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.
Ross would bring impact wing shooting for the Cavs and bench shot creation
In the last three seasons, Ross has had 15.1 points per contest, and although he shot only 33.7 percent from three-point range last season, partly because of injuries to key Magic playmakers, he still is a crucial floor spacing presence. Ross has knocked in 36.2 percent from deep on 6.8 attempts per game in his past three seasons too, and for his career, has hit 36.7 percent.
For the Cavaliers, Ross would provide them with a great shooting target to look for throughout games at the 2/3, both via spot-ups and off of movement, which could help open up the floor for drivers and bigs. KJG’s own Amadou Sow highlighted that before as well, for what it’s worth.
For further context, Ross had the sixth-most off-screen points in the NBA last season, per Synergy Sports, and placed in the 67th percentile in those movement scenarios. The year prior, he led the league in off-screen scoring, and placed in the 73rd percentile, again per Synergy.
Along with the off-ball element, Ross is a player that could take some of the shot creation load off of Collin Sexton and Darius Garland, as Ross has a tight handle and can get his spots in the pull-up game.
Plus, he has always been a gifted finisher at the rim, both with body control and he can still power home dunks as a driver/cutter and could provide an occasional lob threat to go to.
Ross would provide wing depth insurance for the Cavs, too
So, the gyst here is, I’d expect Ross to be a crucial shooting/scoring presence off the bench for Cleveland if they acquired him via trade, which could alleviate some burden for Sexton and Garland, as we noted. And perhaps the 30-year-old Ross could make a difference for Cleveland in closing stretches of games as an experienced bucket-getter/shooter, too.
Moreover, Ross, who’s signed through the next two seasons at $12.5 then $11.5 million, could give Cleveland some insurance from a 2/3 standpoint in regards to Dylan Windler and Cedi Osman. Ross did only appear in 46 games last season, partly because he was held out near the closing batch of games due to a back injury, but he’s historically been mostly durable.
While he is reportedly progressing along in recovery from knee surgery and could seemingly be ready to go by training camp/preseason, Windler has only appeared in 31 games for Cleveland, conversely. And last season, he was not able to establish a consistent rhythm when he was in there; I do believe he still can be a meaningful contributor with a solid start to next season, however.
Osman, meanwhile, is a player that has had ups and downs, shouldn’t be relied upon to create for himself in bench stretches, and even with an altered role to the bench last season, took a step back, hitting just 30.6 percent of his three-point attempts.
If one and/or both of Osman/Windler were to become expendable due to Ross’ abilities, combined with Isaac Okoro/perhaps Lamar Stevens, so be it.
We’ll have to see if the Cavs would be willing to move Nance ultimately, but for a wing like Ross, who has also had his share of postseason experience and has reportedly been an outstanding locker room presence in his career too, I’d get that.