The Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday agreed to acquire forward Mike Dunleavy from the Chicago Bulls. Will he make an immediate impact?
It has been a quiet offseason for the Cleveland Cavaliers thus far, and I like it.
I mentioned in my last article how Jamal Crawford and Hassan Whiteside could help the Cavaliers out, but they have re-signed with their original teams since then and free agency in the NBA has been complete insanity!
First Kevin Durant catches the world off guard by signing with the Golden State Warriors, and then on Wednesday, Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade signs with the Chicago Bulls. What is going on?!
Throughout the week, there was speculation of the Cavaliers showing “interest” in Wade, but nothing was ever imminent.
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He wanted two years and at least $50 million, which the Heat were unwilling to give up. The Cavaliers are severely over the luxury tax. They would have only had a few options.
They could have either offered him the mid-level exception, he took a major paycut along with best friend LeBron James or the Cavaliers would trade some pieces to create cap space.
It never came to fruition and Wade ended up signing with the Bulls. However, in order for the Bulls to complete the deal, they would have to trade Jose Calderon and Mike Dunleavy. Calderon was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers and Dunleavy was traded to the Cavaliers.
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Unfortunately, Dunleavy has been injury-prone for much of his career. He’s only played in 94 games the last two years and only had one healthy season with the Bulls in 2012-13.
Last season, he put up his worst scoring numbers since his rookie year, averaging 7.2 points per game, and shot .394 from three-point range.
He is long and rangy at 6-foot-9, but isn’t known for his defensive prowess. His best year was in 2007-08 with the Indiana Pacers where he averaged one steal a game. Dunleavy can spread the floor and penetrate to the hole when the opportunity arises.
He doesn’t do it at the rate he did it at Duke, or when he was with the Warriors and Pacers, but it adds a different dimension to his game and the offense. He’s always been very good at playing without the ball. He can catch-and shoot quickly off the C-cut, and usually doesn’t take a bad shot.
This will be his fifth team in his 14-year career, but he will be a valuable asset to the rotation. Not only can he play both forward positions, but he can also play shooting guard. That just continues to add on to the best feature of the team which is versatility.
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Dunleavy will fit in perfect under head coach
Tyronn Lue‘s offense. He will be a spark off the bench along with newly re-signed and “unretired”
Richard Jefferson.
I can imagine an offensive lineup of Dunleavy, Channing Frye, Kevin Love, Mo Williams and J.R Smith and it being nearly impossible to stop the offensive threat and three-point opportunities.
The defense would obviously lack, but this would be an offensive lineup brought in if the Cavaliers were playing sluggish or were potentially down big. No team can ever have enough three-point shooting, and the Cavaliers added to their already deep shooting depth.
It might not be the big splash fans wanted, but it adds a pure shooter to the team. Allegedly, Ray Allen has interest in coming back to the play for the NBA. The Cavaliers supposedly reached out to him.
Dunleavy isn’t Allen, but it shows that they were in the market for shooting depth, and they got it.
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Will Dunleavy be what Frye was for the team next season? Nobody knows, but it was a safe and smart move by GM David Griffin as he looks for ways to improve the team.