Farewell, Richard Jefferson.

[Paul]

Having Richard Jefferson on the roster, in a vacuum, is a good thing. He's a guy who can shoot the 3 at a 38% career rate and has shot it even better in recent years. He probably has enough left to give us 5 to 15 mins in a playoff game.

The problem I have is the redundancy of Jefferson, Jones and Miller all on the team together. If Miller and Jones weren't coming back, Jefferson looks like a good pickup. With Miller and Jones both coming back, I'm scratching my head at what we are doing with basically 3 35 year old dudes who shoot 3s. Odds are that Blatt can probably play one of those 3 guys in the playoffs and be OK, but the other 2 will probably be cheerleaders. Basically 3 guys will be competing for a 5 to 15 minute role on the team. That doesn't seem like a very efficient use of our roster.

I also question the value of having Miller, Jones and Jefferson all on the roster together from a standpoint that it is creating a ton of uncertainty for subsequent years. Let's say by miracle, that both Jones and Jefferson play great this upcoming season and we win the title. How do we know they will, at their advanced age, have anything left for the season after that? Do we just go back into the free agent market and grab 2 or 3 new 35 year old shooters and let those guys go, or do we sign them for another year and pray? It just seems like at some point we need to find a rotational guy who's in that 26 to 30 range that Griffin himself said we needed, in order to get better.

 

[Mott the Hoople]

If the CAVS off season priorities were listed, I would rank them.
(Not including LBJ resigning - no brainer)
1. Love resigned - done
2. Quality backup PG - done with Mo.
3. Backup to LBJ - somewhat done with Jefferson. But something more might happen at deadline with TPE.

 

[CalBuckeyeRob]

Having Richard Jefferson on the roster, in a vacuum, is a good thing. He's a guy who can shoot the 3 at a 38% career rate and has shot it even better in recent years. He probably has enough left to give us 5 to 15 mins in a playoff game.

The problem I have is the redundancy of Jefferson, Jones and Miller all on the team together. If Miller and Jones weren't coming back, Jefferson looks like a good pickup. With Miller and Jones both coming back, I'm scratching my head at what we are doing with basically 3 35 year old dudes who shoot 3s. Odds are that Blatt can probably play one of those 3 guys in the playoffs and be OK, but the other 2 will probably be cheerleaders. Basically 3 guys will be competing for a 5 to 15 minute role on the team. That doesn't seem like a very efficient use of our roster.

I also question the value of having Miller, Jones and Jefferson all on the roster together from a standpoint that it is creating a ton of uncertainty for subsequent years. Let's say by miracle, that both Jones and Jefferson play great this upcoming season and we win the title. How do we know they will, at their advanced age, have anything left for the season after that? Do we just go back into the free agent market and grab 2 or 3 new 35 year old shooters and let those guys go, or do we sign them for another year and pray? It just seems like at some point we need to find a rotational guy who's in that 26 to 30 range that Griffin himself said we needed, in order to get better.

The key components of this team are here for the next 4-5 years. With LeBron, Love, Kyrie, TT, and Shumpert, in place, they really only have to extend Mozgov and things are fine through the end of this window. While it would be ideal to have younger guys at spots 7-10 of the team, being elite makes those guys tough to find and even tougher to keep in a supporting role. It is likely this team will rotate through guys like Mo, and JR, and Jefferson and James Jones while putting up the best record in the East every season.

 

[malus]

Not sure why people are bitching we will have

Irving/Mo/Delly
Shump/JR
LeBron/Jefferson/Miller
Love/Thompson/Jones
Mozgov/Varejao

Plus Haywood/TPE and the the players we drafted in the 2nd round recently to find the upgrade if need be at backup wing and/or a 4th big near the deadline.

Pretty sure TT is the backup center.

 

[macbdog]

Prototypical Blatt 9th man.

Exactly. He has had a guy like that in that role his entire NBA career.

 

[spydy13]

Okay, then it makes Jones redundant, because what does Jones give us that Jefferson doesn't? Still doesn't make a lot of sense to carry both, does it? Except for the cap/tax aspect of Jefferson being so cheap.

