Cavs should strongly consider Kyle Anderson in free agency

Thursday night’s 2022 NBA Draft was not one seemingly filled with fireworks as a Cleveland Cavaliers fan, as the team looks to have had two draft-and-stash picks in the second round, and selected what may not be a high ceiling player at #14 in Ochai Agbaji.

Agbaji could be a ready-made catch-and-shoot player if that can translate to the longer NBA three, fortunately, and Isaiah Mobley could be a nice rotational player down the road. That Mobley, yes, Evan’s brother, is reportedly likely to be converted to a two-way deal, which isn’t a shock, anyhow.

Looking past the draft now, it still appears that the Cavaliers could very well be on the market for a backup point guard, a veteran backup 5 presence, or possibly a big wing/forward-type guy that can be multipositional on defense. That last type of player would need to have some offensive value, too, one would assume.

With backup lead guard in mind, rumored potential targets such as Tyus Jones, Delon Wright and maybe, Austin Rivers could be sensible, and Jones, of that ilk, would be the most impactful. Another name that’s been commonly linked to Cleveland is Ricky Rubio, a player that gave Cleveland really effective play last season prior to his ACL tear in late December.

The Cavaliers are reportedly “very interested” in bringing Rubio back, per Jason Lloyd of The Athletic (subscription required) too. He was a piece involved in the Caris LeVert trade with the Indiana Pacers near the last deadline, and I do get Cleveland’s interest in that possibility. He had 13.1 points and 6.6 assists per game in mostly a bench supersub-type role with Cleveland in 34 games.

We’ll have to see what happens, but to me, a potential Rubio return might not pan out as well as some might think, given he’ll be entering his age-32 season to come, and that was his second ACL tear in that same left knee, which he first tore back in 2012. Again, I do understand the reasoning for a reunion if that were to transpire, anyway.

Shifting gears, a wing/forward I would be a fan of, alternatively it’d seem, in relation to Cleveland potentially using their non-taxpayer mid-level exception (roughly $10.3 million) would be Kyle Anderson, who has been a rumored possible target. That’s gone more under-the-radar it seems, still.

The Cavs should strongly consider signing Anderson in free agency.

Anderson is a player who has had some minutes variance in his time with the Memphis Grizzlies since signing with them in 2017 after starting his career with the San Antonio Spurs.

Last season, Anderson’s minutes were cut down to 21.5 per game from the season before, when those were 27.3, likely because of Jaren Jackson Jr. being mostly healthy. Anderson had 7.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, but his defense, feel and guard-like abilities as a point-forward for stretches would be a boost for Cleveland.