After the NBA Trade Deadline, a number of veteran players find themselves on rebuilding teams that don’t particularly want or need their services. Those players would rather play for a team that matters, while the team on track to miss the playoffs would rather give playing time to developing players or free-agent fliers.
That’s where the “buyout market” came from. These veteran players and their teams negotiate a buyout where the player takes slightly less money and the team then waives them, allowing them to hit the open market and sign wherever they would like. Historically, that has not been with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Yet on Super Bowl Sunday, when veteran wing and three-time NBA Champion Danny Green secured a buyout from the Houston Rockets, he had a number of contenders vying for his services. Which team did he choose? The Cavaliers, over other options like the Boston Celtics. That is yet another sign that the Cavs have arrived as a true contending team.
The Cleveland Cavaliers added a perfect fit in Danny Green.
Danny Green may be getting long in the tooth at 35 years old, and he is coming off of a major knee injury, which is why he was a buyout option in the first place. Even in a small role, however, Green can be exactly what this team needs. Let’s break down Green’s fit and how he checks off all of the boxes for a Cavaliers team that looks even more dangerous now.
Danny Green meets the Cavaliers’ need for experience
This has been a common topic of discussion this season, but the Cleveland Cavaliers are not a team with much playoff experience. Donovan Mitchell has a number of elite playoff games, but he’s only been in 39 total games across five seasons. Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert were in the same nine first-round games with the Brooklyn Nets. Ricky Rubio has played in 11, while Cedi Osman logged 14 (but just 62 total minutes) as an end-of-bench guy with the 2018 Cavs team. Kevin Love is the old hat with 63, although he’s also outside the rotation now.
Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, Isaac Okoro, Dean Wade and Lamar Stevens have a grand total of 0 playoff games to their names. That makes them by far the least experienced contending team this season, (depending on your opinion of the third-place Sacramento Kings as a contender). Part of gaining experience is playing the games, and this Cavaliers core will get their first taste this season.
The other part is having players on the team who have been there before, and now the Cavs have that in a major way in Danny Green. He has been to the playoffs 12 times in his career, making the NBA Finals four different times. His 165 career playoff games is more than all of the above players combined, and he started 159 of those games. He was a key piece on three different NBA champions with three different franchises.
Green knows what it’s like to play an opponent seven times in a row. He knows what it’s like to survive the crucible of NBA playoff defenses keying in on you. He has the wisdom of Gregg Popovich, of Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, Kawhi Leonard and LeBron James, that he can share with this group. It doesn’t make up for their lack of experience, but it is a way to help mitigate its impact. Green’s voice in the locker room will help this team grow up.
Danny Green meets the Cavaliers’ need for shooting
The Cleveland Cavaliers are a fairly accurate 3-point shooting team, hitting 36.4 percent of their 3-pointers, but rank just 23rd in attempts (a slightly better 17th in 3-point attempt rate). Their two backcourt stars are some of the best shooters in the NBA, but they don’t have an absolute gunner off the bench now that Kevin Love isn’t in the rotation.
Danny Green is the quintessential shooting wing to bring in off the bench. He is a career 39.9 percent shooter from 3-point range, and 65.2 percent of his shots have been 3-pointers. In the playoffs that rises to 69 percent of his shots. He has a smooth, easy shot that he can fire off of motion, allowing the Cavs to run him off of screens and force the defense to focus on him while players like Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland are running an action on the opposite side.
Green’s shot doesn’t go away in the playoffs, either; his attempts go up and his accuracy stays the same, including 39.8 percent in his last two postseasons with Philadelphia. Stephen Curry has since passed him, but Green set the record for most 3-pointers in an NBA Finals series a decade ago with 27.
Cedi Osman can get attempts up but he runs hot-and-cold in an extreme way, and players like Dean Wade and Isaac Okoro are improving shooters but largely rely on open shots created by others. Green’s movement and speed of shooting allow him to get open nearly anywhere, making him such a dangerous weapon from outside.
Danny Green meets the Cavaliers’ need for wing defense
Danny Green is 6’6″ tall with a 6’10” wingspan, a perfect archetype for building a defensive wing in today’s NBA. His length allows him to bother taller players, and he has enough core strength to not move off of his spot against larger players.
At 35 he has lost a touch of his athleticism, but he is still an excellent choice to defend many of the elite wings the Cavs can expect to face in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. Isaac Okoro may be perfect for defending an opponent’s best guards, but Green will be the pick against players such as Jayson Tatum, Jimmy Butler, James Harden and Khris Middleton. The Cavs didn’t have a ready answer for such matchups; now they do.
Green isn’t just an on-ball guy, either. He has fast hands and great instincts in the passing lanes. He also has a superpower, which is defending on the fast break. He has elite positioning and a preternatural ability to get a hand on the ball even when facing a 2-on-1. He’s possibly the greatest such player in the history of the NBA.
Danny Green isn’t going to suddenly play 35 minutes a night and revolutionize the Cavaliers’ entire team, but heading out of the Trade Deadline this team had three main weaknesses, and he addresses all three. He is the best fit of any player on the buyout market, and the Cavaliers look that much more dangerous now that he is on the team.