When the Cleveland Cavaliers signed Ty Jerome as a depth move in the 2023 free agency period, it was a sensible addition, by way of a two-year, $5 million deal. He’s a nice player to have for stretches you can be viable at either guard spot, should be able to fill in when Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell are being staggered, and can hold up defensively.
Jerome is not going to be a player who is probably going to be involved in any Sixth Man of the Year conversations, but when he’s been able to have chances to do so, he’s been able to contribute for his squads.
The 26-year-old was last on a two-way contract with the Golden State Warriors after spending his second and third season in the NBA with the Oklahoma City Thunder. His rookie campaign was spent with the Phoenix Suns, who acquired him via trade from the Boston Celtics a couple of weeks after the 2019 NBA Draft.
To drive it home, Jerome has not necessarily always been able to stick in situations, and last season, he was on a two-way deal with Golden State. Despite that, he can affect winning for Cleveland if they can find ways to get him early-season time, and with Ricky Rubio’s situation not having clarity at this time, Jerome could potentially be involved more early on, it seems.
We’ll get right into the two primary goals for Jerome next, beginning with the first, which would illustrate he’s finding his way to get rotational time regularly with the Cavs.
For the first goal, this would involve Jerome making his way into the Cavaliers’ rotation, and eventually, being regularly in the fold with the Wine and Gold.
Last season, he did do a commendable job with Golden State on what was again a two-way deal, and that led to him playing in 45 contests with the Warriors. He had 6.9 points and 3.0 assists per outing, in what was 18.1 minutes per appearance in that time.
Jerome has typically been a fine rotational contributor for his clubs when he’s had the chances for meaningful action, but the chances have just not always been consistent. With Cleveland, though, perhaps he can find a way to eventually regularly be in the fold.
With the uncertainty involving Rubio’s outlook, and Jerome being capable of playing stretches either as a lead or combo guard, and being a sensible table-setter and a respectable shooter, maybe that can play out. Jerome being decent defensively helps in that sense as well.
This isn’t to suggest Jerome is going to be a focal point offensively, or be putting double-doubles in his appearances. Despite those things, if he can cement his place in Cleveland’s rotation, he has shown he can affect winning when given the chances to establish a rhythm.
If his number is called in the early going of the season, this goal would seem attainable, provided he stays healthy.
Jerome’s opportunities have not always been consistent in our four-year career in the NBA to this point, so that has played into some ups and downs for him as a three-point shooter. Through four years, he’s hit 35.2 percent of his three-point shot attempts, which have been 3.1 attempts per outing.
Last season, Jerome did make his presence felt as a catch-and-shoot player for the Warriors, though, and if given chances with Cleveland, he could care that over. He shot 38.9 percent from three-point land in the 2022-23 campaign with Golden State, which was a positive sign, but Jerome did so on a limited 2.0 attempts per contest.
In the two prior seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Jerome shot 29.0 percent and previously 42.3 percent from downtown, on 3.9 and 5.1 attempts per game. That was in 48 and 33 appearances, respectively.
As was mentioned, if given regular chances in Cleveland’s rotation, Jerome could be a quality shooter to look to for stretches from three-point range, particularly off-ball. And while the volume probably wouldn’t account for a bunch of his attempts from beyond the arc, Jerome could take advantage at times from there in pick-and-roll situations, and/or with rhythm dribbles to counter hard closeouts here and there.
If Jerome can knock down 40.0 percent or so of his rotational deep ball tries, that’d likely indicate he’s meshing well with other Cavaliers in his minutes this coming season.