Cavs sign Samardo Samuels to multi-year deal

Cavs sign Samardo Samuels to multi-year deal

Well the first official signing of the Chris Grant era is…drum roll please…Samardo Samuels. Right, Samardo Samuels. Brian Windhorst of The Plain Dealer reports that David Bauman, the agent of Samuels, confirmed the multi-year deal with the Cavs for which the first year of the deal is a partial guarantee.

Okay so with the first order of business out of the way I’m sure many fans are wondering the same thing: “Who the hell is Samardo Samuels?”

Short version: Samuels was a highly touted recruit coming out of high school, consensus #4 overall, in which he was ranked above guys like Terrelle Pryor, Delvon Roe, BJ Mullens, Ed Davis, Al Farouq-Aminu, Greg Monroe and DeMar Derozan. Samuels ending up choosing to go to Louisville to play for Rick Pitino over other big time schools like North Carolina, Pittsburgh and Florida with the intent of being an one-and-done player. Samuels ended up staying for his sophomore season hoping to improve his stock but his play regressed and he ended up being undrafted. The Chicago Bulls ended up putting him on their Las Vegas Summer League team where he impressed the Cavs enough to offer him a contract. Samuels, who averaged 13&7 in 25 minutes of play over 5 games, apparently was someone the Cavs liked going into the draft but couldn’t get a pick to draft him.

Longer version: Samuels was billed as one of the top recruits coming out of high school. He was supposed to be the next great big man to hit the college scene, dominate for a year, be drafted in the lottery and then go on to becoming a good NBA player. The problem is things don’t always go as planned.

The first problem was choosing Louisville. While Samuels did play well, he didn’t do enough to show scouts he was worthy of being drafted and didn’t develop much under Pitino. He put his name into the draft this year and shockingly decided to keep his name in after two sub-par seasons at Louisville. Some believe that part of the reason was to help his family, who hail from Jamaica, but some also believe that Samuels was tired of the college game and was ready to move onto the NBA.

The second problem was when Samuels declared for the draft this year. Samuels wasn’t a hot prospect going into the NBA Draft and didn’t really do anything in workouts to create a “buzz” around his name to help him get drafted. Samuels would have been better off declaring after his freshmen year, and striking while the iron was hot, or staying in school another year to try and show scouts he’s worthy of a pick.

Fortunately for Samuels he was put in a good position where he was able to see a lot of minutes for the Chicago Bulls Summer League team and produced well. That included a 19&9 effort in a head-to-head matchup vs. JJ Hickson and the Cavs which probably caught the attention of Chris Grant and Byron Scott.

So now Samuels has signed with the Cavs. Enough with the history regarding Samuels. The biggest question is, will he pan out?

For the Cavs this is one of those classic low-risk/high-reward type moves. Considering that Samuels salary and expectations will be low, if he flames out then there won’t be much made about it. If he pans out and becomes a good NBA player then the Cavs look like geniuses for getting him at a low price.

I know it may not mean much that he was a top-5 player coming out of high school to some but history says otherwise. Using the PER and the RSCI rankings the results of my semi-study seem to be a pretty good one for Samuels. Taking the top 5 players from the last 5 years (from 2004-2008 to be exact) and averaging out their PER’s from their most recent NBA season, the average PER is 15.94. The league average PER is 15, for a reference point, which means Samuels has a pretty good chance to be a solid NBA player. Now that does include some flame-outs such as Gerald Green and Josh McRoberts, ranked #1 and #2 in 2005, but an overwhelming majority of the players turned out to be good players.

The key for Samuels will be trying to carve out a niche in the NBA. Similar undersized big men like Glen Davis, Paul Millsap, Leon Powe, Jason Maxiell, etc., have been able to do so by doing the little things, hustling, being active and playing defense. Samuels can try and emulate them by initially getting on the court by playing smart and be active. Once Coach Scott gets comfortable with him, he can start to expand his game from there.

So how does Samuels stack up against the likes of his fellow undersized brethren coming out of college? Take a look. (Keep in mind stats are from last year of college for the players and stats are also per 40 minutes pace adjusted.)

Name	PTS	REB	2P%	FT%	FTA	BLKS	PFS	PPP	PER	TS%
Samardo Samuels	20.5	9.3	52.4%	70.6%	8.8	1.5	3.5	.97	23.9	58%
Paul Millsap	22.9	15.5	57.8%	62.3%	7.2	2.7	3.6	1.03	34.9	59%
Jason Maxiell	18.5	9.5	54.5%	64.5%	10.2	3.4	3.1	1.02	26.3	59%
Glen Davis	20.6	12.2	50.5%	70.3%	7.7	1.1	2.6	.95	26.7	56%
Leon Powe	24	11.9	49.6%	71.9%	11.7	0.7	2.9	1	28.4	57%

He stacks up decently in most of the categories.  While he doesn’t blow his brethren out of the water, he does manages to hold his own. He actually resembles Glen Davis in the stat comparison from college.

A couple of things do stick out though. His lack of explosiveness shows through with the lack of blocks compared to the others and in general. His rebounding numbers were also sup-bar. He fouled quite a bit, likely due to lack of size, and didn’t manage to be as efficient as most of the other players.

The two numbers to keep an eye on are BLKS and REB as those two numbers most directly correlate how he will potentially rebound and block shots at the next level. Unfortunately neither are high so don’t expect Samuels to be a good rebounder or a good shot-blocker.

So is that enough info about Samuels? I think so. The key for Samuels, like I said previously, will be finding a niche for himself. Right now he is an undersized big man but others have paved the way for him and having long arms (has a 7-foot-4 1/2 wingspan) and big hands help to make up for that. Even though his offensive game is farther ahead of his defensive game right now, the key for him will be proving that he won’t be a liability on defense and that he’s willing to do the little things. For now he will have a tough time getting on the court with Anderson Varejao, JJ Hickson, Leon Powe and Antawn Jamison all slotted to get minutes at 4 and 5 spots but it’s more likely that the Cavs see him as a center which is where he’ll have to earn his keep. He’s not a 100% lock to make the roster but odds are very good he will.

Don’t expect much from Samuels but if history is any indicator then he’s likely to become a solid NBA big man. Will he ultimately? The Cavs certainly are hoping so but a lot of it depends on how bad he wants and it how hard he works at it.

For more info on Samuels, if this wasn’t enough, check out his DraftExpress profile where you’ll find everything you want to know about him. Here’s also a short-clip on YouTube to get a feel for him.

Cavs sign Samardo Samuels to multi-year deal

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