artificial intelligence and could contain misspellings and errors.

Ethan Sands: What up, Cavs Nation? I’m your host, Ethan Sands, and I’m back with another episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast. Joining me today, you know him, you love him. Chris Fedor, cleveland.com’s Cavs beat reporter. And if you weren’t already aware, the Cavs summer league has come to an end this weekend with a loss to the Golden State warriors on Saturday. It was the finale for the Cleveland Cavaliers as they did not make it to the post season or the championship for the summer league. So we’re going to do a little bit of a recap here to tell you guys what we learned, what we heard and what we saw surrounding the Cavs over this last couple of weeks, especially in Vegas, where Chris was and got some insider information. So, Chris, let’s start with you. What was your biggest takeaway from summer league this year? Who stood out all of those kinds of things?

Chris Fedor: I think the easy two, Ethan, are Jaylon Tyson and Nae’Qwan Tomlin. You know, going in the summer league, there was a lot of conversation about four different players, right? It was Craig Porter Jr. Nae’Qwan Tomlin, Jaylon Tyson, and then second round pick Tyrese Proctor. Those were the guys that were going to lead the team. They were going to be the headliners in Vegas and three of them were, you know, Craig Porter Jr. He hurt his hamstring in the first game of summer league and the Cavs decided to shut him down. They didn’t want to mess with it. Hamstrings aren’t anything to mess with. So he was obviously frustrated because he couldn’t be a part of summer league the way that he wanted to. He was hoping to take advantage of the opportunity and kind of use it into a springboard, but it didn’t happen that way for him. That just opened up more of an opportunity, though, for Jaylon Tyson, Nae’Qwan Tomlin and Tyrese Proctor. And I think, you know, for all the guys that were there for the Cavs, I think if you ask the Cavs, those guys performed the way that the Cavs were hoping. Jaylon Tyson looked like he was too good for summer league at times. Nae’Qwan Tomlin looked like one of the best players in Vegas, somebody who is going to land on one of the all tournament teams. And, and I think the big thing is, you know, there are opportunities potentially, and I say potentially because we just don’t know yet exactly how Kenny Atkinson’s going to work through this, but we do know that he’s going to rely on his depth. We do know that he’s going to trust his bench. We do know that he likes to experiment throughout the course of the regular season and see who’s ready for bigger situations. So given the way that Kenny Atkinson handles things and it’s different than JB Bickerstaff a couple years ago, there’s consideration here for the Cavs to get minutes for both Jaylon Tyson and Nae’Qwan Tomlinson. And I think there’s consideration from the Cavs to see if Tyrese Proctor is going to be ready for NBA minutes. And it’s not going to be an every night thing. It’s not going to be 1500 minutes or something like that. It’s not to say that Tyrese Proctor won’t spend time in the G League or Nae’Qwan Tomlin won’t spend time in the G League, but the Cavs are excited about these guys. They were excited about them before they went to Vegas and they saw the things from them that they were hoping to see from all of them. And I think Jaylon Tyson has a real opportunity here in year two. He’s a former first round pick, number 20 overall. Considering some of the changes that have been made throughout the course of this organization and the Darius Garland injury causing Donovan Mitchell to shift over his position and things along those lines, there’s a real opportunity for Jaylon Tyson, who told me in Vegas I am starving for an every night rotation spot. I am doing everything that I’ve been asked to do. He had a conversation with Kobe Altman and Kenny Atkinson about two weeks after the playoffs ended and they had a heart to heart conversation about the things that he had to do this off season to earn a spot in the rotation. And from everybody that I talked to in Las Vegas, Jaylon has been taking that to heart and he’s doing everything behind the scenes to try and make that his reality. And on top of that, you know, there’s a lot of conversations that I had with a bunch of different people in Vegas about the Cavs still looking at the possibility of trading Dean Wade. If it happens all of a sudden, that’s one less player at the 3, 4, 5 position. More the 4, 5 position. I would say just based on how Kenny Atkinson used Dean Wade last year, that’s one less player for Nae’Qwan Tomlin to potentially have to compete for playing time with. So I, I think there are opportunities for those four guys that, that went to summer league looking to be the headliners in Vegas. It’s just unfortunate from Craig Porter Jr. Standpoint that he didn’t get to capitalize on it the same way that the other three did.

