3 bargain veteran free agents that could help Cavs shooting efforts

Bargain Vet No. 3: JaMychal Green

The third potential vet shooter for the Cavaliers to target via bargain deal could be JaMychal Green. As compared to the first two players we touched on, Green would qualify as a rotational stretch big, who could factor into the 4 man rotation, or function as a backup 5 for spurts, seemingly.

Green over the years has had his role decrease gradually since his days with the Memphis Grizzlies, where he first came on as a defensive piece with flashes of two-way capability, and with potential as an on-ball offensive contributor.

He’s long been a quality finisher inside, and one should never discount that for rotational bigs, but in his time then with the LA Clippers and Denver Nuggets, Green began to demonstrate a legit stretch big skill set. With the Clips, he knocked in 39.3 percent of his looks from three, and with Denver in the 2020-21 season, he connected on 39.9 percent from three on 3.4 attempts per game.

His deep shooting took a turn for the worst in 2021-22 with Denver, when he shot just 26.6 percent from downtown on 1.9 attempts per game, however, he did still make a difference defensively, and the reasoning there was largely due to a wrist injury.

From there, Green responded this season with the Golden State Warriors pretty well as a catch-and-shoot presence after a buyout agreement between him and the Oklahoma City Thunder, following him being traded there last offseason.

With the Warriors, Green canned 37.8 percent of his deep attempts, but in 14.0 minutes per outing, which was another minutes decrease. The volume was 1.9 looks per contest in the regular season for him, which wasn’t high.

Still, for minutes at either frontcourt position, the 6-foot-9 Green could knock down open deep attempts, and he’s still a sturdy defender to have against opposing bigs with a 7-foot-2.25 wingpsan. He’s a high IQ player that has 56 games of postseason experience as a role piece as well.

Green could return to the Dubs next season, however, at least for the Cavaliers in this free agency period, he’d look to be a solid under the radar target that could be a bargain player, with him last season going to the Warriors via the vet’s minimum. Even with him set to play in his age-33 season in 2023-24, Green could still help this Cleveland team.