With every NBA team officially able to offer players in the D-League 10-day contracts on Monday I'm expecting to see a bunch of them happen here as teams get bogged down and need some fresh legs for a rough stretch.
The Cavaliers certainly have options to sign players from anywhere, specifically Canton of the D-League since we own them, but I found someone far away from Ohio who I'd like to see get a look with the Cavaliers.
At a recent game between the Dakota Wizards and Iowa Energy, 6'6 Edwin Ubiles stood out to me as someone who could start to help knock Anthony Parker out of a job. And trust me, Mychel Thompson's effort against the Orlando Magic didn't help that fight tonight.
I'll break down the former Siena star after the jump.
Ubiles had a mild senior season at Siena in 2009-2010 before missing the 2010-2011 season to fix a stress fracture in his leg. With all the layoff behind him now, he is blossoming for Wizards coach Nate Bjorkgen and former Cavalier Vitaly Potapenko.
While the Wizards are affiliated with the Golden State Warriors and Ubiles has already been in camp with Mark Jackson's team, he still could be signed by the Cavaliers to bolster their shooting guard ranks.
He has been one of the best players in the D-League through 19 games with the Wizards and has been a force on both ends of the floor. At 25, he is someone who has slipped under the radar because of his age and the injury but has quite a bit of rising stock of late.
Scouts rated him very solidly across the board for a middle level prospect when he finished college. (Does he look like Herm Edwards in his NBADraft.net picture to anyone else?) With the current regime somewhat likely to cut Mychel Thompson by Tuesday and their insistence on not playing Christian Eyenga even in the most dire circumstances this year, Ubiles is someone who I propose they look at.
He isn't going to be a prototypical NBA shooting guard since his shot is up and down but he did remind me a bit of a less athletic Alonzo Gee. And with how secretly well the team hit on Gee after be bounced around and matured I think this is a pipeline that the team needs to navigate more.
Edwin Ubiles is certainly not going to be on the Cleveland Cavaliers anytime soon but he actually fits the mold for what the team needs better than most realize.
- In other important news as you may remember from my article Friday, D-Leaguers are able to be called up on 10-day contracts to the NBA beginning today. SBNation's Scott Schroeder, an NBDL guru, breaks down the top candidates to be called up this week including Manny Harris today.