Ethan Sands: I think those are all great points and I want to kind of go brick by brick on this. And obviously the big three that we knew coming into this one that we’re going to try have the biggest impact. Craig Porter Jr. Jaylon Tyson and Nae’Qwan Tomlin. I want to get to Tyrese Proctor a little bit later because I feel that we have to get more in depth on breaking down his game as we got to see it at a semi NBA level caliber in Vegas. But Craig Porter Jr. As you mentioned, we talked to him before the Cavs went to Vegas. This was a guy that didn’t take this as a punishment. He took this as he needed to show something. Especially after Terry Pluto, columnist of cleveland.com wrote that a source told him that there were some inklings about Craig Porter Jr’s work ethic not being as high as they used to be or as they were. Because obviously as an undrafted free agent, he had to do something to get on the Cavs radar, right? He had to do something to earn an NBA standard contract. But he got a little bit complacent in that and he had to look himself in the mirror mentally and recognize that he needed to do more to not only live out the dream of being an NBA player, but to stay in the NBA as a whole. Chris and Craig Porter Jr. Having that opportunity to taken away from him, it hurt to watch because you know how badly he wanted to be out there. It hurt to watch because you understand that he was taking a growth step that you can’t teach, right? You have to literally look inside yourself and have some of these conversations. And we’ve talked about this on this podcast as well. Evan Mobley has to have one of those conversations, have that assertiveness coming into the season. Donovan Mitchell had to go to a mental coach to be able to work through some of the conversations within himself to help him find out what he wanted. So for Craig Porter Jr. To have these thoughts, have this mental change and then not be able to showcase it, it hurt as just a fan of the game, being able to watch or not watch in this instance. Then we get to Jaylon Tyson and I remember Chris, when Jaylon Tyson got drafted and he was already talking about rotation minutes and everybody in his introductory PRAC conference was like, kid, slow down. This is a team that just went to the Eastern semifinals. Slow your roll. And I think that was indicative of how he played in his rookie season. Right? One of the Things that I had mentioned about wanting to see in Tyson’s game was him not playing at 100 miles per hour all the time he’s on the floor, right? And I think it was important for me to see Jaylon Tyson not only have the ball in his hands, and when having the ball in his hands in Vegas this past couple of weeks, slowing down, but even just seeing the mental portion kind of slow him down, it never felt like Jaylon Tyson was in a rush. He was getting to his spots, he was attacking mismatches, he was getting into the lane, he was hitting shots without any hesitation. Right? And, Chris, that’s the other portion of it with Jaylon Tyson. And we’ve seen him work so hard on that jump shot, work so hard to get his release to be quicker, work so hard to not have any dip in his shot when he’s in the corner and he catches it up high, right? And I think we saw different glimpses of that in this summer league appearance. And I think, obviously, as you mentioned, he was too good at different points for summer league. And I don’t know if he necessarily got shut down, whether he had a slight injury that they were taking precautions with. Maybe, you know, a little bit more on that for him. When it comes to Jaylon Tyson.

