The Cleveland Cavaliers can check one thing off the Christmas trade market wish list.
Many contending teams enter the Trade Deadline looking for the same basic things. They want role players who can support their stars, ideally bringing size, shooting and defense to the rotation. The ideal deadline addition for just about any contender is a 3-and-D wing who can defend multiple positions and knock down shots from the outside.
An area where so many teams wish they could improve is specifically 3-point shooting. The pressure a knockdown shooter can bring on an opposing defense opens up opportunities for the rest of the offense. The number of elite movement shooters who are not defensive liabilities is short, however, and the teams that have them tend to want to hold onto them. It often involves a significant move to add an elite shooter.
The Klay Thompson effect
Take the Dallas Mavericks, for example. Last season they made the standard Trade Deadline deal, adding a combo forward in P.J. Washington, and also added a center to bolster their rotation of bigs. Those moves propelled them to a strong finish and a run all the way to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Boston Celtics.
Coming off that Finals loss, the Mavericks didn't rest on their laurels. Instead, they identified the need for shooting on their roster, and pulled off a complex series of moves to land Klay Thompson. The longtime Golden State Warriors wing is one of the greatest shooters of all time, and the Mavericks waved away his age-related decline and defensive limitations because they wanted to pursue his pure shooting ability -- at a high accuracy and an even higher volume.
Having such a player sprinting off of screens and flaring out to the arc in transition cracks the paint wide open for Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving to get to the rim, or sends the defense in a spiraling rotation that opens up shots for other Mavericks players. Put the ball in the hands of one of the greatest passers in the NBA and a future Hall of Famer in Luka Doncic, and you get a number of wide-open looks for a deadly sniper like Thompson.
Offensively, shooting almost always scales alongside star players. Trying to pair Anthony Davis and Giannis Antetokounmpo on the same team would mean a lot of cramped floors and offensive limitations, but when the Warriors paired Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant it meant one of the greatest offenses in NBA history.
To pull the analogy closer to home, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were an awkward fit in Miami because neither was a knockdown shooter. The solution? Move Chris Bosh to the 5 to space the court, add 3-and-D shooters, and the offense took off. In Cleveland, the Cavaliers had Kyrie Irving and brought in Kevin Love to immediately bring the shooting alongside James. Players like J.R. Smith thrived playing off of the other stars.
That's why the Dallas Mavericks went after Klay Thompson this offseason, and why other teams on the trade market will be looking for their own sharpshooter.
The Cleveland Cavaliers, however, already have their own Klay Thompson on the roster.
Sam Merrill is ready to break out
On Monday night, two days before Christmas, Sam Merrill gave the Cleveland Cavaliers their present a couple of days early: his first true exploisive shooting night of the season.
Merrill is a movement shooter, capable to sprinting off of screens or weaving through traffic to reach the 3-point arc with enough airspace to get off a shot. That scares opposing defenses witless, and while they are focusing on not letting Merrill get open, his Cavaliers teammates can cut to the rim or otherwise take advantage of a distracted defense.
That threat is potent because of Merrill's reputation, a reputation built from years of knockdown shooting. This season, however, when Merrill did get a shot off it tended to only go in at a league-average rate, not the elite percentage he was used to.
On Monday against the Utah Jazz he finally popped the lid off. Merrill got the start with Isaac Okoro and Dean Wade both out of the lineup and he took full advantage, shooting 6-for-11 from 3-point range en route to his first 20-point game of the season. It was the full display of his powers as a shooter, and it is hopefully the start of a number of such games in the coming weeks.
What is even better about Merrill is that he is not a one-trick pony. Players such as Luke Kennard or Malik Beasley can mimic Merrill's shooting prowess but are defensive liabilities. Add Buddy Hield or Seth Curry to the mix as well. What Merrill brings is an intensity on defense, a knowledge of where to be and the strength to not be bowled over, that makes him at worst a wash on that end, and at best an asset. Against the Jazz on Monday he added three steals, and at times he has been forced to match up with the likes of Jayson Tatum or Khris Middleton and he has survived.
Add all of that up, and you get an elite shooter already on the roster, a player the Cavaliers scooped up out of the G League after multiple other teams passed on him. Their loss was Cleveland's gain.
The Cavaliers don't need to find their own Klay Thompson. They have him already, and his name is Sam Merrill.