Last season, the Cleveland Cavaliers ranked 2nd in the NBA for 3-point percentage in the regular season.
As the franchise prepares for a new campaign, with the hopes of challenging for a championship, perimeter shooting will once again be a core part of the team’s offensive approach. As such, finding an additional sharpshooter to bring off the bench may not be the worst idea.
In a recent article for Cavaliers on SI, Andy Quach highlighted Doug McDermott as a potential free agency target. McDeromott would likely sign the veteran minimum to join Kenny Atkinson’s roster.
“With a frontcourt featuring two non-shooters in Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, Cleveland could always use some more shooting on their roster, as could pretty much every contender in the league,” Quach wrote. “The Cavaliers could also afford to add more depth on the wings. Doug McDermott would fit both of those needs.”
McDermott is a veteran scoring threat. He’s a 41.1% career shooter from deep, and has also shown an ability to punish closeouts via one or two-dribble pull-ups. Bringing him off the bench would ensure the Cavaliers have another catch-and-shoot threat to keep defenses honest and provide spacing on the perimeter.
However, if the Cavaliers did acquire McDermott, they would need a plan for how to hide him on the defensive side of the floor.
Donovan Mitchell Speaks on Cavaliers Playoff Exit
A primary reason why the Cavaliers could potentially target another veteran talent is due to how easily the franchise was eliminated from the 2024 NBA playoffs. During the Cavaliers’ second game of the Las Vegas Summer League, Donovan Mitchell joined the broadcast to share his opinion on the franchise falling short.
“When you’re in hindsight, it’s always like, ‘okay, we’ve taken a step. You need this to take it to the next level,” Mitchell stated. “But, to be honest with you, and I think we all feel this way, it was a letdown for us, man. We let ourselves down, we let the city down. And, we let the organization down. We all felt it… Everything lined up for us to do that, and we didn’t take care of business. So, that’s the failure on our part. So, now the biggest thing is, take it, use it as fuel.”
While McDermott wouldn’t move the needle in terms of upside, his presence would undoubtedly unlock some additional rotations and substitution patterns for Atkinson. When challenging for a championship, it’s the little details that could make the biggest impact.
Lonzo Ball Has Already Joined the Cavaliers
Koby Altman has already been making changes to the Cavaliers’ roster. Earlier this summer, Cleveland sent Isaac Okoro to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for Lonzo Ball. As such, Cleveland has now replaced Ty Jerome, who subsequently joined the Memphis Grizzlies.
During an appearance on the “What an Experience” podcast, Ball shared his excitement at joining Cleveland’s talented roster.
“I feel like it’s just a blessing, bro,” Ball said. “To be honest, I mean, everybody keeps asking me how I feel about the trade. I’m like, s***, I’m happy to still be playing anywhere, let alone a team that has a real chance to win a ring… My whole life, I feel like I’ve been playing the right brand of basketball, and that’s to win games, so I feel like I’m going to a great situation, and I just want to play my role and do what I can to help.”
Ball will undoubtedly provide a boost to the Cavaliers’ roster. If he can get and stay healthy, he will drastically improve the second unit or form a new partnership with Donovan Mitchell.
Of course, giving Ball another shooter like McDermott would ensure that his passes could lead to easy buckets from deep. Therefore, if the veteran forward is open to joining the Cavaliers, they would be wise to explore a deal in the coming months.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Cavaliers’ Urged to Target Sharpshooting Veteran in Free Agency appeared first on Heavy Sports.