Cavs should have their fair share of grab-and-go threats next season

The Cleveland Cavaliers should have their share of grab-and-go threats next season.

I’m fully aware that the Cleveland Cavaliers will be looking to get their bigs heavily involved in their settled offense. It would appear that Andre Drummond should be well in the fold in that realm, given that it’s reportedly highly likely that he’ll pick up his $28.8 million player option for next season.

Kevin Love I’d expect to be Cleveland’s second offensive option, feasibly, meanwhile, and he should project as Cleveland’s best catch-and-shoot shooter still. The Wine and Gold should be looking to Love early and often in the spot-up/off-movement shooting realm, and they will in settled offense via ball-swings, drive-and-kicks, etc.

Obviously, we’ll see a considerable amount of pick-and-roll situations involving players such as Darius Garland, Collin Sexton and Kevin Porter Jr. in halfcourt offense as well.

Anyhow, while, I wouldn’t expect the Cavaliers to be a top ten offense in relation to pace, they should look to get good looks in transition/secondary transition some more, from my perspective. They were 23rd in pace during this now-past season.

Cleveland was tied for having the third-lowest amount of fastbreak points per game in 2019-20, with 10.5. The secondary transition game I could see being fruitful for the Cavaliers in coming years more so, though, as that could lead to some high percentage looks.

If an easy transition seal comes from the likes of Larry Nance Jr., for instance, or if occasional cross-matching situations happen that could enable Porter, for example, to get a quality shot, that could be what we’d seeing.

In any case, for the Cavs when looking at next season, I’d think they should have their fair share of players that can initiate following defensive rebounds.

Having a solid amount of grab-and-go threats should help the Cleveland Cavaliers get some high percentage looks throughout games.

Of course, when Sexton/Garland get their hands on a defensive board, and more often, Sexton, they could be ready to roll in transition and/or secondary transition.

Especially in Garland’s case, if the look isn’t there early on, he could look to generate a quick-hitting ball-swing or potentially loop around and look to feed a trailing Love. Or DG could on occasion look for a trailing Nance in secondary transition, who hit 37.6 percent of his catch-and-shoot triple attempts in 2019-20, per NBA.com’s shot tracking data.

Garland and/or Sexton in grab-and-go instances is clearly in that realm, but so could a number of others, I believe. Kevin Porter Jr., who had a solid 4.3 defensive rebounds per-36 minutes as a rookie, and is so dangerous in the open floor as a driver/finisher is another player that should do damage as a grab-and-go threat, and more so, I’d think, given the rebounding element.

Porter, who should get his opportunities at times at the 1 next season, and had an encouraging 14.7 percent assist rate in year 1, should be an impactful passer in grab-and-go situations for players such as Sexton and Larry Nance Jr. as well.

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Speaking of Nance, he will definitely be a factor in this conversation for the Cleveland Cavaliers, too.

Nance has a much-improved handle, in which he showcased during this now-past season, and that played right into him putting up yet another career-best as a scorer with 10.1 points per outing, and that will make him even more capable as a playmaker going forward.

Nance we should even more so as a grab-and-go threat next season with him more comfortable in that regard, too, though, and that ability from him was shown more and more as the 2019-20 season progressed it seemed.

Nance is a highly capable finisher with better touch now as well, and in the transition/secondary transition game following defensive rebounds, he’s a great decision-maker, and next season, we should see him initiate in the open floor a bunch.

In addition, Dylan Windler, who didn’t play with Cleveland in 2019-20 due to complications involving a stress reaction in his left leg but is reportedly participating in Cleveland’s in-market workouts/minicamp, could make the Cavaliers more dangerous in transition. And in this sense, he could as a grab-and-go threat.

Windler, who hit 40.6 percent of his 534 career three-point attempts at Belmont, has a nice handle in his own right, and he averaged 7.8 rebounds per contest in his four-year collegiate career.

Pull-ups right after defensive rebounds in secondary transition from Dylan Windler could lead to easy offense for the Cavs at times. Or with Windler having quality secondary playmaking feel, he could hit players such as Garland, Sexton or Love after a precise look in those situations via extra passes, for instance.

As far as a few others that come to mind, Cedi Osman could some, as I’d rather him be more involved on-ball in the open floor, and the same could go for Dante Exum at times, as he does tend to be more capable on-ball in that sense as well.

From there, if the Cavs drafted a wing such as Auburn’s Isaac Okoro or Deni Avdija of the I-BSL’s Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv, which is seemingly a very high possibility, both of those players could be valuable grab-and-go threats, too.

Both consistently help out in the defensive rebounding realm, and they are high IQ players that excel in the open floor, both as finishers and both have impressive playmaking instincts/feel in their own right, too. And that’d pay dividends I believe at times throughout contests for the Wine and Gold.

So to me, it’s a positive when you forecast how the Cleveland Cavaliers should have their fair share of grab-and-go threats next season.