The Cleveland Cavaliers made plenty of upgrades to their roster this offseason including acquiring LeBron James, Kevin Love and most recently, Shawn Marion. Those were certainly big moves that will push the Cavaliers closer towards breaking their playoff drought. However, there is still a lingering weakness for Cleveland. The team made no moves to bring in quality depth behind Kyrie Irving which could hurt them in the long run.
Irving has always had solid backups to take pressure off him. The point guard has suffered his share of injuries in the past, making it crucial that someone decent be sitting behind him. In the past, Cleveland has had players like Ramon Sessions, Shaun Livingston and Jarrett Jack on the roster, but entering 2014, all of those players are gone. Dion Waiters is expected to start next season at shooting guard. The worst case secenario right now if Irving were to get hurt is to place Waiters in his spot. However, Cleveland could instead target a trade or signing to help out.
According to Adi Joseph of USA Today Sports, the Cavaliers must pay attention to the lack of depth behind Irving since it is their biggest weakness left on the roster. At this point free agency options are limited. The Cavaliers have a little bit of money left they were ideally saving for Ray Allen. If that pursuit ends, the Cavaliers could target that money for a veteran to help out. Sessions is the best available right now. His familiarity with the Cavaliers is an upside and he will likely be a bargain to sign. The Houston Rockets and Indiana Pacers have also taken a glance at Sessions.
Another veteran option could be Chauncey Billups. According to CBSSports.com, Billups has already met with the Cavaliers prior to them signing Marion. Billups likely has one more year left in the league and will sign a cheap contract if offered it.
The other option for Cleveland is to execute a trade for someone. The New York Knicks would immediately come into target as they are shopping one of their many guards on the roster. Deals for JR Smith or Tim Hardaway Jr could easily be discussed, but possibly too expensive for the Cavaliers at this point. After giving up players like Anthony Bennett, unless Tristan Thompson was dealt, they have no one good enough to get a Knicks play in return.
