The Cleveland Cavaliers won’t be big-name hunting this offseason.
The Cleveland Cavaliers won’t be throwing their hat in the big-money free agency ring this offseason, whether that’s via the unrestricted or restricted variety. Andre Drummond is reportedly highly likely to pick up his $28.8 million player option, and for the Cavs’ options, they’ll likely be only having the mid-level exception.
That’s set to be in the $9-10 million range, and with that, Cleveland could potentially sign to-be unrestricted re-sign Tristan Thompson, seemingly via one-year deal, per a report from Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor (subscription required).
In that report, Fedor said how one of his sources believes the possibility of Thompson being back is ’50-50,'” and it’d again appear to be via one-year deal, one would think.
Thompson might not be back, though, and in terms of other potential targets seemingly instead, Fedor also initially reported how those could be Derrick Jones Jr., Josh Jackson, Pat Connaughton and/or Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. That was further confirmed from a report by Sports Illustrated‘s Sam Amico recently, too, who noted Cleveland could additionally target “several others.”
I’ll greatly pass on the non-offensive Kidd-Gilchrist for the Cavs, albeit he is a good defender. And while I’d rather Cleveland be able to land Jones, he’s going to have other suitors.
Furthermore, despite prior reports, the Cavs weren’t a team listed as a squad that’s going to target Jones it seems, per a report from the Miami Herald‘s Barry Jackson. Those were the Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons, and Amico, of Amico Hoops as well, reported the Cavs “do not have an interest in Jones,” so that appears out.
Either way, I’d rather Cleveland land Jackson than Kidd-Gilchrist, too, who is still only 23 and could become the Cavaliers’ starting 3 fairly early on, even, but we’d have to see if the Cavs could eventually sign Jackson. He reportedly wouldn’t require the full MLE, seemingly, though.
I wouldn’t imagine Connaughton, who albeit he’s more capable as a shooter than Jones, is a player that’d appear to have nearly the starter-level ceiling, and wouldn’t seem to take the full MLE. Or he could be compensated for multiple years by it, comparatively, I’d think as clearly a rotational contributor-type.
Anyway, for this case, we’ll highlight what Connaughton, who the Bucks could potentially let walk this offseason, per Fedor, could provide in minutes off the bench for the Cavs.
So what could Connaughton provide for the Cavs?
The first area in which Connaughton could help Cleveland is by providing added wing depth and athleticism, factoring in both ends.