3 takeaways from Cavs’ involvement in James Harden trade

#3: The Cavs also acquired a capable shooting forward in Prince

Taurean Prince should help Cleveland’s rotational shooting, I would imagine. Prince is a more than capable of catch-and-shoot player that has played his share of minutes at the 3, and last season, with Kevin Durant sidelined, more so a small-ball 4 for Brooklyn. Last season, Prince had 12.1 points, 6.0 rebounds and 0.9 steals per outing, and 8.1 points and 2.8 rebounds per game this season thus far.

The 6-foot-7, 26-year-old Prince, who played his first three seasons with the Atlanta Hawks before being dealt to Brooklyn via trade, has hit 33.9 percent and thus far this season, 35.1 percent of his three-point attempts. And in Atlanta, Prince hit 38.5 and 39.0 percent from deep in his last two seasons there, so to me, he should provide a floor spacing presence in his rotational minutes, feasibly at the 3 and potentially 4 for the Cavs.

Prince can create himself via some pull-ups in the mid-range to counter hard closeouts at times, too, and can get some buckets via drives.

Aside from the shooting/some on-ball scoring, Prince can be, when dialed-in, a competent defender against 2’s/3’s and more so small-ball 4’s, and has gotten his share of deflections. And his lifetime defensive rebounding clip of 14.4 percent has been solid, which could help Cleveland.

Now, factoring in Nance, though, and Love when he’s back in the fold, could we see Prince some at the 4? Potentially, but we’ll have to see there.

It does seemingly create some of a logjam when it comes to wings, anyway, however, as Dylan Windler, who hasn’t been active since Cleveland’s first game (left hand fracture) should be a rotational contributor when he’s back able to go. And Isaac Okoro and Cedi Osman will continually get their share of minutes, and Okoro, especially.

Osman, though, it would seem, could potentially be moved at some point down the road, perhaps? We’ll again have to see if Windler, who missed all of last season due to a stress reaction in his left leg, can hold up health-wise, at any rate.

Moreover, looking back generally at the Cavs’ perspective, Cleveland netting Allen and Prince, who is set to make $12.5 million this season and $13 million next season, for their 2022 1 via Milwaukee, Exum and that 2024 2 (the lesser between theirs and the Utah Jazz’s) was a terrific outcome.

Props to Altman here.