Cleveland Cavaliers: What Does Toney Douglas Bring To Cavs?

Toney Douglas has been signed by the Cleveland Cavaliers. What does he bring the the defending NBA champions and their current group of point guards?

The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed Toney Douglas to a contract and waived Eric Moreland, the team announced on Monday. The 30-year-old Douglas, who is coming off one of his best seasons as a pro, is a valuable point guard to have in the Cavs stable.

Head coach Tyronn Lue said that the team would be running the backup point guard position by-committee. This could be interpreted as situationally, as well.

Currently, the Cleveland Cavaliers have a rookie in Kay Felder that plays like a level-headed Nate Robinson. They also have a sophomore in Jordan McRae who they want to develop into a combo guard but is truly a shooting guard. 26-year-old Iman Shumpert would need development as a point guard himself. Finally, there’s two-time NBA D-League Defensive Player of the Year DeAndre Liggins who is a fine facilitator but a shooting guard himself.

It makes sense that Lue would want to run his backup point guard position by-committee. With all these players that could play the position, none is the one just yet.

That’s why when Mo Williams decided he was coming back the team was elated. Williams was going to be the dependable veteran. However, Williams changed his mind right before training camp.

Subsequently, Norris Cole, Mario Chalmers and Kirk Hinrich were targets but none were signed. However, with the signing of Douglas, the Cavs get a player who is a mix of the point guards they were reported to have been interested in acquiring.

Cole was the most aggressive man-to-man defender. Douglas is an aggressive defender himself. He likes to get into his man’s airspace and cause steals and doesn’t rely on his anticipation as much as insufferable suffocation. This is where he differs from a point guard such as Chalmers. For the Cleveland Cavaliers, getting out into transition is important so they can take advantage of LeBron James and Kyrie Irving’s ability in the open court.

However, like Chalmers, Douglas a great finisher around the rim. This is an area where Cole and Hinrich struggled at times. The Cavs are a downhill team. Finishing at the rim gets the team easy points and opens up space for shooters on the perimeter to rain threes.

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Using the pick-and-roll in the halfcourt, Douglas gets to the rim frequently. While he didn’t finish a great rate, Douglas should focus on using the pick-and-roll to generate assists more than score with the Cavs.

It’s interesting to note that Douglas had as many potential assists as Kobe Bryant last year. Potential assists are the amount of assists that the player would have if players made their shots. Bryant’s adjusted assist-to-pass percentage of 14.8 percent compared to Douglas’ 9.8 percent illustrates a picture that the Cavs should like.

Douglas hits players in great scoring positions when he’s making the assist. Furthermore, Douglas has ability to get more assists if he teammates are better scorers. The Cleveland Cavaliers have better scorers than the New Orleans Pelicans.

Douglas is, however, an inconsistent shooter from long distance himself. Although he’s a career 36.0 percent shooter from three-point range, in his seven NBA seasons, Douglas has had three seasons where he shot below-average from behind the arc. The Cavs will hope he can build on last season where he shot 44.9 percent in catch-and-shoot situations from three.

Nonetheless, Douglas a great option for the Cavs on both sides of the ball. He’s a valuable option for the Cavs by-committee approach.

What do you think of the Cleveland Cavaliers signing Toney Douglas? Let us know in the comments section or tweet @KJG_NBA and @30for30Albertie.

Cleveland Cavaliers: What Does Toney Douglas Bring?

By Quenton S. Albertie | Oct 3, 2016

Toney Douglas has been signed by the Cleveland Cavaliers. What does he bring the the defending NBA champions and their current group of point guards?

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