Cavs: What kind of role would potential trade target Terrence Ross have?

The Cleveland Cavaliers haven’t made waves in free agency this go-round, as one would’ve anticipated, really.

They were priced out of rumored possible targets such as Reggie Bullock, Doug McDermott and Alec Burks, and though Cleveland reportedly had sign-and-trade discussions with the New Orleans Pelicans, that didn’t lead to a deal. Hart and New Orleans agreed to a three-year, $38 million deal since.

Now, the Cavaliers did land a potential star in the 2021 NBA Draft in Evan Mobley, which was a relief to me, and a few hours before the draft, they acquired Ricky Rubio via trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves. That filled their backup point guard void, but even though he had trouble staying healthy, Taurean Prince was a part of that deal, and he was a quality rotational catch-and-shoot player for Cleveland, and provided some shot creation.

At this point for the Cavs, it is still apparent that they should looking to add wing depth, and potential team-friendly targets such as Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk and Garrison Mathews come to mind in that realm. Maybe James Ennis III, or for situational shooting in spurts, E’Twaun Moore could help.

As a side note, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com did report that Cleveland has “some interest” in Denzel Valentine, but health has been a concern for him and his role has been inconsistent in the past few seasons with the Chicago Bulls.

In any case, any of those players at this juncture wouldn’t cost much of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception I wouldn’t think for say, a two-year deal, or could possibly be signed via the $3.2 million bi-annual exception.

We’ll have to see, but of those options, Ennis, Mykhailiuk and Mathews I’d be more than on-board with.

Nonetheless, even with the lack of free agency activity, the Cavs have reportedly been active in relation to potential trades, and have had discussions with the Atlanta Hawks centered on Cam Reddish. Reddish is said to have a high price tag, though, per Fedor, and with the injury issues he’s had, and the inconsistencies, I’d pass personally.

And for what it’s worth, in possible talks, Fedor stated in his report how the Cavaliers are unwilling to include their 2022 first-round pick, even with protections, and I can’t blame them for that.

But it was understandable that Larry Nance Jr. is said to be a potential trade chip alternative, per Fedor’s report, and he said to keep an “eye on” the Detroit Pistons and Memphis Grizzlies, who have too many guaranteed contracts.

With Detroit, that doesn’t seem that realistic though, whereas with Memphis, Nance and one of Cleveland’s 2022 second-round picks could be a talking point for Kyle Anderson, who Fedor stated is said to be available? Maybe Dillon Brooks could be as well for that price, albeit I’d think with two seconds attached? I’m not sure on that.

From there, Fedor stated how Terrence Ross, Bojan Bogdanovic, Joe Ingles, T.J. Warren, Thaddeus Young, Tobias Harris, Jeremy Lamb and Harrison are “also possibilities.”

Admittedly it’s tough to say on those names what the interest from their teams would be, however, and Warren and Lamb are coming off seasons that were essentially wiped out due to injury.

That said, I would particularly be on-board with Anderson, Brooks or Ross. And of the three, while I’m not sure what Brooks would cost, and with Anderson not being nearly the shooter of Ross, we’ll focus on Ross here.

What kind of role would Ross have for the Cavs?

With Ross, Cleveland would be getting an impact bench shooter that could very well play over half of games, depending on gameflow, often anyway. If they needed to start him at times at the 3 here and there, I could foresee that also.