The Cleveland Cavaliers have already have had a solid offseason, bringing back Caris LeVert, signing Georges Niang, and getting Max Strus from the Miami Heat via sign-and-trade. They added Damian Jones via trade from the Utah Jazz, too, and overall, their offseason had already gone pretty well.
However, around 6 pm on Saturday, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported that guard Ty Jerome, previously with the Golden State Warriors, signed a two-year, $5 million deal to come to Cleveland.
Jerome had a quality season last year for the Golden State Warriors. He averaged 6.9 points and 3.0 assists per game while only playing 18.1 minutes per night. He signed a two-way contract with Golden State, but quickly proved that he deserved a full contract.
He only played 45 games, but that was because he had a lot of competition ahead of him for receiving bench minutes. In Cleveland, he should get a good amount of playing time. Ricky Rubio might not be in the NBA for much longer it seems, or could be on the way out as it relates to the rotation, which means that Jerome could easily slide in to be that backup point guard.
Primarily, Jerome is a shooting guard, but he is very versatile on offense. He is 6-foot-5, so he can play small forward in certain occasions, as well. He played 18 percent of his minutes at the 3 position last year for Golden State, showing off the versatility. Also, considering his assist numbers in his limited minutes, he should be able to run the point guard as well.
One of his best games funnily enough was against the Cavs in January this season, where he started and played 41 minutes, racking up 21 points, 8 assists, 1 steal, and shot 69.2 percent from the field. Not to mention, he also shot three-of-four from distance.
Now, let’s look at the rotation. The Cavaliers have a lot of guards. Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Caris LeVert, Max Strus, Ricky Rubio, and now Ty Jerome are all guys who deserve minutes on this roster. The guard spot is filled up, and could even see another player added in free agency soon.
If one were to predict a statline for Jerome, about 7 points, 3.5 assists and 2.0 rebounds per night in about 20 minutes per game wouldn’t seem so unreasonable. If that were to play out, that production would be worth every penny of that $5 million, over that duration, especially.
Now this raises the question, and that question will be answered later. Is Ricky Rubio the odd man out? He is 32 years old, and probably had his worst year of his career last season, albeit coming off his last ACL injury. But hey, that’s an article for another day.
Anyway, Jerome should get a lot of playing time, and maybe could even spend a few games in the G League depending if he does not get a lot of minutes on the regular roster. A serviceable backup guard is always welcomed, and definitely can and will be used in Cleveland.
Now for the grade.
Grade for this Cavs Jerome signing: A
This deserves an A. This is a tremendous signing, and is underrated.
Jerome definitely showed in Golden State that he deserves a solid amount of minutes, even as a backup.