JaVale McGee was a nice trade acquisition by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Cleveland Cavaliers will miss Tristan Thompson, who was a staple on the squad for nine seasons, and will likely have his #13 jersey retired by Cleveland down the road. Thompson signed with the Boston Celtics via unrestricted free agency, though, and I wish him nothing but the best.
For the Wine and Gold, Andre Drummond, who picked up his $28.7 million player option for next season, is clearly the starting 5. Drummond could seemingly be an expiring trade piece that could maybe be moved by the 2021 deadline, but I would still expect him to be around for a good chunk of this next season, anyhow.
There was reportedly mutual interest in a contract extension between Drummond and the Cavs previously, albeit they grew further apart in talks. Perhaps Drummond and the Cavaliers could maybe come to terms on an extension next offseason, but we’ll have to see how the fit is like for him on the Cavs.
Due to novel coronavirus concerns/Cleveland not having been an Orlando area bubble team, Drummond only appeared in eight contests after being acquired via trade from the Detroit Pistons post-deadline in 2019-20. The Cavs will seemingly have a longer look at Drummond soon, though, as the 2020-21 season for the NBA is set to begin on Dec. 22.
Anyway, although Cleveland will not have the likes of Thompson next season to back up Dre, the Cavs should have a more than serviceable backup 5 in JaVale McGee, who was recently acquired via trade with the Los Angeles Lakers.
In recent training camp/Cavs preseason media availability, Drummond, albeit he did essentially address how TT will be missed, did show love to McGee, via Forbes‘ Evan Dammarell.
“I was forced to play 40 minutes a game because I didn’t have a good backup. JaVale is a great, great asset for our team.”
— Evan Dammarell (@AmNotEvan) December 1, 2020
Andre Drummond on the value of having McGee as a backup.
Drummond’s take on McGee is so encouraging as a Cavs fan.
A key to Cleveland’s recent trade with the Lakers in which they received McGee was definitely the 2026 second-round pick asset attached, but McGee should help Cleveland in his reserve minutes. Drummond’s take on the value of McGee backing him up and saying how, he’s a “great, great asset” for Cleveland is so encouraging.
McGee, who had 6.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 16.6 minutes per outing last season with the Lakers, should provide the Cavs with a formidable interior presence on both ends in bench minutes.
He’s a legitimate 7-footer, and McGee, albeit fouling is a reason why he’s not realistically a player you want for starting minutes, does still deter drivers/slashers to an extent with his ability to block/alter shots. McGee had 3.0 blocks per-36 minutes last season, and has had 3.2 per-36 minutes for his career.
Offensively, although McGee is a non-shooting presence, really, he is an impact roller/cutter/lob threat, who hit 70.2 percent of his shots in the restricted area in 2019-20, per NBA.com’s shooting data. Plus, Cleveland wouldn’t be losing offensive rebounding capability even with Drummond off the floor/sans Thompson, as McGee has a career offensive rebounding clip of 12.1 percent.
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Lastly, McGee’s can definitely help Cavs shooters such as Kevin Love, Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, Dylan Windler and Damyean Dotson as an off-ball screener and/or with his rolling presence, too, as KJG’s Zane Harris demonstrated.
And McGee is a big that runs rim-to-rim really well, and should give Cleveland some transition/energy buckets at times.
Now, Drummond noting in that aforementioned training camp/preseason media availability how he could see Cleveland rolling out himself, McGee and Larry Nance Jr. at the same time in some instances, via Dammarell, would seem like a stretch to me.
That’s regardless of Love seemingly being set to miss some back-to-backs, via Dammarell; the spacing issues there? I’ll pass.
But to circle back, though, it is really good to hear as a Cavs fan that Drummond feels especially confident in McGee’s abilities as a more than capable backup 5.
Perhaps McGee, who is on an expiring $4.2 million contract after picking up his player option for this next season, could be a potential buyout candidate down the road, or maybe a piece involved in a possible trade package. That’s if a big were to be brought back, I’d think, by the Cavaliers.
That said, I could very well foresee McGee sticking around through the deadline, as even at 32, he’s a high-energy reserve big and he seems to be a great locker room presence for Cleveland’s youngsters.
Drummond’s take on him, anyway, reaffirms to me that McGee was a nice trade pickup, though, to go with that future second-rounder.