What does the Dellavedova deal mean for Cavs, Bucks?
— -- One minute you're celebrating a championship, the next competitors are poaching players from your roster.
Restricted free agent Matthew Dellavedova has reached an agreement on a four-year, $38.4 million offer sheet with the Milwaukee Bucks, and according to a report by ESPN's Brian Windhorst, the Cleveland Cavaliers aren't likely to match the offer.
What does the move mean for the defending champs and Delly's new team in Milwaukee?
Dellavedova -- a 25-year-old who wasn't drafted and has 31 career regular-season starts, a 10.3 career player efficiency rating and a 14.1 percent usage rate -- will be earning an average of $9.6 million.
And you know what? It's a fair-value deal for the Bucks, albeit one the Cavs apparently have decided they can't afford to match.
What it means for Cleveland
The Cavs lost Dellavedova and Timofey Mozgov from their bench on Friday. By the time they re-sign James, Richard Jefferson and J.R. Smith, they will face a major challenge to restock their bench for another title run.
Cleveland still has a $3.5 mini-midlevel exception to address their needs for backup help in the backcourt and in the middle. It's hard to say if midlevel exceptions will be worth anything in this market, but perhaps a ring-chasing veteran such as Ramon Sessions could work as backup for Kyrie Irving. Or, if you want a better defender, there's Kirk Hinrich, arguably an older, more fragile version of Dellavedova.
The Cavs also own a $9.6 million trade exception opened up when they dealt Anderson Varejao to Golden State. That doesn't expire until roughly next season's trade deadline. In the interim, the Cavs can likely get by with Sasha Kaun backing up Tristan Thompson in the middle and Channing Frye getting minutes there in specialty lineups. The postseason is all that really matters for the Cavs and by February GM David Griffin will have a better feel for what holes he needs to fill with the Varejao exception.
In the end, defending a title is never easy. But while Dellavedova and Mozgov had their moments in Cleveland, they didn't play major roles when the Cavs reached their ultimate goal in knocking off the Golden State Warriors last month. The departures sting but shouldn't ultimately determine whether or not Cleveland is able to repeat next June.
What it means for Milwaukee
The first day of free agency was a crazy one for the Bucks. First, they reached an agreement to sign stretch forward Mirza Teletovic to a three-year, $30 million deal.
Then they lost two members of last year's bench. Jerryd Bayless, a part-time starter and key bench performer the past couple of seasons for the Bucks, reportedly is headed to Philadelphia. And in a stunning announcement, O.J. Mayo was disqualified from the NBA for violating the league's substance abuse policy.
Now, if they end up with Dellavedova, they are paying $38.4 million for a guy who just played a total of 46 minutes in a seven-game NBA Finals. The numbers are just staggering. We don't know the per-season dollars of Dellavedova's deal, but if it's a flat payout with an annual average of $9.6 million, that constitutes about 10.2 percent of the cap next season.
The Bucks are remaking themselves around the idea that Giannis Antetokounmpo will be their primary playmaker going forward. With a 7-footer who can guard all five positions as your de facto PG, your actual point guard must have two essential traits. He must be able to defend opposing point guards, and he must be able to space the floor. Dellavedova's ability to do those things at a high level is why the Bucks were far from the only team pursuing him.
Dellavedova is a career 40-percent 3-point shooter and last season ranked in the 96th percentile (top 5 percent) on catch-and-shoot opportunities, according to Synergy, with a 66.4 effective field-goal percentage on those looks. The Bucks made the fewest 3-pointers in the league last season and had a putrid 48.4 effective field-goal percentage on catch-and-shoots.
Khris Middleton has been the only reliable face-up shooter in Milwaukee the past two seasons. Now, with Dellavedova and Teletovic, who shot 39 percent from deep for Phoenix last season, Jason Kidd can really spread the floor around his young forwards. Teletovic won't start but will be a key component of Milwaukee's new rotation.
Plus, Dellavedova and Middleton, in tandem, should be an excellent defensive backcourt.
In committing to Dellavedova and Teletovic, the Bucks now have eight-figure salaries (or close to it) on the books for each of the next three seasons for that pair, Middleton and John Henson. Add the looming specter of an Antetokounmpo extension this fall, and Jabari Parker a year later, and the Bucks may need to increase their efforts at moving Greg Monroe.
In fact, if Dwyane Wade's rumored interest in returning to his college home of Milwaukee indeed comes to fruition, then Monroe would certainly have to be moved to satisfy Wade's salary demands.
And another thing to watch for: It will be interesting to see what Dellavedova's addition means for extension-eligible guard Michael Carter-Williams.
