Cleveland Cavaliers: Doug McDermott would be a logical FA target

The Cleveland Cavaliers need to be attempting more three-point shots next season, as fans know. They made the second-least triples per game, were 28th in three-point attempts per game and were last in three-point shooting percentage last season.

It is a plus that Cleveland is stressing for Darius Garland and Collin Sexton to be shooting more threes per contest next season, though. Both are more than capable from deep, but we’ll have to see if they’ll be shooting nearly eight triple attempts per game. That number is reportedly what the Cavaliers are looking to see from each of them next season, for what it’s worth, per Spencer Davies of Basketballnews.com.

In any case, it’s a positive that the Cavs are emphasizing getting more triple attempts up in general. Next season, if he can be healthier, of which the offseason should help in that way, Kevin Love coming into 2021-22 in better condition could aid the team in that realm, too, for instance.

Taurean Prince, from a rotational standpoint, and Dylan Windler, to some extent, doing so could make a difference as well.

Prince, even with some tough injury woes last season after having been acquired via trade from the Brooklyn Nets, did hit 41.5 percent of his 4.1 deep attempts per outing with Cleveland last season. He had 13.6 points per contest in his last 10 games active before his season was shut down because of left ankle surgery, too, for context, and in that span, he knocked in 45.2 percent from deep.

Granted, Prince has previously been a key player mentioned in trade rumors, and the same went for Cedi Osman. So maybe Taurean, who is set to be expiring after next season, could be part of a potential package before next season, or at some point during next season?

That said, Cleveland could still hang on to the veteran through the deadline, given his quality catch-and-shoot play, and also shot creation on-ball. We’ll again have to see looking onward, though.

In regards to other potential players that could aid three-point shooting for Cleveland, prospects in the 2021 NBA Draft that could be possible targets are Cade Cunningham or Jalen Green, or more realistically, Moses Moody, Franz Wagner or Corey Kispert. Moody or Wagner would appear to be clear targets in the 6-8 range, in particular, too.

In terms of free agency, the Cavaliers could look to add players such as a backup point guard in T.J. McConnell or Frank Ntilikina, of whom could aid in generating more threes for others, for one.

But a shooter that comes to mind that’d be a valuable floor spacer/off movement player is Doug McDermott, who’d be a sensible target, too, on the subject.

Cleveland Cavaliers: McDermott would be a logical free agency target.

To me, and I’d imagine plenty of other Cavs fans, such as KJG’s Amadou Sow, who recently hit on McDermott, Doug would be a quality free agency target.

Now, Cleveland general manager Koby Altman did stress the club would seemingly be more than willing to use their non-taxpayer mid-level exception this offseason to add a quality veteran contributor to aid the Cavs’ young core of Sexton, Garland, Isaac Okoro and Jarrett Allen.

Currently, for non-taxpayer clubs, based on projections from a 3 percent cap raise, which would appear reasonable, per Hoops Rumors’ Luke Adams, the MLE should project to be around $9.5 million. But that could end up being in the ball park of say, $6 million per year for a potential deal, with the likes of Dean Wade and Lamar Stevens’ compensation via part of the MLE for Cleveland.

Or, though I wouldn’t expect it as much, perhaps if Stevens, to go with Damyean Dotson and Mfiondu Kabengele are not back, whose deals are non-guaranteed as well, then that could be in the ball park of $7.5 million or so per year for McDermott. A deal could maybe be for two years.

So while McDermott could look to sign elsewhere, sure, or maybe look to re-sign with the Indiana Pacers, given their situation of late, I could foresee him passing on returning to Indy. And maybe a key bench role similar to the one with the Pacers and an offer in the ball park of $6-7 million per year could entice McDermott from Cleveland?

We’d again have to see.

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Anyway, with McDermott, he could really help the Cavaliers’ perimeter shooting efforts, and would be a good veteran presence, similarly to Prince. In relation to the shooting, he is clearly a knockdown guy both via spot-ups from ball-swings/drive-and-kicks and his off-movement shooting abilities would be impactful.

Some bench lineups with him and also Windler could be an intriguing wrinkle for spurts/stretches too, as Sow mentioned.

McDermott has been on a number of teams in his career, of course, but regardless of where he’s been, his three-point shooting/floor spacing has been the key seller for rotational minutes. And that’d be meaningful for the Cavs, if he were to sign with Cleveland.

McDermott has a career average of 9.0 points in 20.6 minutes per game, and most notably, has had a three-point shooting hit rate of 40.7 percent on 3.2 attempts per outing.

With the Pacers in the last three seasons though, and the last two in particular, that shooting has especially popped. He had 10.3 and then last season another career-best 13.6 points per contest, and hit 43.5 and then 38.8 percent of his 4.3 deep attempts per game, proving to have given Indy quite a lift in bench minutes.

With the Cavaliers, one would assume, in feasibly 22-25 minutes per game, the 6-foot-9 McDermott could again be a notable sharpshooting presence in minutes at perhaps the 3 and 4, and would really help spread the floor.

His off-movement shooting could definitely do wonders in sequences with Dean Wade/Kevin Love/Larry Nance Jr. as screeners/handoff players for him, too, and that could make others around him better with attention drawn out to McDermott.

In that realm, he could bring a Kyle Korver-light gravity to the Cavs once again, as it was in recent years past, for example, although maybe not just nearly as much.

Moreover, with the 29-year-old McDermott, while we’d have to see if he’d be interested, getting a solid chunk of PT with a team with some promising young pieces and when healthy, quality big man passers, could be worth strongly considering.

Next. More off-movement looks could come for young guards. dark

And on the flip side, the Cavs should absolutely have interest in McDermott for his sharpshooting abilities off-the-catch and via one-dribble pull-ups coming around handoffs. Defensively, there’s not a seller there, but the shooting would be invaluable in his minutes on the floor, and could make a real difference off the bench.