Chris Fedor: They saw what they needed to see from Jaylon Tyson, and it just didn’t make sense to push it any further. He did everything that they asked him to do, and he was one of the stars in Vegas, and they didn’t want to push it any further. They said, okay, good job while you were out here. Um, he also took on some more playmaking responsibilities because Craig Porter Jr. That’s something that we talked about going into summer league. If. If a team doesn’t have a competent point guard at summer league, it can look really, really bad, Ethan. It can look like sloppy basketball, no organization whatsoever, turnovers, difficult running offense. It just. We see it all the time in Vegas. And when Craig Porter Jr. Went out in. In the first half of the first game, I was like, oh, man. Oh, boy. What’s that going to mean for Nae’Qwan Tomlin? What’s that going to mean for Tyrese Proctor? What’s that going to mean for Jaylon Tyson? Like, are the Cavs still going to be able to function on the offensive end of the floor? And a big part of that was Jaylon Tyson taking those playmaking responsibilities. And he’ll be the first one to say that he wasn’t perfect and he made some mistakes and he had some costly Turnovers, especially at the end of that, come from behind win for Indiana. That was aided by the way that the Cavs played down the stretch and the way that they made mistakes down the stretch. But it was a good learning experience for somebody like Jaylon, and it showed his adaptability. It showed his versatility as well. He knows that when he gets to the Cavs, he’s not going to have a ton of playmaking responsibility. He knows that he’s not going to have the ball in his hands and he’s not going to be asked to create offense off the dribble over and over and over again. But the more things that you can do, the more roles that you can potentially fill, the better chance you’re going to have to get those consistent opportunities to get those minutes that you’re starving for. So he stepped into that role for Craig Porter Jr and then Tyrese Proctor stepped into that role, too, and he showed some of his playmaking ability, and it was good for those guys to kind of get that experience. But. But Jaylon, he was healthy. He was fine. He was happy with the way that he played. The Cavs were happy with the way that he played, too, and they saw enough, so they decided not to push it any further. And that’s what you want for a guy who was a first round pick last year, for a guy who got NBA minutes last year, 450 of them, not as many as he wanted, not as many as most first round picks in his class, but he got NBA minutes. For a guy like him, who did get NBA minutes, who did come to Vegas as an experienced guy who played in last year’s summer league, you wanted him to look the way that he did. And if he didn’t look that way and if he played a little bit worse than that, I would say that fans probably would have been disappointed, and the Cavs probably would have been disappointed, and Kenny Atkinson probably would have been disappointed. But there was no reason for that because, like I said, he was one of the best players in terms of any kind of stat that you want to look at. He was one of the most impactful players in Vegas during the games that he played. And that’s exact. And it doesn’t mean that you overreact and you start to say, hey, Jaylon Tyson’s going to be in the starting lineup for the, the. The Cavs, who are going in as one of the favorites in the Eastern Conference. No, you’re not going to sit here and say, well, he’s going to be the sixth man in the Cavs rotation of his seventh bit, we always keep this in perspective, but you can still praise a guy for going out to Vegas and looking the way that based on who he is, based on his pedigree, based on his experience, you can still praise a guy for going out and looking the way that Jaylon Tyson did. And I give him all the credit in the world because from everything that I heard in Vegas, what he did at summer league has just been a carryover to what he’s been doing off the court throughout the course of this summer. Everybody inside the organization will say that Jaylon Tyson has been one of the hardest workers that the Cavs have had on this roster throughout the course of this summer. It is clear that he has gotten that message from, from the staff and from the organization of the things that he needs to do to get a semi nightly rotation spot.

Ethan Sands: We’ve been able to witness that, right, Chris? We mentioned on a previous podcast about how we were in Cleveland clinic courts for multiple hours and the one ball dribbling in the gym while we were in the media room working was Jaylon Tyson. He was still out there getting work in, getting shots up, even if it was without the trainers getting work in by himself. So the work ethic has always been there for Jaylon Tyson. He’s, and he’s mentioned before, like wanting to sleep in the gym if allowed because of how much he enjoys being there, how much he enjoys putting the work in. But the other portion of this, which you mentioned in a conversation that Jaylon Tyson had with Spencer Davies of Cavs on that side in Vegas, was that Jaylon Tyson told, was told by the front office, was told by the organization that he was going to have to step up this year. Not necessarily implying that it’s because of Darius Garland, not necessarily implying that it’s because of Dean Wade, not necessarily implying any of these things, but simply that he was going to have to step up, meaning his role would have to change this coming season. And Chris, we talked about it before they went to summer league, the potential for Jaylon Tyson to be in this backup point guard battle coming into training camp because of his responsibilities at Cal with Mark Manson, who said that he was going to come in his first year and compete for rotation minutes from the jump, right? And then we also talk about the ability for him to just take over offensive possessions, bring the ball up the floor, take the ball out of Donovan Mitchell’s hands and help him get into a role that he’s more comfortable in. And as we continue this conversation with Darius Garland being sidelined for likely the first couple of weeks, maybe the first month of the season. Now you have Craig Porter Jr, Tyrese Proctor, Lonzo Ball and Jaylon Tyson all in this conversation fighting for the starting point guard and backup point guard minutes. So I think it’s interesting that we got to see Jaylon Tyson kind of revert back to his old habits of playing the point guard and having the ball in his hands, especially when Craig Porter Jr. Went down.

