CLEVELAND: Tyronn Lue has spoken frequently this season about the difficulty of developing young players on a team contending for a championship. The opportunities and game minutes simply aren’t available to do both.
Kay Felder, however, is taking full advantage of what has been a limited opportunity thus far. Kyrie Irving’s sore hamstring will have to dictate his opportunities moving forward.
Felder scored 12 points in Monday’s win over the New Orleans Pelicans, including eight in the fourth quarter when most everyone else was struggling to make a shot. With Kevin Love stricken with food poisoning and LeBron James fighting the flu, Felder was the one making big shots with the game on the line.
“My confidence keeps rising the more minutes I play and the more pace I play with,” Felder said. “I like to go fast and like to run.”
Right now he’s certainly running with this opportunity. The Cavs have been searching for a backup point guard all season because of the belief Felder isn’t ready. Two games won’t change that, but Felder is at least starting to turn heads.
In two games since erupting for 33 points in a Development League game at Canton, Felder is averaging 10.5 points and shooting .647. He is flashing a bit of a swagger that was previously missing and he’s playing with confidence. Perhaps most importantly to Lue, he’s no longer looking over his shoulder.
“Don’t look over at the bench,” Lue told him. “Just play your game. And if you’re doing too much, I’ll let you know. So don’t keep looking at the bench and looking over your shoulder. Just play.”
Lue gave guys like DeAndre Liggins and Jordan McRae the same advice. Liggins’ niche will always be defense and energy and McRae is still trying to find his way. His 20-point outburst against the Hornets on New Year’s Eve seems to be the anomaly for McRae, who has otherwise struggled badly most of the season and did again Monday against the Pelicans. Felder, however, is starting to show why the Cavs paid more than $2 million to buy the 54th pick in the draft to select him.
“I just think he [implemented] everything he’s been working on on practice days and off days into game situation,” James said. “He’s learning, he’s watching film. You see him over there with the coaches every day and anybody that can take from what they watch on film and take what they do on the practice court and implement it into a game situation lets you know they have a great growth mindset. His mind is allowing him to go out there and do those things. It’s good for his development.”
Irving has missed the past two games with tightness in his right hamstring, and Lue is offering no timetables for when he might return. Of course, he could still return in time to start Wednesday against the Chicago Bulls. After all, Lue originally thought Irving wouldn’t miss any time and the team still isn’t concerned enough to do any imaging on the hamstring.
The Cavs have so few bodies that Lue canceled shootaround Monday and might look to do it more often moving forward. They’ll at least be facing a Bulls team Wednesday that is equally bruised. Denzel Valentine isn’t making the trip because of a left ankle injury and Dwayne Wade will likely be a game-time decision because of swelling in his left knee.
Rajon Rondo, meanwhile, has been benched the past two games and remains out of the rotation.
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.