Tag: terrence jones

Some Options For Cavs Still On The Market.

As the NBA free agency period is going on, the Cleveland Cavaliers have made one major move in re-signing three point shooter Kyle Korver, and a minor move in inking point guard Jose Calderon as a free agent.

At the end of The Finals, we thought the Cavaliers needed to get younger and longer on the bench, but neither of the moves made accomplished that as Korver is 36 years old and Calderon is 35.

And Calderon is coming off his worst season as a pro, averaging just 3.4 points per game, and seeing his three point shooting percentage drop to just 31%, down from his career norm of 41%.

His defense is also non-existent

Also, Richard Jefferson announced he will be returning for his 17th season, and he will be 37 years old for the 2017-18 season.

Not exactly accomplishing what we think should be the goal for next year, is it?

Here are some guys who are still out there as unrestricted free agents that we would be interested in for the wine and gold this summer:

Shabazz Muhammad:  He will be 25 years old next season and is 6’6″.  His career scoring average in 9.7, with a high of 13.5 in his second year with Minnesota.

He’s a decent defensive player too, and should get better with experience.

Terrence Jones:  He’ll be 26 years this season, and at 6’9″ has a career 10.5 scoring average and 5. 7 rebounds in 24 minutes per night.

He also has solid defensive metrics for his career.  The negative is he’s been with three teams over the last 12 months.  He scored 36 points in a win over the Cavaliers last season while with New Orleans.

Tyreke Evans:  Evans will be 28 this season and is coming off two injury plagued seasons.  In his last full season, he averaged 16.6 points and 6.6 assists per game with New Orleans in 2014-15.

He’s 6’6″ and before he was hurt, his defensive metrics were okay.  He is a player who can create his own shot.

Jeff Withey:  We like Withey as a veteran big off the bench.  He’ll turn 28 during next season, and averages about two rebounds and a blocked shot per game in the 10 minutes he gets.

He’s not spectacular, but does a solid job.  He may not be able to play in a Finals matchup with Golden State, but you have to win the Eastern Conference first.

We understand these guys aren’t familiar to many basketball fans, and they don’t shoot the three like the players Cleveland has pursued for their bench in recent years.

And in spite of our contention that the Cavs need to get younger, if the New York Knicks do buyout Carmelo Anthony, we would love to have him as another scoring option for the team.

Remember that in The Finals, Tyronn Lue received little or no production from his bench outside of Jefferson.  They didn’t contribute on offense, and that was supposed to be their strength.

So, if you can’t get offense, perhaps giving the team better defenders off the bench would be a different tact vs. the Warriors.  We believe younger players would give you a better chance of that.

The longer the players listed remain unsigned, the better chance the Cavs have of getting these guys with the limited room they have due to the salary cap.

That might be their best chance to improve this off-season.

JK

 

Will or Can The Cavs Make A Move?

The crazy season in the NBA is in full force this week as the All-Star Game is over and the trading deadline is the middle of this week.

It will be tough to top the bomb that went off within the Association after the game yesterday, when the Sacramento Kings dealt perhaps the most talented big man in the game in DeMarcus Cousins to the team who has the other player in that category, the New Orleans Pelicans to Tyreke Evans, rookie Buddy Hield and some draft picks.

The team in the Big Easy now has the two best big men in the sport in Anthony Davis and Cousins.

Of course, with the Cleveland Cavaliers trying to defend their NBA title, and one of their best players down with an injury in Kevin Love, the question that concerns local basketball fans is will the wine and gold make a move to bolster the roster prior to the deadline.

Recent history, of course, says yes.

In his first year as GM, David Griffin traded for JR Smith, Iman Shumpert, and Timofey Mosgov, changing the roster dramatically, and putting the franchise into position to win the first championship in franchise history.

As we all know, injuries to Love and later, Kyrie Irving decimated the Cavs’ roster by the time they battled to reach The Finals, and Cleveland came up just short to the Golden State Warriors.

Last year, Griffin traded for another sharp shooter, Channing Frye, who contributed greatly in the playoffs after kind of being an afterthought in Orlando.  Frye showed that sometimes players who aren’t great contributors on bad teams can be very useful on very good teams.

Already this season, Griffin has been very active.

After Smith went down with a thumb injury after the holidays, Griffin traded for another premier three point shooter in Kyle Korver.  The veteran was showing signs of decline in Atlanta, dropping to 44% shooting, with 41% behind the arc, but in Cleveland, he has regained the touch.

In 19 games with the Cavaliers, Korver has hit 51% of his shots, both from behind the three point line as well as overall.  He has picked up the outside shooting lost with Smith’s injury.

Then, Griffin signed veteran Derrick Williams for added depth, and see our comments about Frye in talking about Williams, who was the second pick in the NBA Draft behind Irving in 2011.

Still just 25 years old, Williams has averaged 9.8 points in his four games in Cleveland, and has been very active on both ends of the floor.  He looks very much like he can be a contributor for the wine and gold going forward.

All of this history leads us to believe the Griffin will make some sort of move in the next week or so.  It may not be a trade, he could wait for players who will be released after the deadline, who can help Tyronn Lue’s roster.

One player we would advocate looking at is a player we thought about in the late summer, because he didn’t sign until late in the process, and that is Terrence Jones, who is likely to be moved by New Orleans after last night’s deal.

Jones is young (just 25 years old), and Cleveland could use some youth on its roster, and he is also long, another need for the Cavs.  Jones is listed at 6’9″ and his primary position is power forward, another need for the wine and gold with Love out.

He’s a career 50% shooter from the floor, but isn’t a three point threat.  He’s averaging 11.5 points per night in just 25 minutes per game.  He is also grabbing six caroms a game, and his reputation is that of a little better than average defender.

We are also sure that Griffin will come up with another back up point guard, because resting Irving and LeBron James will be very important in March, so Lue will need someone he can trust.

That may be a guy who comes to Cleveland in a buyout situation, perhaps someone like Dallas’ Deron Williams.

It will be an interesting week surrounding the Cleveland Cavaliers for sure.  We feel very positive that the wine and gold will bolster the roster for post-season push.

To this point, fans need to trust Griffin and his group because they have pushed the right buttons.  It helps him when Lue and James are around to assimilate the new players into what the Cavaliers want to do.

JK