Chris Fedor: Their stats are whatever, especially when you’re talking about summer league. But I wanted to read this stat to you. These are all the leaders in points scored, assisted or otherwise created as a ball handler on picks, isolations or post ups. And this goes based on what the guys did in summer league. And it goes based on draft class. Class of all the second year guys, nobody created more points for their team than Jaylen Ty. He was the second year guy, leader in points created per game. And Teren Shannon Jr. Was in summer league. Now, okay, A.J. mitchell of the Oklahoma City Thunder, who, you know, got some playing time throughout the course of the year for the Thunder, he was in Vegas as well. So you’re talking about all these second year guys, some former first round picks, some former second round picks. No one finished higher in that category than Jaylon Tyson. So he did show those playmaking capabilities. But to me, the biggest takeaway that I had from Jaylon, his jumper is so much more smooth, his release is so much faster. And he knew that and the Cavs knew that it was too slow. Last year, if he was in a catch and shoot situation, that half second, that was going to be the difference between an uncontested three point shot in rhythm and a contested three point shot. And he has really worked throughout the course of this off season on speeding up that release, making it more smooth, making it more consistent, making it more repeatable as well. And if you just watch him shoot the ball as a rookie and you watch him shoot the ball in Vegas at summer league, you could see the difference. It was night and day different, and he deserves all the credit in the world for, for working on that. And sometimes when you have a guy that’s going through those mechanical changes, you see negative effects of that. First, they have to take a step back, they have to get comfortable with it. Their percentages are probably going to dip. They’re probably going to go through growing pains when it comes to trying to figure out how to work through all the different things with those changes. But for him, he was able to test that in a game environment, albeit summer league, but in a game competitive environment against real defenders that were closing out to his shot, not coaches at Cleveland Clinic courts holding up one of those shop blocking mechanisms or flying by and Jaylon knowing that they’re not there to block his shot like in a real game situation. He got to test those new mechanics and that new shooting form and it looked good. It held up really, really well for him. And I think that’s a positive sign because that’s going to give him more confidence and that’s going to give him more trust in the work that he has done behind the scenes and seeing the rewards of that the way that he did in Vegas, that is a big deal for, for somebody like Jaylon, like having his, his release sped up and having a more reliable, potentially more reliable perimeter jumper, that’s, that’s certainly going to appeal to this coaching staff and it’s going to allow him to, to get more consistent playing time.

