Caris LeVert: Two More Years!

[BigZ94]

LeVert’s been out the last two games, and to be completely honest I haven’t really missed him on the court or felt like we were lacking his presence.

I’m not saying LeVert isn’t or can’t be a good player, but I think he’s the definition of a luxury on this team (especially once Rubio comes back), and we should move him for a better fitting piece.

It’s just further evidence that he shouldn’t be starting, at least at SF. Its a shame it takes injuries for the coaching staff to realize this. Garland + Mitchel is more then enough playmaking and offense, paired with a long 3d wing plus the twin towers we can beat anybody. Wade starting plus Stevens/Cedi off the bench is nice for now until we finally find our permanent SF. Levert will be needed for the time being as a backup for Mitchel/Garland but once Rubio if he’s healthy and productive is back, it’s definitely time to move on from Levert

 

[Cavatt]

It’s just further evidence that he shouldn’t be starting, at least at SF. Its a shame it takes injuries for the coaching staff to realize this. Garland + Mitchel is more then enough playmaking and offense, paired with a long 3d wing plus the twin towers we can beat anybody. Wade starting plus Stevens/Cedi off the bench is nice for now until we finally find our permanent SF. Levert will be needed for the time being as a backup for Mitchel/Garland but once Rubio if he’s healthy and productive is back, it’s definitely time to move on from Levert

JB sent him to the bench before he got hurt tho...

I understand giving your best players a chance like he does with Lauri last year. Didn't work this time.

It's probably Wade's injury that prevented him doing it earlier

 

[Sir'Dom Pointer]

It’s just further evidence that he shouldn’t be starting, at least at SF. Its a shame it takes injuries for the coaching staff to realize this. Garland + Mitchel is more then enough playmaking and offense, paired with a long 3d wing plus the twin towers we can beat anybody. Wade starting plus Stevens/Cedi off the bench is nice for now until we finally find our permanent SF. Levert will be needed for the time being as a backup for Mitchel/Garland but once Rubio if he’s healthy and productive is back, it’s definitely time to move on from Levert

I don't understand why everything I say turns out to be the truth, but here we are.

 

[Gimme Some Mo]

I wonder if we could have gotten Bogdanovich included in the Mitchell trade (and we add in LeVert)? Could we have? Would we have even done it?

Because man if we would have done that, we'd be looking sooooooo much better right now. He's averaging 20 on 41% from 3 and 51% overall for Detroit. What a good fit he would have been at the 3 offensively.

 

[The Oi]

I don't understand why everything I say turns out to be the truth, but here we are.

Someone get NostSir’Domus a job in the FO before it’s too late.

 

[inliner311]

JB sent him to the bench before he got hurt tho...

I understand giving your best players a chance like he does with Lauri last year. Didn't work this time.

It's probably Wade's injury that prevented him doing it earlier

I think in terms of trade value, it made sense to try to start Levert to maximize his trade value. If the goal was to trade Levert for a better fit starter, I think we had to showcase him as a starter. He just wasn't able to produce and I think we just have to try him as a sixth man to salvage his trade value. We need Levert to have some value if we are looking to add to this roster basically in any form without having to trade one of our big 4.

 

[Jscc]

LeVert’s been out the last two games, and to be completely honest I haven’t really missed him on the court or felt like we were lacking his presence.

I’m not saying LeVert isn’t or can’t be a good player, but I think he’s the definition of a luxury on this team (especially once Rubio comes back), and we should move him for a better fitting piece.

When DG and Mitchell start missing their shots more, you will. They don't involve involve Mobley/JA as much as LeVert did. Right now, they're just walking the ball up the court and out-talenting opposing backcourts. When defenses start tightening up, that won't be happening and it's going to piss JA and Mobley off. In the Atlanta game, DG and Mitchell generated almost all the offense and when JA had his man pinned inside a few times and called for the ball, they ignored him and he threw his hands up.

 

[shoes22]

When DG and Mitchell start missing their shots more, you will. They don't involve involve Mobley/JA as much as LeVert did. Right now, they're just walking the ball up the court and out-talenting opposing backcourts. When defenses start tightening up, that won't be happening and it's going to piss JA and Mobley off. In the Atlanta game, DG and Mitchell generated almost all the offense and when JA had his man pinned inside a few times and called for the ball, they ignored him and he threw his hands up.

I don’t agree. Garland in particular has been on fire lately, but when he cools down he absolutely will involve Mobley/JA more, and maybe even before then. DG is not a score-first player. Mitchell has also gotten better and better and passing inside the more comfortable he gets with our bigs.

Even besides all that, if DG and Mitchell start missing more of their shots, I don’t expect LeVert to somehow come in and fix everything.

 

[Bob_The_Cat]

LeVert’s been out the last two games, and to be completely honest I haven’t really missed him on the court or felt like we were lacking his presence.

I’m not saying LeVert isn’t or can’t be a good player, but I think he’s the definition of a luxury on this team (especially once Rubio comes back), and we should move him for a better fitting piece.

Not sure I fully agree. Just taking most of Okoro’s minutes and giving them to LeVert off the bench instantly makes the team better. He’s unlikely to get us a better SF, so you’re basically looking at trying to get a pure shooter like a Kennard(not likely available) or an athletic 4/5 type that can play around 15 mpg if needed.

