CLEVELAND, Ohio - Ten games into the season, the Cavs are already staring at a problem they can’t simply wave away: Thomas Bryant’s minutes are costing them, and the salary cap helped put them in this spot.
Bryant, Cleveland’s third-string center, was a minus-19 in 15 minutes against the New York Knicks, and that came after another rough stretch against Oklahoma City. He finished that Knicks game with five fouls and little impact on either end, the kind of outing that can tilt a tight rotation in the wrong direction fast.
For a team trying to hang around the top six in a crowded Eastern Conference, those possessions matter.
“The Thomas Bryant minutes are really, really hurting this basketball team,” Cavs beat reporter Chris Fedor said on the Wine and Gold Talk podcast. “They hurt against Oklahoma City.
They hurt tonight against the Knicks. If you want to talk about rebounding issues, Thomas was one of the culprits.
If he wasn’t fouling, he was giving up offensive rebounding chances.”
That’s the heart of the issue. Bryant isn’t just having one bad night. When Jarrett Allen needs to manage his knee and Cleveland has to find dependable frontcourt minutes, Bryant is the next man up - and so far, that hasn’t been enough.
The problems are stacking in familiar ways. The fouls arrive early.
The rebounding slips away. The scoreboard swings against the Cavs while the minutes are still being logged.
So why did Cleveland bring him back?
Podcast host Ethan Sands pointed to the market reality: backup centers who can actually help an NBA team usually aren’t eager to take a veteran minimum deal if they know they’ll be parked behind Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley most of the year. That shrinks the options quickly. Then there’s the money.
“The better players, they’re more expensive,” Fedor said. “And the Cavs, in the financial situation that they were in, they couldn’t afford those guys.
They’re like $400,000 away from the first apron and they’re hard capped at the first apron. So improving on that particular position was always going to be a financial challenge.”
That leaves Kenny Atkinson hunting for workarounds.
One possibility that has come up is using Mario Hezonja at small-ball center when Allen and Mobley aren’t available. It’s not a standard answer, but Hezonja has been one of Cleveland’s better rebounders early in the season, he brings strength, and he has enough perimeter mobility to handle assignments like guarding Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in a recent game.
Atkinson has already said those discussions have taken place.
Fedor made the case for why that route may be the better one right now. “Mario Hezonja is not your typical small ball 5 because he plays bigger, because he is strong, because he has shown himself in the first couple of weeks of this season to be a very, very reliable and a good rebounder, one of the better rebounders that’s actually on this roster.”
That still doesn’t erase the bigger concern if Allen has to miss significant time. But for now, the Cavs may have to settle for damage control - and figure out how to keep Bryant’s minutes from becoming a nightly tax while November gets tougher.
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New Yorks edge was felt in the places Cleveland usually wants to control, with extra possessions and loose balls turning into a steady problem the Cavs never solved. James Harden had a rough night offensively, going 2-for-9 and finishing at minus-23, which only added to the reminder that this matchup can get away from Cleveland quickly when the other team wins the hustle battle and forces the Cavs to chase instead of dictate. [Read more 🡒]