Ethan Sands: The only thing that I’ll add to that, Chris, because I think you said it well, is the fact that I think it helped Jaylon that he wasn’t just being used as a catch and shooter. He wasn’t standing in the corner waiting for his shot to come to him. He was able to create for himself and use the off the dribble moves that he’s worked on and honed on and then added the jumper into to just get back to his old feel. And I think that’s important for Jaylon going into this regular season and not reverting to, back to the, the kind of mechanical shot that he had in his first year because of the role that he had. So I think Kenny Atkinson is going to be able to use what he saw and what we’ve seen and try and translate that into Jaylon Tyson’s role for this coming season, whatever that may be. But I want to get into Nae’Qwan Tomlin because I think out of everybody, I think he took the biggest step for forward when it comes to the Cavs summer league. Obviously we knew a little bit about him after last season when the Cavs signed him to a two year, two way contract, which now he’s in his final season of before being a restricted free agent after the 2025, 2026 season. I think Nae’Qwan Tomlin has shown not only his length on the defensive end, but his versatility, his lengthiness of being able to shoot from the outside, make perimeter jump shots, get to the lane dribble, put the ball on the floor and get past his defender while also being a lob threat. I think he’s a guy and I’ve mentioned this before on different podcasts, but he is a guy that I feel like would fit seamlessly into what the Cavs are trying to do and the lineups that they’re trying to construct. Especially when we’re talking about a five out lineup when you have big men that are able to spread the floor and still be able to facilitate. Because one of the things and we talked about Jaylon Tyson’s passing but Nae’Qwan Tomlin’s passing like it was so surprising to see a big man of his caliber doing no look dimes, passing heads, kicking heads, transition dimes that were just so pretty to watch. And then also in the last game of summer league we got to see him kind of orchestrate the offense in some capacity. But when Tyrese Proctor, Jaylon Tyson and Craig Porter Jr. Were all in street cloaks, I thought it was awesome to see Nae’Qwan Tomlin have to try and go through that. And as you mentioned Chris, it can get wonky when it comes to an offense in summer league not having a true point guard. And although Nae’Qwan Tomlin struggled in the first three quarters when it comes to shooting and all these things in the fourth quarter he was able to take over. Thirteen of his 17 points came in the fourth quarter. The lead was almost at 20 points at one point in the fourth quarter and he was able to diminish that to just six. Even though they weren’t able to pull out the victory, it just felt like Nae’Qwan Tomlin showed a lot of different things. And Chris, when we’re talking about his contract, I don’t know what the Cavs decision is going to be because of the roster construction, the how many people they already have needing to go go and find one more player to be on the 14 man roster. I do not think that they give Nae’Qwan Tomlin a standard NBA contract just yet. I think that if they wait until the trade deadline where they still have a 15th man roster spot available, then they convert him to an NBA standard contract so that they can keep his Bird rights as well, maybe even a multi year deal at that point because of what we talked about him being a restricted free agent after this season. What do you think?

