Cavs should strongly consider Kyle Anderson in free agency

How Anderson could help the Cavs on offense

On the offensive end, Anderson is not going to be a three, when it comes to role guy three-and-D player for stretches.

Catch-and-shoot prowess is far from his best attribute from distance. Anderson is a career 33.4 percent three-point shooter, and aside from last season, has not shown much as far as consistency with volume. Lifetime, that clip has been on 1.3 attempts per game, in he’s shot 33.3 percent from three in the past five seasons.

His release is slow, painting it nicely, too. That doesn’t help.

Anderson is a player that can create for himself some on drives, in secondary break situations, and has some touch in the mid-range, though. And he’s an adept finisher, and can hit floaters at times in the lane over length.

However, a key strength of Anderson’s, even despite minutes variance, has been his playmaking for others.

As a player either off the bench or as a starter, Anderson has been able to function as a quality secondary passing presence for stretches, or as a point-forward-type player. He makes good decisions, can create open looks for shooters after causing rotators to help, and I do believe he could function well after some time on the floor with Jarrett Allen as a pick-and-roll initiator.

As we noted, Anderson is not known for his athleticism, but he generally makes sound plays, can help ball movement, and I do believe could enable Darius Garland to have some more off-ball chances. In the past three seasons, Anderson has placed in the 86th, 89th and again 86th percentile in assist rate among forwards, per Cleaning The Glass.

Granted, it would seem that Anderson, who was on the books for $9.9 million in 2021-22, could cost the full non-taxpayer MLE, or at least a considerable chunk of that, and I’d assume would be a multi-year signing. I’d think he could feasibly look to re-sign with Memphis also, given their success the past two seasons, and them looking to be a contender in coming seasons.

I acknowledge that the Cavs would have to figure out how to best utilize Anderson over some time into next season, too, with other guys such as Lauri Markkanen, Dean Wade/Lamar Stevens and/or possibly Caris LeVert.

But the Cavs are a team on the rise as well, and Anderson, who will turn 29 in September, could help the Wine and Gold keep improving. Otto Porter Jr., for example, could be an intriguing alternative as well.