The Cleveland Cavaliers made their share of transactions over the past week-plus, with NBA Free Agency beginning last Friday evening.
The Cavaliers re-signed Caris LeVert to a two-year, $32 million deal, they signed Georges Niang to a three-year, $26 million contract and then swung a deal to acquire Max Strus via sign-and-trade from the Miami Heat. The San Antonio Spurs were in the Strus trade as well; Strus’ contract was for four years and $63 million.
From there, Cleveland would trade for Damian Jones of the Utah Jazz, and then shortly thereafter, the Cavs would sign Ty Jerome to a two-year deal. The move for Jerome was for a team-friendly compensation level of $5 million over the next two seasons.
These moves have since been made official, and the same goes for Cleveland’s two-way signings of Isaiah Mobley, Emoni Bates and Craig Porter Jr.
As for the aforementioned Jerome signing, that was not going to generate nearly the same buzz as say, the Strus or Niang moves, but it could end up being an under the radar addition.
Jerome should provide Cleveland with more competent depth for some playmaking, viable shooting and quality defensive play for stretches. He’s seemingly a sensible backup plan for if Ricky Rubio still is struggling, based on his past season in coming off his ACL injury, or Jerome could fill in for spurts playing more off-ball.
So, what should fans generally expect to see from this Cavaliers’ Jerome signing in years ahead?
Let’s begin with the first of two realistic expectations for Jerome, then, the first pertaining to he projects as an upgrade, to some extent, as rotational depth.