Acquisition of CJ Miles Inches Cavaliers Closer to Postseason Contention
By Rafael Uehara
The Salt Lake City Tribune’s Brian T. Smith first reported on Friday – August, the 3rd – the Cleveland Cavaliers and free agent wingman Calvin Miles, Jr. agreed to terms on a two-year deal, with the salary figures unknown at this moment. The seventh-year man Miles spent his first six seasons in the NBA, out of high school, with the Utah Jazz, where he posted averages of 15.1 points per 36 minutes played on 41.9% shooting and 32.9% three-point shooting and 4.1 rebounds per 36 minutes played for his career.
The 25 year-old Miles, Jr. arrives to fill a need the Cavaliers had at the wing as the roster only contained Omri Casspi (who had a pretty bad year last season, posting an 11.2 PER and shooting 31.5% from three-point range in his first campaign in Cleveland) and Luke Walton (only there because his $6 million expiring contract resulted in a first-round pick on last June’s draft in the Ramon Sessions trade) at small forward, with Alonzo Gee yet to sign his qualifying offer and the team option on Samardo Samuels yet to be picked up.
Miles, Jr. should bring the team good backdoor cutting behind his extensive experience playing on the flex offense, which shares some similar principles with the Princeton offense, a portion of Cleveland’s attack inserted by head-coach Byron Scott. According to Synergy Sports Technology, Miles, Jr. averaged a point-per-possession and shot 51.9% on those cuts to the basket with the Jazz last season.
Miles, Jr. should also improve the team’s three-point shooting as the Cavaliers shot 34.6% from beyond the arc and ranked 15th in the league last season. Miles, Jr. shot just 30.7% from three-point range but that’s because he was terrible generating his own shot, in isolation, on the pick-and-roll and in transition. Spotting-up, however, which figures to be his role playing alongside such a ball-dominant backcourt of Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters, Miles, Jr. shot at league average, at 34.4% and projections are his looks will be cleaner, considering the upgrade in playmaking going from Devin Harris and Gordon Hayward to Irving and Waiters.
Miles, Jr. will also bring a defensive presence on the perimeter this Cavaliers’ squad definitely needed after ranking 26th in defensive efficiency last season, mostly because it allowed the 23rd most points in isolation, the 29th most in the pick-and-roll and the 30th most on spot-ups. Miles, Jr. allowed just 28.6% in isolation, 33.3% on spot-ups and 39.1% off screens with the Jazz last season. Alongside a big such as Anderson Varejão, he should also provide more flexibility for Scott setting up the team’s high screen coverage because of his combination of size (six-foot-six, 210 pounds) and athleticism.
Despite winning just 21 games, there was a buzz around the Cavaliers last season because of Irving’s rookie of the year campaign, which strengthened the fan-base’s belief in him as a transcending type of franchise building block. And this offseason, Cleveland has managed to upgrade the talent around him significantly, with Miles, Jr. being the latest acquisition, after Waiters and Tyler Zeller, selected third and 17th overall, respectively, on the draft.
The eastern conference got substantially stronger this summer with Brooklyn flat-out buying championship contention, others such as Toronto, Detroit, Washington upgrading the talent around their younger talent and teams like Atlanta and Orlando losing significant pieces such as Joe Johnson and Stan Van Gundy but remaining postseason contenders for now. Cleveland has also put itself in that position to perhaps be one of those up-and-coming teams that will compete for lower postseason berths.
Editor's Note: Rafael Uehara is the managing editor of 'The Basketball Post'. More of his work can be found here and he can be followed on twitter @rafael_uehara or reached via e-mail at rafael_uehara@live.com
The Salt Lake City Tribune’s Brian T. Smith first reported on Friday – August, the 3rd – the Cleveland Cavaliers and free agent wingman Calvin Miles, Jr. agreed to terms on a two-year deal, with the salary figures unknown at this moment. The seventh-year man Miles spent his first six seasons in the NBA, out of high school, with the Utah Jazz, where he posted averages of 15.1 points per 36 minutes played on 41.9% shooting and 32.9% three-point shooting and 4.1 rebounds per 36 minutes played for his career.
The 25 year-old Miles, Jr. arrives to fill a need the Cavaliers had at the wing as the roster only contained Omri Casspi (who had a pretty bad year last season, posting an 11.2 PER and shooting 31.5% from three-point range in his first campaign in Cleveland) and Luke Walton (only there because his $6 million expiring contract resulted in a first-round pick on last June’s draft in the Ramon Sessions trade) at small forward, with Alonzo Gee yet to sign his qualifying offer and the team option on Samardo Samuels yet to be picked up.
Miles, Jr. should bring the team good backdoor cutting behind his extensive experience playing on the flex offense, which shares some similar principles with the Princeton offense, a portion of Cleveland’s attack inserted by head-coach Byron Scott. According to Synergy Sports Technology, Miles, Jr. averaged a point-per-possession and shot 51.9% on those cuts to the basket with the Jazz last season.
Miles, Jr. should also improve the team’s three-point shooting as the Cavaliers shot 34.6% from beyond the arc and ranked 15th in the league last season. Miles, Jr. shot just 30.7% from three-point range but that’s because he was terrible generating his own shot, in isolation, on the pick-and-roll and in transition. Spotting-up, however, which figures to be his role playing alongside such a ball-dominant backcourt of Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters, Miles, Jr. shot at league average, at 34.4% and projections are his looks will be cleaner, considering the upgrade in playmaking going from Devin Harris and Gordon Hayward to Irving and Waiters.
Miles, Jr. will also bring a defensive presence on the perimeter this Cavaliers’ squad definitely needed after ranking 26th in defensive efficiency last season, mostly because it allowed the 23rd most points in isolation, the 29th most in the pick-and-roll and the 30th most on spot-ups. Miles, Jr. allowed just 28.6% in isolation, 33.3% on spot-ups and 39.1% off screens with the Jazz last season. Alongside a big such as Anderson Varejão, he should also provide more flexibility for Scott setting up the team’s high screen coverage because of his combination of size (six-foot-six, 210 pounds) and athleticism.
Despite winning just 21 games, there was a buzz around the Cavaliers last season because of Irving’s rookie of the year campaign, which strengthened the fan-base’s belief in him as a transcending type of franchise building block. And this offseason, Cleveland has managed to upgrade the talent around him significantly, with Miles, Jr. being the latest acquisition, after Waiters and Tyler Zeller, selected third and 17th overall, respectively, on the draft.
The eastern conference got substantially stronger this summer with Brooklyn flat-out buying championship contention, others such as Toronto, Detroit, Washington upgrading the talent around their younger talent and teams like Atlanta and Orlando losing significant pieces such as Joe Johnson and Stan Van Gundy but remaining postseason contenders for now. Cleveland has also put itself in that position to perhaps be one of those up-and-coming teams that will compete for lower postseason berths.
Editor's Note: Rafael Uehara is the managing editor of 'The Basketball Post'. More of his work can be found here and he can be followed on twitter @rafael_uehara or reached via e-mail at rafael_uehara@live.com
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