#3: Richard Jefferson
Richard Jefferson was not a big scoring presence in his time with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
In his two seasons with Cleveland, Jefferson had just 5.6 points per contest, but Jefferson contributed greatly in other ways when he was on the floor in his 19.2 minutes per outing.
“R.J.,” though he was in his age-35 and age-36 seasons with the Cavs in 2015-16 and 2016-17, was still a very solid defender against opposing 2’s, 3’s and some small-ball 4’s, and that was so big for the Wine and Gold, and his competence there enabled LeBron to roam more as a free safety-type on the defensive end.
Jefferson was very rarely out of position defensively, and on the offensive end as a savvy veteran, he was a highly productive cutter, and though he didn’t score a ton, Jefferson was efficient.
In his two seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers, R.J. had the highest effective field goal shooting clip of any of his stops in the NBA at 56.8%, according to Basketball Reference.
Jefferson was capable of hitting shots from the perimeter, and clearly, with his extremely high basketball IQ, he played off LeBron so well, along with Kyrie and Matthew Dellavedova as a reserve playmaker, too.
Along with that, Jefferson was a willing and able ball-mover that was a steady player in the postseason, which often played into him getting minutes in meaningful stretches, and he was a part of many big playoff runs in his time with Wine and Gold. In the 2016 postseason, Jefferson had a robust net rating of 6.4 in 18.2 minutes per game, according to NBA.com.
Jefferson, given his tons of postseason experience, was a player that Cleveland could rely on in big games, and just like buddy in Frye, R.J. was as good as it gets when it comes to being a teammate. Jefferson and fans of the Cavaliers seemed to have so much appreciation for one another.
Anyway, I’m sure LeBron and others loved the stabilizing presence of RJ when he was out there for the Cavs.