Cavs: What role could potential FA target Reggie Bullock have?

The 2021 NBA Draft is nearing here in two weeks on July 29, and the Cleveland Cavaliers should be set to snag a difference maker at #3 overall. The likes of Evan Mobley and Jalen Green come to mind there, albeit it appears that Mobley could very well be the pick there.

I’d be on-board with either, and while I’m personally not high on him, Cleveland could maybe go with Jalen Suggs there, or to an extent, one could foresee Jonathan Kuminga maybe in the cards. But I wouldn’t anticipate that as much.

In regards to other possibilities with the Cavaliers/the offseason, trades could be in the mix, and to that point, Collin Sexton, much to my chagrin, has been a key player mentioned in trade rumors of late.

Sexton, who is extension-eligible this offseason, is seemingly set to seek a max contract extension, and even while Cleveland could let things play out next offseason via restricted free agency, Sexton is reportedly “very available” via trade.

Teams that have been mentioned as reportedly interested in that scenario are the Miami Heat, Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks, and the Knicks are reportedly the club “most aggressive” in their pursuit of Sexton. The New Orleans and Los Angeles Lakers have been linked, too.

But with the first three, in particular, and the Lakers, I don’t personally think any of clubs have attractive pieces in potential returns, albeit you can view more here involving Sexton rumors/my thoughts on a rumored Knicks deal.

So from there, other potential Cavs players that could seemingly be moved by next season and/or early into next season could be Taurean Prince (expiring) and Cedi Osman, who were mentioned in trade rumors near the past deadline. And of course, the Kevin Love trade rumors will be a constant.

Shifting gears from the draft/trades, here, we’ll touch on 2021 NBA Free Agency more so. Regarding potential targets, the likes of T.J. McConnell, Patty Mills, Alex Caruso and perhaps if he’s unrestricted, Frank Ntilikina could be a solid low-cost backup point guard target.

In terms of wings, rumored targets such as Doug McDermott, Josh Hart, if he were to become unrestricted perhaps, Reggie Bullock and perhaps Alec Burks could be others via the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, which is expected to be $9 million or so.

I would think that most of the mentioned targets could be had, in theory, for some of the MLE, with Cleveland maybe being able to retain the non-guaranteed Dean Wade some of the MLE and/or the non-guaranteed Lamar Stevens.

Among those targets, here though, we’ll take a closer look at Bullock in this case, who had a nice year last season with 10.9 points per game as a starter for the New York Knicks. And based on comments from The Athletic’s Danny Leroux in a conversation with The Athletic’s Kelsey Russo (subscription required), one would imagine Bullock could maybe be had via say, two-year deal for say, $4-5 million per year.

In that sense, what kind of role could Bullock have with the Cavs?

In a role similar to one of McDermott, I would expect Bullock to be an efficient movement catch-and-shoot player in minutes off the bench. That’s more so in minutes at the 2 and 3 in that case, though, albeit if Prince were to be potentially moved, perhaps that could be in some lineups at the 4.

Bullock is a career 39.2 percent shooter from three-point range, and while he has jumped around/been moved, in the past four seasons, he’s hit 40.0 percent from deep on 5.4 attempts per game.

Bullock would make for a great kickout option, or off-screen/off-movement option for the likes of Darius Garland, Sexton if he sticks around, to go with Isaac Okoro/Dylan Windler, among others.

The 30-year-old wing proved to be a key shooter for New York last season, and while we’d have to see if he’d consider signing with the Cavs, I could maybe see that being the case, with a talented playmaker like Garland.

That’s go to with other promising pieces, and feasibly Mobley being a nice piece for a movement shooter/quality off-ball player like Bullock to be able to play with, too, for instance, to go with Kevin Love (if he’s around) and Larry Nance Jr./Dean Wade.

So to drive it home, if the 2021 NBA Free Agency target in Bullock were to sign with the Cavaliers, it’s clear that he’d likely be a knockdown shooter off the bench that could play still a bunch of minutes.

And while again I’d rather it not happen it seems, Bullock could feasibly be a starting 3 option for the Cavaliers with Okoro moved up to 2. Or perhaps Green/Suggs could fill in there and if needed, Reggie could fill in at 3 in that sense if Okoro is having a particularly tough go of it early on.

Anyhow, with Bullock being generally speaking a pretty competent defender against 2s and 3s, and a sound team defender, the veteran could have a fairly clear role as an effective 3-and-D for Cleveland. That’d be at least in a good chunk of rotational minutes for 22-24 minutes per outing; he could also fit in with a variety of lineups.

Moreover, given the reasons stated/Cleveland having been last in the league in three-point shooting and 28th in attempted threes per game last season, Bullock would be a logical free agency target.