King James Gospel
Fansided

Cleveland Cavaliers: Jeff Green was the best value of any 2017 free agent

By Nathan Beighle

HOUSTON, TX - NOVEMBER 9: Jeff Green #32 of the Cleveland Cavaliers goes to the basket against the Houston Rockets on NOVEMBER 9, 2017 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TX - NOVEMBER 9: Jeff Green #32 of the Cleveland Cavaliers goes to the basket against the Houston Rockets on NOVEMBER 9, 2017 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Cleveland Cavaliers got a diamond in the rough when they scooped up Jeff Green for the veteran’s minimum this past offseason.

After almost a complete remodeling of their team, the Cleveland Cavaliers have now won 13 straight and seem to be on the path to greatness.

Jeff Green has been a key contributor in creating that path, and he was signed for just $2.3 million this past offseason. Green’s contract is easily the best of the players that signed for the veteran’s minimum and quite possibly the best value of the entire 2017 offseason.

As of July 13th, when SB Nation put out this article listing every free agent signing, there were just four notable players that were signed with the veteran’s minimum. Those were Jeff Green, Omri Casspi, Jose Calderon and Mike Scott. We also know that Derrick Rose would eventually sign for the minimum.

More from King James Gospel

Of those four, Jeff Green has by far outplayed each and every one of them. Casspi, who signed with the Warriors, plays just 14.6 minutes per game and scores just 5.6 points in his allotted time. For Scott, he’s at 17.7 minutes per game and scoring 7.7 points per game. Looking at those, outside of Derrick Rose, it seems that Jeff Green is the only player to sign for the minimum and score over 10 points per game; he currently scores 10.5 per game on over 50% from the field.

From that aspect, he has the most value, but my point wasn’t that Green is just the best value of veteran’s minimum players.

Players like JJ Reddick ($23mill/year), Steph Curry ($40.2mill/year) and Blake Griffin (34.6mill/year) all make an uber amount more than Green. Although they rightfully deserve it, their steep contracts are not near the value that Green’s is. Comparing the players to their salary is often times difficult to do. One could measure their points per minutes, a contest in which Steph easily crushes Green (.495 to .80), or you should use a combination of that and field goal percentage. Green has easily been better from the floor, shooting over 3% better than Curry on the season.

While in no way does that brief comparison mean that Green is in any capacity better than Curry, it was however used to show how Green can compare to the NBA only unanimous MVP. His numbers have been terrific and his energy has been a pleasant surprise off the Cavs bench.

Must Read: Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 inevitable changes the Cavs will make

That said, there aren’t too many ways to compare values especially when trying to add on the contracts, but needless to say, Green has been a bright light for the Cavs who have seemed dismantled at times. That only is worth something.