The Cleveland Cavaliers know, for the most part, what they have in their Darius Garland-Donovan Mitchell backcourt tandem, and in the starting frontcourt with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. Even with a series loss in just five games to the New York Knicks in the first round, those players look to be the core for Cleveland.
Other rotational pieces when looking at next year could still be Caris LeVert, if he is brought back, Cedi Osman, Isaac Okoro, Ricky Rubio, Lamar Stevens and Dean Wade. Granted, the Cavs could eventually be in the right to move on from a couple of those players, we’ll have to see what transpires.
For the Cavaliers, it’s evident they need to target playable bench depth, though, and Cleveland possibly in the trade market to solidify their starting 3/wing outlook seems likely, and would be sensible. Rumored potential targets such as Royce O’Neale, Dorian Finney-Smith and Bojan Bogdanovic seem to be options Cleveland could look to swing a deal for via trade, for example, and any one of those players could be crucial contributors.
Additionally, the Cavaliers could feasibly look to fortify their wing depth in free agency this summer, one would imagine. Names along the lines of Jae Crowder, Kelly Oubre Jr., Torrey Craig and others, such as Joe Ingles and/or Yuta Watanabe, could end up being helpful players for Cleveland, and could in some capacity take some pressure off of Cleveland’s guards and Mobley.
This isn’t to suggest those players wouldn’t be quality signings, but another possible target that might be a more unheralded and younger option could be Troy Brown Jr., who is currently amid a playoff run with the Los Angeles Lakers. Brown is set to be an unrestricted free agent this season as well, and still only turning 24 in July, he might have some more untapped offensive ability to pair with intriguing defensive tools and plus athleticism.
Brown Jr. would be a nice under the radar wing target for the Cavs to pursue this summer.
Brown signed with the Lakers last offseason after beginning his career with the Washington Wizards and then being traded to the Chicago Bulls near the 2021 deadline. With Washington and Chicago, he was predominantly a bench contributor, with averages of 7.4 points and 4.1 rebounds in 19.7 minutes per outing with the Wizards, and splits of 4.5 points and 3.1 rebounds in 16.4 minutes per contest with the Bulls.
With the Lakers in the regular season, he posted 7.1 points and 4.1 boards in 24.5 minutes per game, which included 45 starts in 76 appearances. Brown has since provided some defensive and energy minutes in L.A.’s current postseason run, with him involved in four games in their first round series win over the Memphis Grizzlies, and getting 12 minutes of run in their Game 1 win over the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night.
From a Cavaliers’ perspective, Brown seems to be a potential offseason target that might not have the traction of some others, but for a player that could be at minimum a quality rotational player, he seems to be an under the radar guy. He’d be a talented defensive wing to have who can be viable in defense of multiple positions/playtypes.
Brown is a versatile defensive wing
Brown is a player that could be arguably Cleveland’s best defensive wing option off the bat, as he’s suitable to have go against 3s, with him being put-together enough to dictate the direction of drivers, and in the same light, he’s quick enough to defend guards.
Brown would be more than capable of handling a variety of tough perimeter matchups for considerable stretches defensively for Cleveland, and he’s 6-foot-7 with a 6-foot-11 wingspan, which factors into him being a defensive playmaking presence. For his career to this point, he’s posted 1.3 steals per-36 minutes, and a steal rate of 1.7 percent.
Brown could potentially be an upgrade to Isaac Okoro and/or Lamar Stevens as a defensive wing, partly because of the length element but also with Brown’s activity as a quick and heady off-ball player.
Plus, what might be a bit underappreciated is how Brown is an active contributor on both ends of the glass, which was an obvious issue for Cleveland in the playoffs, and throughout the regular season, as far as the defensive end. Brown has had 6.9 boards per-36 minutes in his career through five seasons, and a defensive rebounding rate of 16.8 percent.
Now, on the other end, he hasn’t been in a high usage role in his time in the NBA, however, others being heavily involved at each stop has played some into that, and Brown has gradually improved as a shooter and is a natural finisher.
Brown can knock open threes down, and might have more to his game
During the regular season, Brown connected on a career-best 38.1 percent of his overall three-point attempts, on a career-high 3.7 attempts per contest. He hit 35.3 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc with Chicago in 2021-22, for what it’s worth.
Brown’s shooting stroke has gotten better over the course of his career, and if he were a target for Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell or others as a catch-and-shoot player, he can knock those down when open. On wide-open three-point attempts in the past two regular seasons, he’s connected on 41.9 percent and previously 42.9 percent of those, per NBA.com’s shot tracking data.
Whether or not Brown were to be regularly starting for the Cavs in this scenario, he could carry his quality catch-and-shoot play forward, and he has shown the capability to make some plays to counter hard closeouts.
So, with the defensive on-ball and playmaking abilities in mind, combined with shot-making strides, Brown would be a nice under the radar free agency target for Cleveland.
Now, this isn’t to say that the Cavs shouldn’t look to add another wing, or potentially involve Okoro, Cedi Osman and/or others in a deal for a starting 3 upgrade via trade, but Brown could definitely be a valuable three-and-D piece to have.
He also is a player that, if given the opportunity, could have some untapped creation in store for years ahead, if given the chances. He’ll be 24 in the 2023-24 season; perhaps there’s more to come there, considering his shooting growth. As we mentioned before, Brown is a gifted finisher as well, thanks to his athleticism, body control and improved cutting feel.
Maybe Brown looks elsewhere or eventually re-signs with the Lakers, who look ultra-dangerous right now with LeBron James and Anthony Davis leading the way. With the Cavs, though, it seems possible that he might have a bigger role looking onward, with Jarred Vanderbilt, Rui Hachimura, if he’s re-signed, in the fold, among others.
Given the circumstances, it’d be great to see the Cavaliers sign Brown via some of the roughly $12.2 million nontaxpayer Mid-Level Exception in free agency, via multi-year deal with say, the third season partially-guaranteed. Brown has been on a minimum contract this season, however, so that’s conceivably another option as essentially a prove-it deal.