danei
Years ago
Delly article on Cleveland.com
http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2013/10/dellavedova_a_nice_guy_who_mig.html
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio - Matthew Dellavedova is the kind of kid who will offer a wide grin and his hand in greeting while he tells you to just call him "Delly" the very first time you meet him.
"That's what everyone calls me," the 23-year-old point guard grinned Wednesday.
The Australian is affable and friendly, and probably can owe his spot on the Cavaliers' training camp roster and his two-year, $1.3 million, partially guaranteed contract with Cleveland to his kind and welcoming nature.
After all, Dellavedova acted in much the same way when Elijah Brown, son of coach Mike Brown, took a recruiting visit to St. Mary's last year.
Dellavedova played pick-up ball with Elijah and impressed the onlooking Brown to the point that the coach had a ready reason to invite the third point guard to Cleveland's training camp – even after Elijah Brown opted to attend Butler.
"That's why we gave him (a training camp spot)," Brown deadpanned. "If he wasn't, he wouldn't have been here. Delly knows. He's smart."
He's actually pretty good. In truth, Brown already had heard of the 6-foot-4 sparkplug who averaged 15.8 points and 6.4 assists for St. Mary's last season and was West Coast Conference Player of the Year one season earlier.
Dellavedova is energetic and feisty, the kind of unselfish guard who would fit in well backing up All-Star Kyrie Irving and a rotating back-up spot that includes Dion Waiters and Jarrett Jack.
"He's doing a nice job, so far," Brown said. "But I've only seen three practices and then (Summer League). The kid Elliot Williams is pretty interesting, too. We feel like we have competitive guys in camp at that point guard position, so it'll be fun to see how it shakes out."
Dellavedova is thankful for the opportunity after going undrafted in June. He played for the Cavaliers' summer league team in Vegas and his head-start on the defensive terminology and offensive sets might give him a slight edge in earning the third point guard spot.
"I think that's definitely helped out a lot, learning the defensive rules, and the offensive concepts," he said. "It's helped out a lot so far."
So, too, has it helped merely to play against and with Irving. In Tuesday evening's portion of two-a-day practice, Dellavedova spent some time one-on-one against Irving.
Did he win?
"I mean, he's one of the best players in the NBA, so I was just trying to do what I could," Dellavedova said with a grin. "But it was definitely a good experience. ... Going against Kyrie, you're only going to get better."
The Australian National Team player knows he has to make the regular-season roster to truly have his opportunity to learn, however.
And he knows, now, that he owes at least part of his opportunity to the kindness he once showed to a coach's son.
"I'm very glad I was nice, then," Dellavedova said, smiling.
Numbers game: Including Dellavedova's partially guaranteed contract, the Cavaliers have 14 players under contract for this season, already.
That means the remaining six players invited to training camp all are fighting for one spot. Or so it seems.
Brown said money and position won't necessarily factor into his decision on who makes the final roster.
"If I think somebody can help us play and win? He's gonna make the team," Brown said. "Just because a guy has a little bit of money or something like that, that doesn't necessarily mean he's on the team."
Brown also stressed that big men don't have an edge over guards – even if general manager Chris Grant said one of the reasons he signed 2001 draft choice DeSagana Diop to a training camp deal is because of the injury history of Andrew Bynum and Anderson Varejao.
"Yeah, with the history of Andy, with the history of Andrew, and even (rookie) Anthony Bennett, you want to make sure you have some depth there," Brown said. "Not just for game, but for practices, too. Again, if we have bigs who can't play and we have guards who are really, really good, I'm not going to take a big who can't play just to fill depth in that area. So it's going to come down to who I think is going to help us win, and the right fit for the team."
