Welcome to the third installment of our look at the Cavaliers for 2010-11.
This time we will be giving you a thumbnail preview of one of the new acquisitions, a big man on a team which sorely needs bigs after the departure of Shaq and Z.
Ladies and gentlemen: Ryan Hollins.
Where Ryan came from:
Ryan Kenwood Hollins was born in Pasadena, California in 1984, and after attending high school at John Muir, Ryan played college ball at a little school you may have heard of called UCLA. He was drafted in the second round in 2006 by the Charlotte Bobcats as the 50th overall pick.
Where Ryan has been:
Hollins spent the first two-plus years of his career with the Bobcats, appearing in only 105 games for Charlotte and never averaging more than 3.6 points per game in limited minutes. His highest average of minutes played for the Bobcats was 10.2, which came early in the 2008-09 season before he was traded, along with Matt Carroll, to the Dallas Mavericks for DeSagana Diop. For the remainder of that campaign, he again averaged less than ten minutes per contest for the Mavericks, and 2.9 ppg in twenty-seven games. Ryan then signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves as a free agent and spent last season with Minnesota, appearing in 73 games and averaging 6.1 points and almost three boards per game in close to 17 minutes. The Cavaliers acquired Ryan from the T-Wolves along with guard Ramon Sessions for Delonte West and Sebastian Telfair.
What Ryan has achieved:
Showing that he has the leaping ability so necessary for a center, the seven-foot tall, 230 pound Hollins cleared almost seven feet at the Pac-10 championships in high jumping. In 2004 Ryan was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Oakland Regional of the NCAA tournament after scoring 14 points and grabbing nine rebounds in a win over Memphis.
What we can expect to see from Ryan in the coming season:
Ryan Hollins will probably see more minutes this season than he has been used to getting in his past stops in the NBA. Anderson Varejao will obviously be the starting center, barring unforeseen circumstances, but a jumper such as Hollins could be valuable when he is in the game. He is a bit of an unknown quantity as of now, of course, but it is to be hoped that he will be a good fit for the Cavs going forward.