When watching the Cleveland Cavaliers struggle in the first round of the playoffs in a five-game series loss to the New York Knicks, everybody recognized one of the biggest needs for Cleveland for next season is deep shooting.
Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell had far from great series’ individually against New York, but it was apparent that outside of them, there lacked a level of shooting consistency. Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen being Cleveland’s frontcourt duo for much of those games didn’t aid the team from a horizontal shooting standpoint, of course.
Having said that, it’s evident the Cavaliers have to address their shooting needs to help out their quartet of Garland, Mitchell, Mobley and Allen. Cleveland’s small forward/wing outlook has to have more legitimacy next season, and one would assume Cleveland does find ways to bring in players there via free agency and/or trade.
Names such as Royce O’Neale, Tim Hardaway Jr., Dorian Finney-Smith, Joe Ingles and Terrence Ross, among others, have been linked to the Cavs as possible offseason targets, and all of those players could be very useful for Cleveland.
A player who definitely would fit the mold of an impact shooter, to that point, is still playing, and that’s Max Strus of the Miami Heat, who are trailing the Denver Nuggets 2-1 in the 2023 NBA Finals.
Strus is just the kind of knockdown shooter the Cavs could absolutely use moving forward.
Strus has been another wing shooter seemingly linked as a potential offseason target for Cleveland. Further, he was also one of five shooters recently mentioned by reporter Kelsey Russo of The Athletic (subscription required) as targets Cleveland could pursue in free agency via their $12.2 million Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception.
As he’s had more chances the past two seasons, he’s made his presence felt in a sizeable way.