Anyway, you play the position you can guard, and neither of them can really guard anyone at this point. So we've got two mid-30's tweeners who are pretty good shots but can't play much defense.

But I get it -- he's cheap.

Because injuries?

I know they are similar players (although I would argue that RJ is still more athletic than JJ ever was, and theoretically you could throw Miller into this same group if he found a fountain of youth this summer), but that means you have two guys at the end of your bench that can fit in with your team and the system you run. What's so bad about that?

Sure it would have been nice to add an extra defender that could also shoot, but the simple fact is that if an important game is on the line no one we add will be in the game. Shump/JR and Delly will be the options off the bench to guard the 2/3s, not some end of the bench guy.

 

[Randolphkeys]

James Jones is supposed to be the 3rd string stretch 4 moreso than a backup small forward. Jones has really brutal defensive footwork against dribble penetration.

Jefferson is getting written off as a bad defender for some reason. I don't think he is a stopper anymore, but he is fundamentally sound. Shumpert and Dellavedova are better defenders, but Jefferson is just a step below. He keeps his man in front of him and is very good in help defense then racing back to his man to defend three point shots. Popovich gave him that ridiculous contract because of his perimeter defense. Jefferson is one dimensional on offense and old as dirt, he doesn't hurt your team on defense.

 

[Lyst]

Watching Jefferson play the past few years I felt bad for the teams he was on, glad we have another super old dude whose gas tank is running on steam.

Agree with one of my buddies, I would rather have a D-leaguer take these kinds of roster spots, who could possibly turn into something great - ala Whiteside. If he's shit, who cares, at least he tries hard and isn't using a walker to get across the court.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Jefferson taking a vet min deal is great for us because he makes $1,499,187 this year but the league reimburses us $551,911 of that so it's like he's signing for a little under $1 million. Even more important ONLY the portion not reimbursed by the league ($947,276) counts towards team salary and will require us to pay tax on it.

That's all very nice Mr. Smarty Pants, but what I really want to know is whether the portion of Jefferson's, Miller's and Jones' salaries that are covered by Social Security are also excluded from the luxury tax.

That could really save us a ton.

 

[Stark]

Richard Jefferson.

 

[Randolphkeys]

Agree with one of my buddies, I would rather have a D-leaguer take these kinds of roster spots, who could possibly turn into something great - ala Whiteside.

I've seen this line of thinking a number of times. Guess what? There are going to be spots on the bench for young players. Barring a trade, Joe Harris and Sir'Dom will have a chance to take Jefferson's playing time, they just have to outplay him. Other young players are going to get camp invites and have a chance, just like Delly did two years ago. Championship teams never carry many first or second year players with improbable chances of becoming good. Look at the 76ers last year. You can say, "Sweet, they developed Covington!" Sure. They also gave minutes to a ton of D Leaguers who proved they can't play in the NBA, and they lost a lot of games in the process.

Just faulted logic. No idea why so many people keep bringing it up.

 

[Dr. Gymbo]

Ths was the cavs off season? Jesus.

I guess re-signing Kevin Love to a 5 year deal was nothing, right?

I don't understand why people are expecting miracles with what we have left to trade. We made all of our significant moves last summer and during the season.

This is a damn good team. After all of the turnover and disruption, I'm okay with locking up our core and going with some continuity. Let Blatt and the rest of the main core guys have more time together. Adding another splashy player would only add to more wrinkles that the staff would have to work on.

 

[inliner311]

Maybe Jefferson is being brought in as a test/worst case scenario player to the team. Cant bring in another guy who is lebrons boy because you cant trade or cut him. You want someone with experience and a good spot up shooter. Worst case scenario, we have a guy to take minutes till a trade of the TPE (assuming thats what Haywood turns into). Need someone to take that roster spot to save for the future and you don't want to lose the rights of Xmas or Pointer to just cut them, assuming the front office can convince them to go to Europe.

 

[red.]

Boooring. I would have taken a chance on Jeff Taylor.

I just hope we get something out of him. Really don't want another Marion.

 

[mhi]

I would have wished for a younger guy but those tend to cost money. I never really thought we could land Wright, but I was wishfully thinking it so.

One thing is for sure though; RJ's better than fuckin Tayshaun Prince so I'll give them that.