The Cleveland Cavaliers have a talented backcourt duo with Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell, and those two are the engines of their offense. Garland has emerged as one of the game’s best young lead guards, and Mitchell was All-NBA Second Team this season in his first year with the Cavaliers.
Those two players are high-level shooters, too, including Garland, and Mitchell is well-versed in all areas as a scorer.
For the Wine and Gold this offseason, though, it’s paramount that the team finds ways to add shooting around those two, and to help other guys, such as Evan Mobley in his progression, Jarrett Allen, and others.
It seems especially likely the Wine and Gold will look to address perimeter shooting and wing help via potential trades clearly, and/or via free agency. Rumored possible targets would appear to be Royce O’Neale, Dorian Finney-Smith and Tim Hardaway Jr., and some free agent players they could reportedly look to sign are Jalen McDaniels and Joe Ingles, for example.
Needless to say, perimeter shooting is crucial for possible additions.
As it pertains to potential free agents for the Cavs to target, here we’ll take a closer look at three bargain options that could help their shooting efforts.
The first is a player who was previously mentioned last season and seemingly at other points as a potential trade target for the Cavs. Maybe this offseason, he could be a suitable option after all.
Bargain Vet No. 1: Terrence Ross
Terrence Ross is a veteran who could make a difference for Cleveland’s rotation as a shooter who has been in his share of situations over the years.
Ross was last with the Phoenix Suns, after he was signed via the buyout market after traded by the Orlando Magic, the club he had been with since the 2016-17 season. Ross played in some minutes off the bench in Phoenix’s postseason run which in a loss in six games to the Western Conferences’ top seed in the Denver Nuggets.
Coming into that new situation, one couldn’t have had lofty expectations for him, though, with Devin Booker and Kevin Durant’s usage in the playoffs, in particular.
Regardless, Ross could very well fit the bill of a veteran who could play meaningful stretches for Cleveland at the 2 or 3, and hit shots from beyond the arc via ball-swings and from coming off screens in other instances.
There were some inconsistencies with his role in the past few seasons with Orlando, with him having to playmake more at some points and his shot was somewhat up-and-down with the Magic needing to get young players more minutes. He shot only 29.2 percent from three in 2021-22, and 33.7 percent from three in 2020-21.
Despite those down years from deep then, Ross had connected on 38.1 percent from three with Orlando pre-trade this season, and over the duration of his tenure with the Magic, he shot 35.1 percent from three on 5.7 attempts per contest.
For the Cavaliers, though, Ross is plenty respectable enough as a catch-and-shoot player and horizontal spacer to help open up more lanes for Garland, Mitchell and Mobley, and Ross is a well-versed shooter off of movement. He could make an impact for the Cavs in stretches as an off screen shooter, which would a key part of his game with Orlando.
Ross is probably not a player one could expect to fill in a bunch as a starter, but he is still capable of giving Cleveland a lift in bench minutes, and he’s had plenty of postseason experience, with Orlando and earlier in his career with the Toronto Raptors. He’s always been widely known to be a terrific teammate and locker room guy, too, which is always a plus.
He’ll be entering his 12th season next year, in which he’ll turn 33, so this wouldn’t be a monstrous addition. In spite of that, Ross could be a nice veteran signing that could aid Cleveland’s perimeter shooting efforts, seemingly on a bargain deal for a season or two, maybe with the second year non-guaranteed.
Bargain Vet No. 2: Yuta Watanabe
Yuta Watanabe is a rumored possible target for Cleveland this offseason, and over the years, he has steadily progressed into being a quality rotational shooter.
It took Watanabe a while before he eventually had a role for the Raptors, his second NBA club. Watanabe began his NBA career with the Memphis Grizzlies, with 15 appearances in the 2018-19 season, followed by 18 appearances in the 2019-20 campaign. In both of those seasons, he was on a two-way deal.
In the two ensuing years with Toronto, though, he began to establish himself, had his two-way deal converted to a standard one in April of 2021, and in his 88 regular season outings with the Raptors over those seasons, knocked in 37.3 percent of his three-point attempts. The volume was 1.9 attempts per game, which was not a ton, but his shooting form is much improved, along with his release time, since he first came into the league.
In the 2022-23 campaign with the Brooklyn Nets, who he signed with last offseason, he continued to take the shooting a step further. He hit a career-best 44.4 percent of his looks from downtown in 16.0 minutes per appearance, in 58 contests. Watanabe had 5.6 points per game during this now-past season with Brooklyn.
For Cleveland, Watanabe is a sensible offseason target, given his shooting strides over recent seasons, and he could be a viable catch-and-shoot player to play off of the Cavs’ stars, both in set offense and in transition.
While he doesn’t have the experience of Ross, the 6-foot-8 Watanabe has shown steady growth as he’s had more rotational opportunities, and appears to be an upward trajectory.
With those things in mind, the Cavs potentially signing the 28-year-old to a veteran’s minimum deal or maybe a one or two-year deal for the roughly $4.4 Bi-Annual Exception could be a move that’d paid off, if Cleveland sells him on the role.
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.