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Kansas Jayhawks: ’08 Champ Sasha Kaun Signs With Cavs

By Zach Blochlinger

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Sasha Kaun And The Cleveland Cavaliers Have Agreed On A 2-Year Deal

Sasha Kaun, who was a member of the Kansas Jayhawks 2008 National Championship team has agreed to terms on a 2-year deal with the reigning Eastern Conference Champions, the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Kaun and the rest of the Jayhawks matched up against the Memphis Tigers who had eventual NBA superstar Derrick Rose on the roster, and John Calipari as their head coach before he made the move to Kentucky.

At Kansas, Kaun averaged just over 6 points per game and around 4 rebounds per game, but he became a major contributor to the team later in his collegiate career leading to him being drafted 56th overall in the second round by the then Seattle SuperSonics, who are now the Oklahoma City Thunder for those of you who don’t know.

Sasha has spent the past six seasons in Russia with a European team named CSKA Moscow, who are one of the power houses in their league. He averaged 10 points per game and 4.5 rebounds during the Euroleague season last year.

Cleveland.com’s Chris Haynes first reported the news saying, saying “it was only a matter of time” before the two parties came to an agreement.

For the Cavaliers, Kaun will likely not play much unless he really impresses Cavaliers’ head coach David Blatt and their front office to the point where he could make any type of contribution at all.

Cavs coach David Blatt was the coach of the 2012 Russian National Team that won a Bronze medal in the Olympics. His centers were Timofey Mozgov and Kaun.

All three will now be together in Cleveland.

The Cavs already have Kevin Love, Anderson Varejao, Tristan Thompson, and Mozgov as the main bigs who are in the rotation as of now and in my opinion, I see Kaun being placed in the NBA Developmental League sooner rather than later.

Cavs GM Danny Ferry said this when asked about Kaun, “He will really help the Cavs. “He was a three-time Academic All-American at Kansas. He’s like a sponge. He soaks up everything the coaches tell him. The best thing he did was go and play for CSKA Moscow. It’s the elite level in Europe.”

Best case scenario that I can come up with for Sasha with the Cavaliers and their leader LeBron James is that he will be a reserve big man on the bench used in situations where the other big men ahead of him are really struggling or are in foul trouble.

Come NBA playoff time, we could be seeing him on the court every now and again. Time to go buy a Cavs jersey!

Next: Top 10 KU Basketball Players In The Last 5 Years

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