Chriss is one of those guys that is low risk, high reward that you have to try out when you're in the place where the Cavs are.
He's only 21. He's only played basketball for six years or so. There's a chance, not a great one, that the right coach could get through to him and he could be a good rotational player at some point. There's also a chance he might not be.
But he's shown enough at the NBA level to be intriguing and the Cavs got his Bird Rights as well.
I think they try to sign him for a fairly low, inexpensive deal for two years with a three year option. I'm talking in the $3-4M per year range max per year.
If he's a big that is athletic and has some ability to shoot from a long range, he may have some value to someone in trade at that low number if other aspects don't develop. He's looked better given time with the Cavs compared to his 6.5mpg averages in Houston. He had ALOT of DNPs there - and that's understandable considering Houston is in the hunt. He wouldn't have gotten minutes the past four years in Cleveland either.
He wanted a chance to play. He gets it in Cleveland. Let's see if he can grow and if he wants to stick with the org and a "prove it" deal. Hopefully we can get the right coaching staff in place and he can grow. And, if not, the contract would be far from a back breaker.
There are a lot of guys that don't find their game until 22-23. Maybe we develop him right and get lucky. Maybe we don't.
But it was a move worth making. The more low risk, high reward moves you make, the more likely one of them eventually pans out.