The Point Four-ward: the Point Moving Forward

Four points I’m thinking about the Cleveland Cavaliers…

1.) Of any position on the Cavs, the one with the biggest question mark hanging over it heading into this season was the back-up point guard position. And that was before news broke this weekend that the presumptive holder of that position, Mo Williams, was contemplating retirement.

Over the weekend, cleveland.com’s Joe Vardon reported that the knee problems that dogged Williams, 33, all last season, along with a desire to coach young players, were the main factors causing him to consider walking away from the NBA a champion. If true, that would leave the Cavs with only one point guard to back up Kyrie Irving, 5-9 rookie Kay Felder, and could turn the team’s decision not to match the Milwaukee Bucks’ offer to Matthew Dellavedova into an even riskier move than it was in the first place.

Even while Williams earned playing time in the Finals when Dellavedova fell out of favor with head coach Tyronn Lue, the problems he was having with his knee were no secret. Which is to say: this couldn’t have taken the Cavs and GM David Griffin completely by surprise. So, while Griffin is probably well aware of the Cavs options moving forward, here’s a quick run-down for the rest of us.

2.) The Cavs can elect to just let Williams retire, which would keep Williams’s $2.2 million contract on the books for the year. With the Cavs already over the luxury tax level for next season (and with J.R. Smith still unsigned), Williams contract could end up costing Cavs owner Dan Gilbert between $5.5-7.2 million, depending on the team’s salary on the final day of the season. To save on the tax hit, the Cavs could waive Williams and use the stretch provision that allows them to spread the remainder of Williams’s deal over the next three years. That could end up saving Gilbert some money this year, but with the Cavs approaching the more punitive “repeater tax” territory next season, a stretched contract could still end up costing Gilbert over $8 million over the next three years. Not a ton of cumulative savings there.

The Cavs have until Wednesday to decide whether to waive Williams and use the stretch provision.

3.) The Cavs could also look to trade Williams, either prior to the season or before the trade deadline. As tax payers, the Cavs are limited to receiving a player in return who makes 125% plus $100,000 of the outgoing player’s contract. That means the Cavs could take on a player with a non-guaranteed contract who they could waive, then turn around and sign a free agent guard of their choosing for the veteran minimum. Why a team would part with a non-guaranteed player to take on a retiring Williams and his guaranteed contract isn’t entirely clear, but still…

Had this happened weeks ago, the Cavs could have gone after a veteran point who, like Williams, could stretch the floor with his shooting. But Jason Terry recently signed with the Bucks worth $1.5 million.

Another available point guard with a track record (though, not an entirely positive one) is Ty Lawson, who signed a one-year deal with the Sacramento Kings earlier this week.

So, who’s left out there? Not much, unfortunately. Topping the heap may be Kendall Marshall, who was just traded from the Sixers to the Jazz. The Jazz then turned around and released the 6-4 true point guard.

They could also trade for a player making up to $2.85 million. This would work if the Cavs’ trade partner wanted to move a multi-year deal for Williams’s one-year contract.

4.) But, more than likely, the Cavs will sit tight and entrust their title defense to the players already on their roster. Last month, Mike wrote about how the Cavs could look to use Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith as de facto back-up points and, Shumpert’s uninspiring ball handling not withstanding, this makes some sense.

The Cavs owned the second quarter once Lue opted to run James with the subs. Yes, Dellavedova was on the court, but the bulk of his role was to defend and hit open shots, much as it would have been for Williams this year (save for the “defend” part). So, instead of Williams with the subs, maybe Lue runs a line-up of James, Channing Frye, Mike Dunleavy Jr., Shumpert and either Smith, Richard Jefferson, Jordan McRae or DeAndre Liggins. There’s still enough playmaking in that bunch to work James some time off the ball and enough defense (presumedly) to hold the fort when The King gets a breather.

While the Cavs’ second-best player happens to play the point guard position, largely because of James’s passing skills, the team’s offense has become more reliant on outside shooting from both of its guards, rather than traditional point guard skills.

While Felder has teased Cavs fans with his potential this summer, it’s unlikely that Ty Lue thrusts a full-time back-up roll on him right out of the gate. If his play warrants it, the minutes will be there for him, but between Kyrie Irving and LeBron James, there may not be enough time of possession in an NBA game to factor in another point guard having the ball in his hands.

Regardless of if, when, and how the Cavs decide to part ways with Williams, this is an unfortunate turn for the sharpshooting fan favorite who, along with James, helped this team to its two most successful regular seasons in franchise history. Still, while everything about Williams’s return to the Cavs wasn’t storybook, at least the end — with Mo Gotti getting run in Game 7 of the NBA Finals that was close from tip to final horn — was.