Richard Jefferson Will Be Cleveland Cavaliers X-Factor

The Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t have much to work with in the free agency market this past off-season. The team’s salary cap situation is well documented, with the Cavs already paying millions in luxury tax penalties, so the options were limited in terms of bringing in new talent.

Luckily for the Cavaliers though, DeAndre Jordan decided to ditch Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks at the last minute, which opened the door for veteran forward Richard Jefferson to decide to spurn the Mavs and swap that M for a C. The Cavs signed Jefferson for one year on a veteran’s minimum deal (according to ESPN’s Marc Stein), so he comes cheap and Cleveland won’t need to deal with his contract next season.

Ignore Jefferson’s contract though. It isn’t about the dollars and length of contract in Jefferson’s case, as he understands he is at the tail end of his career and is simply searching for the best chance to win. Well, it turns out that Cleveland may actually need Jefferson more then Jefferson needs Cleveland.

Many people compared the Jefferson signing with the Shawn Marion signing of last summer and on face value, that seems like a fair comparison to make. Marion was predicted to be LeBron James’ back up and his versatility as a defender, passable three-point shot, experience and overall basketball IQ was supposed to assist the Cavs in both winning a championship and managing James’ minutes. (Editor’s Note: Plus they both played for the Mavs the season before coming to the Cavs.)

Instead, Marion, after being a starter earlier in the season, never found his niche in Cleveland and ended up falling out of the rotation after announcing his retirement mid-season. After the Cavaliers first three pre-season games though and after his effective season in Dallas last season, it is safe to say that Jefferson isn’t Marion and the comparisons must stop.

Jefferson will be a vital X-Factor and an important key to Cleveland attempting to finally breaking their championship drought.

When discussing Jefferson’s role, or when discussing anything Cavaliers in general, it starts and ends with James and this is where Jefferson may prove to be one of the more important players on the roster.

James, entering his 13^th NBA season, has already tolled a total of 43,330 minutes in both regular season and post-season play, which is just a ridiculous number and that doesn’t include James multiple runs with Team USA over the summer time. For comparison, Larry Bird played 41,329 minutes in his entire career.

James actually averaged his lowest minutes total per game last season for his entire career, at 36.1 minutes but that was still fifth in the NBA and when you take into account James averaged 42.2 minutes per game in the post-season, it is easy to see that his minutes need to managed much better this upcoming season.

This is where Jefferson comes into play.

One of the main reasons James has logged so many minutes is because he has never had a reliable back up option. From Sasha Pavlovic, Luke Jackson, Jamario Moon and the list goes on; the names of James’ back ups have been ugly. These players have lacked efficiency and it has cost them minutes and simply increased James’ minutes, the opposite effect that Cleveland needs.

Judging from last season and the Cavaliers opening three pre-season affairs, Jefferson doesn’t seem to have lost any efficiency and seems poised to help limit James’ minutes and actually contribute on the court while doing it.

Jefferson is putting up 9.0 points per games and 5.0 rebounds per game in 23 minutes per game throughout the pre-season so far. He has made five of 14 three-point attempts, which calculates to approximately 35%, which is around league average. Although, Jefferson shot three from six from downtown in the Cavs recent loss to the Memphis Grizzlies and after shooting no lower then 40% from three in five of his past six seasons, it is clear his shooting stroke has not been lost.

Playing in Cleveland, Jefferson will get plenty of chances to fire up open looks on the perimeter. With James being the best player in the world, Kevin Love poised to have a more involved role in the offense and once Kyrie Irving returns from injury, the defense will be paying so much attention to the Big Three, a choice will need to be made. Provide help on any one of the Big Three and leave Jefferson open on the perimeter or stay with Jefferson, which opens up the driving lanes for some of the games best players. This offensive presence is something that Marion couldn’t provide last season.

Also, Jefferson doesn’t seem too afraid to drive to the basket. Multiple times during the pre-season, he has got a defender off their feet on a sweet pump-fake and finished at the basket or passed the ball up for a better shot. Just ask Walter Tavares if Jefferson doesn’t take it strong to the rim anymore:

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Also, Jefferson doesn’t look to be a liability on the defensive end of the floor either. Dallas actually had a slightly better defensive rating with Jefferson on the court (102.5) compared to when he was off the court (104.3) last season, so while he isn’t a game changing defender, he can still be a positive on that end of the floor. He has shown in the pre-season that his age hasn’t affected his laterally quickness that much, as he can stay in front of his defender and his high basketball IQ helps him commit smart fouls and read the play before it happens, all helpful attributes on the defensive end of the floor.

Also, the Cavs lost a few veterans over the summer, including the aforementioned Marion along with Mike Miller and Kendrick Perkins. These valuable vets may not have provided positive energy to the Cavaliers on the court but in the locker-room, veteran voices are vital especially when competing for a title, so Jefferson fits the bill perfectly in this regard.

Cleveland has one of the most stacked rosters in the NBA. The greatness of the Big Three is well documented but it will be Jefferson who is one of the Cavs biggest X-Factors in their quest for a ring this season. He will be able to allow David Blatt to manage James’ minutes a lot better and his efficiency when he is actually on the court will be a positive for the Cavaliers this season.

How do you think RJ will fare in Cleveland this season?

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