Chris Fedor: Well, first of all, the Cavs are notorious for, you know, these four year semi guaranteed deals. They did it with Lamar Stevens, they did it with Dean Wade, they did it with Sam Merll, they did it with Craig Porter Jr. It’s essentially the Brock Aller special. Brock Aller used to be like the, the, the main guy in terms of strategic plan planning and trying to navigate the salary cap. And Brock was looked at as, as maybe one of the best salary cap gurus in the entire NBA. He left the organization a couple of years ago. He went to the New York Knicks. But somebody who has taken over for him is John Nichols and he has kind of adapted that same mentality. And the Cavs still give out these kinds of contracts. So I definitely think, you know, depending how Nae’Qwancontinues to progress can, depending on how he plays when he’s in the G League or if he does get opportunities for meaningful minutes in the NBA, I definitely think he’s somebody that the Cavs would consider doing that too. They do like him. They do believe in him. They are excited about his development behind the scenes. I definitely think we have to keep it in perspective though. This is somebody who’s on a two way contract. The Cavs have like 10 or 11 guys that are higher than him in the pecking order when you’re talking about this depth chart. So getting consistent playing time in the NBA is going to be really difficult for him. And there’s a reason why he’s on a two way contract because he still is a little bit raw. He is somebody who needs to develop behind the scenes, but if he continues down this path. Path. And look, a lot of people in, in Vegas were talking about him like, who is this guy? Like, oh my gosh, he is one of the best players here in Vegas and I would not be surprised if, you know, there were people that were watching him throughout the course of summer league saying to themselves, maybe possibly down the road, an NBA guy because he does have the versatility, he is really competitive, he plays hard, he. He has a nose for the basketball when it comes to rebounding. I talked to Omar Cook, the Cavs assistant coach who was the, the summer Cavs head coach, and he said that Nae’Qwanfalls a little bit too much. And they’ve been working on that not being as handsy. But, but I think you bring up a really good point, Ethan, in terms of like him initiating offense at times. They, they used him like Evan Mobley. That was the role that they looked at in Vegas. When you take what the Cavs do from a system standpoint, don’t get carried away now because I brought up Evan Mobley, what the Cavs do from a system standpoint and how they function on offense and how they use their big guys. Omar Cook told me it was very similar to the way that the NBA Cavs use Evan Mobile, and that’s what they were trying to see with Naquan. Does he have that stuff in his game? How comfortable will he be if he does those kinds of things? And there were times, Ethan, that when the pressure was a little bit too much for. For some of Cleveland’s ball handlers without Craig Porter Jr. In that game against the Indiana Pacers, you know who brought the ball up the court was Nae’Qwan Tomlin. That was purposeful. Omar Cook told me after that game that, you know, they thought Nae’Qwanwas being guarded by a less disruptive on the ball guy. So they said, all right, Tyrese Proctor, go back down the other end. Jaylen Tyson, go back down the other end. Those guys are hounds that you have to deal with. We’ll let Nae’Qwanbring the ball up the floor. We’ll see if he can do it. And he did it. He did it against pressure. So that. That was important from his development standpoint to kind of see what can he do, what can’t he do if we put a little bit more on his plate, how does he handle those kinds of things? So I definitely think that at the very least, he is going to make it a consideration for the Cavs about whether he’s going to split, spend time with the NBA team and whether there are going to be opportunities for him to maybe get some minutes. Maybe it’s 200 minutes throughout the course of this year, maybe it’s 250 minutes throughout the course of this year, but I think he. He’s making them at least consider it based on the way that he played in Vegas, based on the things that he did in the G League last year, based on everything that they’ve asked him to work on from a development standpoint, and the way that he’s doing that. You can tell in talking to people inside this organization, you can sense some excitement that he might be. He might be the next player development success story in the mold of Dean Wade, Lamar Stevens, Craig Porter Jr. Sam Merrill, those kinds of guys.

Ethan Sands: Again, for aggregators that are going to come and listen, here we go.

Chris Fedor: And wobbly comparisons. Oh, boy.

Ethan Sands: I love it. I love it. No, I think it’s. It’s great when you talk about being able to translate, and obviously Omar Cook mentioned in an interview that he was trying to take exactly what Kenny Atkinson and trying to help these guys translate. If they were going to be able to get minutes in the roster with the Cavs. Throughout the regular season. He wanted it to be as seamless as possible, so that helps them. And I think Nae’Qwan Tomlin fits into that mold. And I’ve said that a couple different times, but I’m going to keep saying it until people understand the reality of his situation. Even though he really didn’t play organized basketball until he got to college, which is an insane statement and it’s an insane storyline in itself. But also because, Chris, you gave a little bit of a stat when it came to Jaylon Tyson. There were different rankings and standings when it came to players throughout this summer league and Hoops Hype gave their top 15 performers at the Vegas Summer League and their global rating and Nae’Qwan Tomlin finished 10th on this list. He’s just been a guy that I think everybody needs to keep their eye on, especially when they talk about development stories and obviously him being on a two way contract and it again, being summer league. It’s not just the Cavs keeping an eye on him, it’s executives from around the league trying to see what the Cavs are going to do with Nae’Qwan Tomlin and if they don’t give him a standard contract or don’t give him another two way contract, what that could mean for his career and if he fits in different organizations.

