Cavs: Ranking every offseason move from worst to best

Cavs: Ranking every offseason move from worst to best – 5. Denzel Valentine signing

Terms: Signed to a two-year, partially guaranteed contract.

Denzel Valentine was a college star, the best player in college basketball his final season at Michigan State. While he wasn’t expected to be a star at the professional level, his combination of shooting and passing was supposed to be directly translatable to the NBA. In short, neither has been.

The Chicago Bulls gave Valentine every opportunity to prove himself, even granting him 45 starts despite mediocre numbers. Valentine had one good shooting season in 2017-18, hitting 38.6 percent of his 3-pointers. In two years since he has hit just 33.3 percent, well below league average.

Advanced metrics aren’t kind to Valentine either, who boasts a career 10.7 PER (league average is 15) and consistently negative on/off numbers. Without a potent offensive game Valentine’s inconsistent defense, buoyed by steals but degraded by a lack of athleticism, becomes more of an issue.

What the Cavs needed from this roster spot was a shooter, a player who can operate off-ball alongside Darius Garland or Collin Sexton and keep defenses spaced out to the perimeter. Valentine is not that, and the timeline for him to become that is very short.

Cleveland doesn’t need a player like Valentine. If he “hits” and becomes a reliable rotation player his likely minimum contract will be a good value, but that doesn’t make him a good fit. The best version of Valentine is taking the ball out of the hands of a more talented player, whether that is Sexton’s scoring or Garland’s playmaking. With players such as Garrison Mathews still on the market, signing Valentine is a no-upside move and, frankly, something close to a wasted roster spot.