Good, Better, Best: 3 trade targets for Cavaliers to improve shooting

The Cleveland Cavaliers have a really good team. That has been evident all season, but especially in the last week as the Cavaliers have flexed some excellent wins. They have a tight eight-man rotation with a couple of good players beyond that, and given their youth and inexperience there’s a lot of momentum simply to be patient at the NBA Trade Deadline and not make a major move.

Being patient isn’t the same as being complacent, however, and it behooves the Cavs to keep an eye on the trade market and evaluate each potential deal. If they do make an upgrade, the obvious area of need is shooting. Let’s look at three potential trade targets and rank them from “good” to “best”.

Good trade target: Doug McDermott, San Antonio Spurs

Early on in this trade season the name Doug McDermott floated out. The eight-year veteran out of Creighton is playing on a rebuilding San Antonio Spurs team, so he’s an obvious trade target. He is a career 41 percent 3-point shooter hitting 41.3 percent of his shots this season, and 55 percent of his shots come from deep.

The problem with playing McDermott is that he is a turnstile defensively. For every 3-pointer that he hits he is likely giving up two baskets on the other end. The Cavaliers can insulate poor defenders better than most with their elite back-line defense, but it’s unlikely they could play McDermott more than a handful of minutes in the playoffs. Given that he makes $13.5 million, adding McDermott probably isn’t worth the matching salaries it would take to trade for him.