Chris Fedor: I think you have to give this front office credit for identifying him and being smart enough to say there might be some people interested in him if we just give him a two way contract. So let’s give him a two year, two way contracts. So that was some good foresight by, by this front office. Again, we don’t know what Naquan’s going to turn into. We’re not talking about him being one of the most important players for the Cavs in their quest for a championship, but the more playable guys that you can have within your organization and for a team like the Cavs. Look, Ethan, this is an expensive roster. Everybody knows it. They’re going to be expensive for a long, long time. They’re probably going to get to a point where they have to make difficult financial decisions with this roster the same way that the Nuggets did, the same way that the Los Angeles Clippers have, the same way that the Boston Celtics were forced to this year. Even Phoenix, you know, Phoenix is trying to be a little bit more cognizant of their spending after everything they did kind of blew up in their face. So, you know, second apron is something that, that teams just, just don’t want to deal with. So eventually the Cavs are going to get into a situation where they have to make some of these financial decisions that. That aren’t going to be popular and probably are going to make them a worse basketball team. That’s going to have to happen eventually. But, like, if. If you can. If you can balance out your top heavy roster with, you know, for example, last year having ty Jerome as third in Sixth man of the Year voting when he was making $2.5 million, the return on investment there, the value that he brought, like, my God, is the same thing when it comes to, you know, Dean Wade in the past. So when you have Donovan Mitchell making close to $50 million and you’ve got Darius Garland making 40 million and Evan Mobley making a ton of money, you have to find some of these cheaper salaried guys that. That can be impactful is probably a little bit too much. But, like, serviceable. Serviceable. Playable in certain situations. If, If Nae’Qwancan eventually become that, that just helps balance the books a little bit. The way that Sam Merrill helped, the way that Craig Porter Jr. Could theoretically help the Cavs if he can handle more of a responsibility, if he can handle a bigger role. Now you have your third guard making $2 million as opposed to, you know, going out and paying more of a veteran guy close to $4 million. That’s a big difference in a situation that the Cavs are in. So, you know, the more help that you can find on the cheap to balance things out for. For a team that is deep into the luxury tax and soaring above the second apron, Nae’Qwan Tomlin could really, really help in the big picture of those kinds of things.

Ethan Sands: All right, Chris, I got two more questions for you, and I’m gonna make this one quick. What did you think of Tyrese at.

Chris Fedor: Various points during summer league? You know, he showed glimpses of. Of why the Cavs were so excited to draft it. He was the 49th pick in the draft, but he didn’t look like the 49th pick in the draft. He looked better than that. For him to score 35 points in what was his finale in Vegas, Ethan, he never scored more than 25 at Duke, and he’s at summer league, and he scored 35. Nobody at Summer League scored more than 35. Him and Kyle Filipowski were the guys that scored 30. Cooper Flag didn’t score 35 at Summer League, so you can’t completely dismiss that. I thought he showed some play creation. I thought he showed some off the dribble ability. I thought he showed some shooting ability. And I thought he showed that he can blend into the fabric of this team. He’s not somebody where you’re going to give him a high usage. You’re going to put the ball in his hands over and over and over again. He’s not going to get a ton of shot attempts. I thought he was physical on defense. I thought he fought through screens. I thought he bothered some guys with his full court pressure at times. Those little things Tyrese is going to have to do to get minutes as a rookie. So I, I do think that he, he showed some positive things even before the 35 point outburst, which was completely unexpected. But, but I think the thing that the Cavs like about him so much, Ethan, is that he was surrounded by all these first round picks at Duke. And even though he was a ballyhooed recruit, he had to blend into that team and he had to fit a specific role. And it wasn’t the same role every single night and it wasn’t the same role every single year that he was at Duke. It evolved. It evolved based on what the team needed and that’s what the Cavs are going to need. This is a team that has championship aspirations. This is a team that has an eight, nine man rotation that is pretty locked in based on what they have coming back already and what they’ve added in to this roster in the off season. So it’s not going to be an every night thing for Tyrese Proctor. He’s probably going to have to spend some time at various points in the G League the way that Jaylon Tyson did last year. But I think the fact that he has experience just blending into a team and filling whatever role is required of him and because he has a skill set that allows him to do that, I think it’s a good fit for the Cavs.