It’s hard to look around the league and figure out what his value might be. I think to get anything worthwhile in return you probably have to find a team that views him as a starter. I think Dallas could be the team, but I’m just not sure what they’d be willing to give up for him.

 

[Cassity14]

What could the Cavs even get for LeVert? I think his expiring money is likely more valuable unless somebody wants to give an equally disappointing player making somewhat similar money at a different position.

He’s a luxury, but I think it’s a fair luxury until we see what Rubio has left in the tank, if anything.

 

[buzzdog]

LeVert will get better at doing what he's always done in his short and midrange game. For now it's almost like he has the yips around the basket. I don't see that being a forever thing.

He's played impressive defense, and that's a useful tool to have available on the roster as long as we don't match him against bigger players. He's at his best against 2 guards.

He's been a useful facilitator even though that's not his strong suit. He's been better than expected doing catch and shoot threes. So he can fill a role on offense. As long as we don't put too many expectations on him. Bring him off the bench with the second unit, use him more when he has favorable matchups or when he's on a hot streak. Once healthy he should always have solid rotational minutes and be ready to ride him when he gets a hot hand, sit him when he's cold or not contributing in other ways.

 

[Sir'Dom Pointer]

Someone get NostSir’Domus a job in the FO before it’s too late.

I can do Zoom consultations.

 

[Prof123]

I think they're hoping LeVert can develop into what they wanted Okoro to be - a small forward who can play great on-ball defense, get to the bucket and score in the transition game, and hit open 3's in the half court offense.

I suppose it's possible. He can score in the transition game because he can get to the rim in the open floor. He is working hard on defense and has the length and quickness to stay in front of 2's and 3's. But I don't know if he can maintain this year's 41% on 3's when his career average is 33.6%.

Still 68 games left in the season plus the playoffs. That's a lot of time to get questions answered about everybody on the roster.

It just depends on what it will take to sign him to his next contract and his playing time expectations. If he is willing to be the backup guard and average 20 minutes per game, with a lot of those minutes coming when Garland or Mitchell is injured, then LeVert could be an important part of the team. Yes, we are hoping that Rubio will fill that role, but Rubio is a year older and we don't know how much athleticism he will lose from his injury. LeVert's window will be open much longer. We saw what happened last year when our backcourt got injured. LeVert is great insurance against that happening again.

Put me down as someone who thinks LeVert's midrange % is going to revert back to his career mean but whose 3-point % this season is not a fluke. His shot looks good and the looks he is getting due to our other threats on this team are good ones. His defense has been a welcome surprise, and I think that tilts the scales and puts him in the keeper category. But, at what cost? Would he stay for $10M or so per year? If he commands $15M+, I agree we will let him go.

 

[Bob_The_Cat]

What could the Cavs even get for LeVert? I think his expiring money is likely more valuable unless somebody wants to give an equally disappointing player making somewhat similar money at a different position.

He’s a luxury, but I think it’s a fair luxury until we see what Rubio has left in the tank, if anything.

To your point, one of the few realistic trades I see would be LeVert for Fournier + ‘23 Mavs or Wiz protected 1st. Mavs pick is the one we’d want since it’s top 10 protected.

While Fournier hasn’t played great this year, he wouldn’t be coming here to start. He’s still 6’7” and a career 38% 3pt shooter and shoots 44.4% from the corners for his career. Knicks are a clunky team and needed him to be a starter at SF. We’d just need him to come off the bench, bomb threes, and be a long body we can throw at bigger guards and forwards.

Knicks want to dump Fournier and LeVert has some NY connections. While Fournier’s contract isn’t great, the final year is a team option, meaning he’s basically an expiring contract next year. That means a trade like this would give us a large expiring plus a potential 1st to make a move next offseason.

As you said though, that’s probably the type of trade we’re realistically looking at for LeVert. He might not be a guy a tanking team wants to use as a salary dump unless they’re waiving him or buying him out because he’s still a guy that can help a bad team win games they don’t want to win.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

I thought we missed LeVert against Atlanta when we had Okoro guarding Trae Young. That was ugly. Okoro doesn't have the quicks to check a point guard like Young. He's a small forward.

According to cleaningtheglass.com, the Cavs are +22 in LeVert's 31 minutes at point guard, +12.8 in his 330 minutes at shooting guard, and -3.4 in his 160 minutes at small forward.

The Cavs' most commonly used lineup of Garland, Mitchell, LeVert, Mobley, and Allen is -4.3 in 222 possessions.

I think we have a large enough sample to indicate that playing LeVert at the 3 isn't working. It might improve with time since playing the 3 is new to him, but not that much IMO.

With Dean Wade at the 3 the Cavs are +20.6 in 190 minutes. That's in the top 1% of the league.

With Okoro at the 3 we're +6.5 in 113 minutes - that's 10 points better than LeVert. With Stevens at the 3 we're -8.5.

So what to do with LeVert? He's been very good at both guard positions, but we have Garland, Mitchell, and Rubio coming back. The only thing I can think of is having DG and Don each play 32 minutes with LeVert and Rubio 16 each.

I can't see LeVert coming back next year to play 16 minutes a game. He's making almost $19 million this year. If Rubio looks good in January we could try and move LeVert to a West team that needs a guard and at least get a late first round pick out of it. But then we run the risk of an injury to DG, Mitchell, or Rubio trashing our playoff chances.