Cavs sign Christian Eyenga

Another day, another signing. This time instead of going outside the organization to sign a player, the Cavs have signed one of their own. Brian Windhorst of The Plain Dealer reported that the Cavs have signed their 2009 1st round draft pick Christian Eyenga. Since Eyenga was drafted by the Cavs, he will receive the slotted salary for the 30th pick overall which works out to be a 4-year deal worth around $5.5 million with team options for years 3 and 4 and a qualifying offer in 2014/2015.

There had been talks about bringing Eyenga over when Le___ (insert insulting name here) left but those talks likely accelerated with a dried up free agent market as well as a solid Las Vegas Summer League performance. With the new regime in attendance in Las Vegas, Eyenga averaged 11.4 points and 4.2 rebounds in five games.

The past couple of years Eyenga has been playing for DKV Joventut in Spain, yes the same team as Ricky Rubio, but his year was cut short last year by injury and swine flu. The Cavs had to negotiate a buy-out of his contract from DKV Joventut since he signed a 3-year extension last off-season to stay with the team.

The good news for the Cavs is that they’re going to be able to get Eyenga minutes to develop with the team not contending for a championship like it has been the past few years. For Eyenga, being placed in Byron Scott’s up-tempo offense should help him to take advantage of his excellent athletic ability as well as give the Cavs a player who fits within Scott’s system. While it’s not likely Eyenga will be a big contributor from the get-go because of how raw he is, the more time he spends with the Cavs the better in terms of his development. Eyenga will have some rough spots and he may not look great at the start of the season but his progress throughout the year is what should be watched. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Eyenga spend some time in the NBA D-League should he not be getting a lot of minutes or displays that he’s too rough around the edges to get any minutes.

The advantage to having Eyenga with the Cavs this season rather than over in Europe is the Cavs get to work with Eyenga hands-on in developing him rather than hoping DKV Joventut does it for them. They get to work with him and develop him the way they want and hopefully that includes working with Cavs assistant coach Chris Jent on Eyenga’s shooting.

The signings of Samardo Samuels and Eyenga likely signal the rebuilding era of the Cavs, which is a phrase I’m sure Clevelanders have heard all too often. Eyenga will be a part of some highlight plays as well as some boneheaded plays but his development will be an exciting story to track throughout this rebuilding season.

Cavs sign Christian Eyenga