At this point, the Cleveland Cavaliers are looking to be fully sold on Jarrett Allen being their long-term answer at the 5 spot, which is very nice to know.
In that realm, the Wine and Gold, according to a Monday report from ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Adrian Wojnarowski, came to an agreement with Andre Drummond/his agent, Jeff Schwartz, that Drummond would sit from here in the rest of his time with Cleveland.
Drummond, who has been a key subject of trade rumors, given his expiring contract and the Cavs last month acquiring Allen via trade from the Brooklyn Nets, it seems could be headed to the Toronto Raptors as his next destination via trade.
That’s in relation to a report from Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium on Monday (subscription required), who stated how the Cavs and Raptors are in “active talks” about a potential Drummond-centric deal.
Charania did report how the Nets and Dallas Mavericks are interested in Drummond if he were to eventually be bought out by Cleveland, too, but even with Drummond’s $28.7 million salary set to maybe involve a number of other teams because its size for near-salary matching, it still wouldn’t seem at all likely Drummond is bought out.
Charania noted that Cleveland doesn’t feasibly want to do that, and the reasoning is clear as to why, albeit we’ll have to see what a return might be.
For what it’s worth, Evan Dammarell of Forbes and Fear The Sword before suggested that Toronto could perhaps send Aron Baynes, Norman Powell, Stanley Johnson and Patrick McCaw and a future second-round pick.
Two of those players are set to be expiring, with Baynes having a non-guaranteed next season (so really three) and Powell is set to have a player option decision this offseason, of which is set to be $11.6 million. I’d expect McCaw to be waived, along with Dean Wade if that were to play out, for context. To me, though, Powell could maybe end up being a player that could be a long-term piece for Cleveland.
And in regards to other potential suitors, Sam Amico of OutKick and Forty Eight Minutes noted on Monday how along with Toronto, the “Boston Celtics, Charlotte Hornets, Portland Trail Blazers,” and the LA Clippers and again, Nets, have been listed.
He hit on how the New York Knicks, who are looking to move Kevin Knox, could be a “team to watch,” too, and Mitchell Robinson is set to be out for approximately 4-6 weeks because of a fractured right hand.
Okay, so it’s clear that Drummond is no longer in the fold for Cleveland, in what’s to be his time left with the Cavaliers, regarding playing minutes.
He reportedly has been less than satisfied with his minutes-share since the Allen trade, and the two sides deemed it was unfair to have him playing less minutes-share than he would’ve liked. That’s a plus for Cleveland at this point, though.
So what’s the two key positives regarding that for the Cavs, and looking onward, then?
We’ll hit on that here, with the first one next.
#1: Less inefficient Cavs post-ups/interior finishing issues at the 5
The first key plus with Drummond sitting in the remainder of his time with the Cavs, of which could maybe be a “while,” per Charania’s report, is less inefficient post-ups/interior finishing issues at the 5.
Far too often this season, Drummond was forcing things with post-ups, and though the Cavs gave him his reigns to do so seemingly, along with even some drives, it led to stagnant offense far too frequently, and inefficient post-up production. Thus far this season, Drummond, while earlier on I give him his credit for helping will the Cavs to a few wins, by and large hasn’t been nearly effective enough to warrant his post-up volume overall.
Among players that have averaged at least 3.0 post-ups per game this season, Drummond has averaged the least amount of points per possession at just 0.82, per Synergy Sports. And he’s had the third-highest post-up volume, per Synergy, at 5.4 attempts per contest.
Drummond has had the fifth-highest free throw frequency in those situations, but his free throw hit rate on the year has only been 59.7 percent, so it’s not made nearly enough of a difference.
And with Drummond sitting from here for the rest of his time with the Cavaliers/seemingly until he is traded, which would appear to be very likely, I wouldn’t expect Allen to be posting up all that often.
I’d think we’ll still see some instances when JaVale McGee could have post-ups here and there in a primary backup 5 role once again, of which he did pre-Allen acquisition, but by and large, I’d expect the Cavs to not be force feeding the post.
From there, with how inefficient Drummond was on post-ups, and him overall hitting a career-low 51.9 percent of his shots in the restricted area, per NBA.com’s shooting data, Cleveland’s offense will benefit with him sitting. That’s in a general sense after when he is seemingly ultimately traded, of course, too.
Allen, conversely, is not a player that needs post touches, really, let alone close to a high volume of them, and he’ll fill in more actively as a roller/lob threat, which could help Cleveland’s perimeter threats via vertical spacing. Plus, just overall, when factoring in putbacks/quick cuts/rolls, Allen has hit 71.8 percent of his restricted area shots in his last 15 games active with Cleveland, per NBA.com’s shooting data.
McGee hasn’t been that efficient as a finisher, when on the subject of the Cavs 5 man threats thus far this season as well, but he has been as a roller, and is an active lob threat. And though he’s been a reported potential trade candidate, per Charania, whether or not JaVale is eventually dealt as another expiring big, he’ll likely aid in that realm as a roll man in remaining burn with the Cavs, too.
Moving on, the other key positive regarding Drummond sitting from here in his remaining time left with the Cavs, and really, just looking onward, is an emphasis on the perimeter game, hopefully.
#2: Hopefully more of a Cavs three-point shooting emphasis and/or better offensive flow
The other key positive that these are the end of Drummond’s days playing for the Cavs, is that we’ll hopefully see more of a three-point shooting emphasis and/or better offensive flow in general throughout games.
Now, I’m not going to grill Drummond for this, as the Cleveland Cavaliers have passed up too many three-point looks this season, regarding perimeter pieces, and Darius Garland and Collin Sexton I’m not letting off the hook in that realm, especially lately. But Drummond’s post-up volume/being an isolation show far too often has played some into Cleveland placing last in the NBA in three-point attempts and three-point makes per outing this season.
Albeit again, the Cavs need to get up more triple attempts, and hopefully, Kevin Love’s return from a high-grade right calf strain/reaggravation reportedly maybe this weekend, couldn’t hurt in that regard.
Moreover, with the Wine and Gold not needing to seemingly force feed Drummond anymore, it’s apparent that with Allen at the 5, the squad has far more often had better offensive flow with how he’s let his opportunities come organically.
So again, we’ll ultimately have to see what plays out with a possible Drummond trade/the Cavs, whether that ends up being the Raptors or not, but it’s nice to know that the Cavaliers are moving forward and fully leaning into Allen as their long-term 5 now.
One would assume he’ll be locked up this upcoming offseason, perhaps via Cleveland matching a potential restricted offer sheet.