Ethan Sands: And Chris, we’ve talked a lot about Nae’Qwan Tomlin, who was on a two way deal. We talked about that. Luke Travers, who was not at summer league is also on a two way deal. But the Cavs are still looking for one player to fill in the third spot on a two way deal for this coming season. Chris, did anybody on this Cav summer league team pique your interest in why he could be on this Cavs two way roster? And could it have to do with somebody that’s familiar to any Cleveland State fans?

Chris Fedor: You mean the Flying Dutchman? Yeah, I mean I think Tristan and Aruna, I, I think he had a good week in Vegas. I think he had a good two weeks in Vegas. He he showed off an NBA skill set, or at least if you squint hard enough, you can see an NBA skill set. There’s size, there’s length, there’s athleticism, there’s three point shooting. He’s probably got a rebound a little bit better for somebody his size playing the position that he’s gonna play. I think it was the first game he was very disappointed in his rebounding. Omar Cook talked to him about it and then he came out in the second game and he gobbled up two offensive rebounds and that was a positive for him. But like those kinds of things for somebody with his size playing the position that he’s going to play, those are the things that, that are going to be important for him. But, but I do think if you squint hard enough, you can see some NBA like skill from Tristan and Aruna. And I do think it’s somebody that the Cavs are considering. With that third two way now, they’re going to continue to scour every other roster around the NBA. They’re going to see who gets cut at training camp or what transpires here throughout the remainder of free agency. You know, the Bulls just made a minor move giving a two way to one of the most exciting point guards in Vegas and the guy that they let loose know scored a bunch of points for him in Vegas. So like if, if those kinds of minor moves happen and somebody previously on a two way with a team pops free, the Cavs are going to be monitoring all of those transactions and they’re going to continue to keep an open mind on this sort of thing. But I do know that Tristan and Aruna is somebody that they like. It’s somebody that they have liked. There’s a reason why they brought him to Vegas to be a part of this team and to give him this opportunity. And I do know that they were happy with the things that, that he showed. And Omar Cook, he even told me he said that’s an NBA player. He showed off an NBA skill set there in Las Vegas. And I think again, if you squint hard enough, you can see it. And I think because of the type of player he is and because of how valuable his archetype is, I think it would be worth it just to put him on a two way and see if he can continue to get better and better in your player development program. Look, Kobe Altman, president of basketball operations, has said over and over and over again, Ethan, even though this is a team that has championship aspirations, player development is what they are. It’s what they do and it’s a big reason why they hired Kenny Atkinson last off season. So if you believe in your player development enough and you see enough of an NBA related skill set, put it in your system and see how much more you can get out of them. But I think there are things to like about an Aruna and it starts with the type of player he is and the combination of length, size and athleticism. To me that’s worth a shot.

Ethan Sands: Obviously, it’s not the only guy, as you mentioned, that the Cavs are keeping their eyes on or keeping their finger on the pulse. But I think you also know with this Cavs organization, they like rewarding guys that they have only worked. Not only worked with, but also local guys, right? So him going to Cleveland State could work out to be in his favor in this conversation. It’s definitely something we keep in mind, something we think about, but it’s not the end all be all right. There’s just some situations that turn out to be beneficial for everybody involved and this one could be one of them. The Cavs have had multiple of those and love to reward guys and if they’ve seen seen the work and seen the growth of and that’s why when we’re talking about Nae’Qwan Tomlin, it feels like if he were to showcase himself during the regular season that after the trade deadline you could see him get an NBA standard deal. Just a thought, but with all that being said, that’ll wrap up today’s episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast. But remember to become a Cavs insider and interact with Chris, me and Jimmy by subscribing to Subtext. This is where you can sign up for a 14 day free trial or visit cleveland.comcavs and click on the blue bar at the top of the page to sign up. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. All you have to do is text the word stop. It’s easy, but we can tell you that the people who sign up stick around because this is the best way to get insider coverage on the Cavs from me, Chris and Jimmy. This isn’t just our podcast, it’s your podcast. And the only way to have your voice heard is through some text. Y’ all be safe. We out.

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