It’s June 10, and we’re now less than two weeks from the 2022 NBA Draft, where the Cleveland Cavaliers are first set to pick at #14 overall.
The Cavaliers took a tumble down the closing stretch of the season, which did sting a bit, in comparison to much of the rest of the season, but it was a plus that they retained their first-round pick.
Cleveland didn’t make the postseason, so they kept their first because of their lottery-protection on that pick in the Caris LeVert trade with the Indiana Pacers; the same applies for next year, as an aside. I’d hope the Cavaliers are firmly in the postseason then, though.
In terms of the upcoming draft, it seems that the likes of Malaki Branham, Tari Eason, Ochai Agbaji, and to some degree, TyTy Washington Jr. and Jalen Williams, could be among prospects in-play there. The Cavaliers are also reportedly considering Dalen Terry and MarJon Beauchamp as possibilities, too. I’m with our own Justin Brownlow in thinking that’d be a reach for those guys, but we’ll see, and maybe a move happens involving Cleveland.
The Cavaliers are set to have two second-round picks at #39 and #56 as well, and former Wake Forest teammates Alondes Williams and Jake LaRavia could be nice options for the first second-rounder, to me. Maybe Christian Braun could be a guy to consider, too, among others.
For the Wine and Gold, though, the club has been linked to players such as Jerami Grant, Gordon Hayward, Harrison Barnes as potential trade targets, involving other possible elements to the offseason. And as far as free agency goes, provided they do have the non-taxpayer mid-level exception this offseason, set to be roughly $10.3 million, that could make a difference for them. Landing a viable backup point guard or wing shooter could help Cleveland there, in that realm, perhaps for a two or maybe three-year deal in this sense.
Some rumored potential targets include Ricky Rubio, who was great for Cleveland last season as an offseason trade acquisition prior to his ACL tear in late December, and it’s understandable why a possible Rubio return would appear to be likely. He had 13.1 points and 6.6 assists per contest in a supersub-type role in 34 games prior to his injury, but I do have my concerns involving his injury, the timing of when he could be fully back, per se, and he’ll be entering his age-32 season.
As far as others on the backup point guard front, I’d get if the Cavaliers strongly considered Delon Wright, too, another reported possibility. There are shooting limitations there, though.
Others could seemingly include Tyus Jones, a rumored possibility, and perhaps Dennis Schroeder could be a shot creation add.
All of that being said, whether or not Collin Sexton ends up being re-signed, regarding secondary playmaking, and which I do still believe is a good possibility, the aforementioned Jones would be such a sensible signing. Our own Josh Cornelissen astutely pointed out him as a possibility for Cleveland on Thursday, when it came to a few MLE targets. Here, I just thought I’d go a bit further on Jones, who is set to be unrestricted.
A Cavs’ potential Jones free agency signing would make so much sense.
Jones is a player that’s established himself as a quality backup point guard, and since signing with the Memphis Grizzlies, has done a nice job as a table setter in non-Ja Morant minutes, and played some with Morant as well.
Jones is a very reliable backup PG
This season, Jones had 8.7 points and 4.4 assists in 21.2 minutes per contest, and in past two seasons prior, had 3.7 and 4.4 assists per game for Memphis. Before that, Jones had 6.9 points and 4.8 assists per game in his last season with the Minnesota Timberwolves, and in first season with them as a regular rotation guy, had 5.1 points and 2.8 assists per outing.
Jones’ skill set would help the Cavaliers when it comes to primary playmaking depth, as he’s a player that is a sensible ball-mover that does a nice job of getting shooters involved, and his pick-and-roll play has really taken strides. He’d likely work well in stretches with Jarrett Allen in that area, for example.
With Jones, he’d provide stability at the backup 1 spot for stretches as a functional ball-mover and playmaking presence, and in non-Darius Garland minutes, that could be a lift for Cleveland, and I personally believe he could play in some spots alongside Garland or Collin Sexton/Isaac Okoro. The same could apply with Caris LeVert, if LeVert sticks around.
Jones is not going to wow anybody with athleticism or flash, but he’s a polished ball-mover that initiates things well, and keeps guys involved. I also don’t discount how he’s such a low-turnover player. Jones has had just 0.7 turnovers per game for his career, and has led the league in assist-to-turnover ratio each of the past four seasons.
Additionally, Jones is a more than capable mid-range shooter, and while he’s not a high volume three-point shooter, he’s competent in catch-and-shoot scenarios, and can create for himself via floaters and on some drives. Regarding the deep shooting, he did hit 39.0 percent in 2021-22, albeit on 2.8 attempts. Over the past four seasons with Memphis, for further context, he shot 36.7 percent on 2.3 attempts in 19.2 minutes per game.
Now, I’m not going to say that Jones is a high-volume shot creator or anything, however, with the opportunities, he’s fine in the scoring sense and has improved as a catch-and-shoot player in recent seasons.
Jones filled in well as a starter this season, and he’s solid defensively
Also, Jones has shown that when needed as a fill-in starter, he can get the job done, as evidenced by his play in times when Morant has missed time due to injury. It wasn’t in the playoffs, in this sense, and Morant’s injury didn’t exactly help Memphis in their semifinal loss to the Golden State Warriors.
Jones did a solid job when he was in in this postseason, though, and some postseason experience from him could help the Cavaliers in coming years, to that point. And as a starter during this regular season, Jones’ play did help the Grizz have a 20-5 record without Morant. Memphis’ record was 5-4 when Jones started when Morant missed time the season prior, which wasn’t nearly the same, but there was marketed growth from the Grizz’s young guys in this last season, frankly.
Partially along those lines for the team impact, on the defensive end, the 6-foot Jones is a capable lead guard defender, and is competent enough to handle primary playmakers for stretches, and some opposing 2s, in my opinion. He’s going to be in the right spots as a team defender as well, typically, and can make plays in passing lanes. Lifetime, he’s had 1.9 steals per-36 minutes, which could help the Cavs get out in the open floor.
So, overall, while I wouldn’t be necessarily surprised if Jones were to re-sign this offseason with Memphis, considering the success the Grizzlies had this season and their strides in 2020-21, maybe with Cleveland’s turnaround, he’d consider signing with the Cavs.
Perhaps, if the Cavaliers were to have the non-taxpayer MLE available, roughly that number for a multi-year deal could be a reasonable number for Jones, who had a cap hit of $8.8 and $8.4 million the past two seasons. He previously signed via the MLE with Memphis back in 2019 as a restricted free agent, and his deal was not matched by Minnesota then.
Granted, of course, we’ll have to see what happens with Sexton and feasibly LeVert, but it’s understandable as to why the Cavaliers have been linked to the 26-year-old Jones as a potential free agency target.