The Cleveland Cavaliers are no stranger to the burden of overpaying players. While there are contextual factors often involved, a team’s ability to improve the roster is severely hampered when a player’s value is brought down by a negative contract.
The Cavs dealt with that most recently with Kevin Love, whose contract extension looked like an overpay at the time it was signed and all the more so after injuries sapped his playing ability. A rebuilding Cavaliers team was never able to move off of Love for assets, nor did they flip him to bring back another player by the time they were ready to compete.
The Cavs are in a much better place right now in terms of contracts. Their four stars are all young and on value contracts. Evan Mobley is making just $8.8 million on his rookie deal, Jarrett Allen is a bargain at $20 million, and Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland are providing value that at least meets their deals in the $32-34 million range.
Do the Cavaliers have a bad contract on their books?
The search for a bad contract on the books finds more traction in the middle of the roster, specifically with the players signed to new deals this summer. Max Strus could help the Cavs address their shooting woes, or he could continue to display streaky shooting and prove too small to adequately play the 3. In that case, his contract (averaging $15.75 million over four seasons) could prove to be an overpay.
How could the Cavs move off of Max Strus and his contract if they deemed it an overpay? Let’s look at one deal that was recently suggested to see that path forward and then grade it from the Cavaliers’ point of view.
Cavaliers could trade Max Strus for Dorian Finney-Smith
Bleacher Report recently looked at every team in the league and identified their worst contract; they suggested Max Strus on the Cavs. They then built a trade for the Cavaliers to move off of that contract, a deal that would send Strus back to the Atlantic Coast.
Strus can’t be traded until mid-January, which is a large chunk of the season to see how he fits with the rest of the Cavaliers’ roster. It’s also enough time for the Brooklyn Nets to see how their season plays out and whether they are pushing for playoff contention or, more likely, heading for a spot in the Play-In Tournament or below.
Brooklyn gets to add a movement shooter under contract for the next few years, and Strus can both play for them and be flipped for assets down the road. They pocket the second-round pick now and send out Dorian Finney-Smith, a player who is duplicative with a number of other players on the Nets.
This kind of trade depends on how both teams value the key player, in this case Max Strus. He could be fair return for Finney-Smith if the Nets think highly enough of him, but if the reasons that Cleveland is moving him also influence Brooklyn a deal becomes harder to make. If both teams think he’s overpaid the trade gets harder to make.
Assuming the Nets are on board with this trade, what should the Cavaliers think?
Do the Cavaliers accept this trade?
The best version of Max Strus is probably something close to what he was in the Eastern Conference Playoffs this past season, bombing away from deep and forcing opposing defenses to closely defend him, opening up space inside for his All-Star teammates. Cleveland is hoping he can hold up defensively and hit a high enough percentage to keep defenses honest.
The downside risk is clearly there, however. Strus did get hot at times in the playoffs, but he only shot 31.9 percent overall from deep during last season’s run. His shooting percentages over the last three regular seasons? 33.8 percent, then up to 41 percent, then back down to 35 percent a year ago.
Dorian Finney-Smith is clearly a better defensive player than Strus, with the size and length at 6’7″ to defend wings and forwards. He has been deployed on all manner of opposing scorers during his time with the Dallas Mavericks and Brooklyn Nets.
What’s interesting is that Finney-Smith is also a decent shooter. For his career, he has hit 35.7 percent from beyond the arc. That’s essentially what Strus hit last year. If Max runs cold again next season, the Cavs could move him for DFS and get a much better defender and similar shooter.
Percentages only tell part of the story for Strus, however, as his off-ball movement and willingness to shoot threaten defenses in a way that Finney-Smith’s spot-up shooting does not. On the other hand, the Cavs don’t need a movement shooter at the 2; they need one at the 3, and Strus may not be able to fill that need defensively. If he’s not shooting lights out, the value proposition begins to shift back to a larger player like Finney-Smith.
The Cavaliers need a player like Max Strus; it’s just not clear if Max Strus is that player for this Cavs roster. Finney-Smith isn’t, either, but perhaps the right move is to trade Strus for size on defense and use another asset to get a shooter. Cleveland really just needs Strus to work out, but if he turns out to be a bad contract, this is a good move to get off of his salary.
Grade: B+