Going back to the 2008 NBA draft, Marreese Speights had convinced himself he was coming to the Cavaliers.
However, the Philadelphia 76ers had other ideas. They picked the Florida product No. 16 overall. The Cavs ended up taking North Carolina State’s J.J. Hickson at 19.
“Cleveland was always a team I wanted to come to,” Speights said.
He had veto power on the trade from Memphis, but actually wanted to come to Cleveland, something that’s not said very often.
“No other team was that young that needed another big man,” Speights said. “It was a good opportunity to come here and get some playing time.”
In that draft, he toured with fellow bigs Hickson, JaVale McGee and Roy Hibbert for team workouts.
“Before I was drafted, I was here working out (for the Cavs) for like two weeks,” Speights said. “I’m glad I got an opportunity to finally get here after five years.”
Cavs coach Byron Scott said he’ll be used as the backup center behind Tyler Zeller. Scott said Tristan Thompson will stay at power forward with the first and second units.
“Just his size can help us,” Scott said. “He’s a guy who can make shots. He’s a little bigger than I thought he was. We need that size. We’re not expecting them to light the world on fire.”
The 6-foot-10, 255-pound Speights said he’d have no trouble learning the terminology of the offense and defense.
“They gave us a playbook,” he said. “The league is all the same plays with different names.”
