Danny Green is back as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and these are three other players we wish we would’ve seen come back.
The Cleveland Cavaliers brought back former 2009 NBA Draft Pick, Danny Green after a nearly 14-year hiatus from the team. Since 2010, when he started playing for the San Antonio Spurs, Green has become one of the best three-and-D players in the league, with a career 3-point percentage of just under 40%.
The former 46th pick in the 09 Draft is not only a former All-Defensive player for the Spurs, but is also a three-time NBA Champion, winning one with the Spurs in 2014, then in Toronto in 2019, and finally with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020.
Now Green is back in Cleveland where his career began and it made us wonder; what other former Cavaliers draftees do we wish had another shot with the Cavs? We came up with a few names, more than a few, but these three specifically, that we thought would make a nice list. There are more, and there may be a follow-up to this down the line, but for now, we’re just focusing on the three that may be the most beneficial to have had long-term or gotten a second shot with down the road.
So it goes without saying, all three players on this list have not, nor ever returned to the Cavs once they were traded or left in free agency.
Honorable Mention
Jason Kapono
When it comes to Jason Kapono, he was the perfect player for another era. At times he was a 50% three-point shooter during his stint with the Miami Heat, and while it wasn’t on the same volume as Steph Curry, that’s still impressive. The Cavs needed that kind of shooting during LeBron James’ first run, so it’s really sad that the Cavs let him go unprotected in the 2004 Charlotte Bobcats expansion draft.
Andre Miller
Andre Miller was the 8th overall pick out of Utah in the 1999 NBA Draft and in his first three years with the Cavs put up 14.5 points and 8.5 assists per game, with his last season in 2001-2002 seeing him post 16.5 points and 10.5 assists per game. Not only was he a walking-double-double, he also led the league in that category that season as well.
The Cavs wanted to tank so badly that they traded him for Los Angeles Clippers forward Darius Miles, who was incredibly athletic but had no real skills to lean on. The move allowed the Cavs to suck bad enough to eventually land LeBron James, but since the team was clearly tanking, they could’ve tanked with an All-Star caliber point guard on the roster.
His departure actually caused a problem the Cavaliers would never truly address and that was having stability at the possession during James’ tenure. Instead, he had to play with the likes of Jeff McGinnis, Eric Snow, Delonte West, Daniel Gibson, and Mo Williams.
While some of those names could’ve done work off the bench, none of them, maybe even all of them combined, were as good as Miller was. While not a three-point shooter, his passing, inside scoring, and defense were nothing to shake a stick at.
Jamal Crawford
Now, you may be wondering how Jamal Crawford could qualify for this list, as he never played for the Cleveland Cavaliers and you’d be correct in that observation. Crawford never wore a Cavaliers jersey, but for a brief moment in 2000, he was a Cavalier. The Cavaliers drafted the Michigan University guard 8th overall, and the high-end scorer would go on to rack up three Sixth Man of the Year Awards across his time in the league, but that wasn’t good enough for the Cavs, nope.
The Cavs really coveted another center, hoping to stymie the loss of the oft-injured Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Ilgauskas was in the process of missing nearly two seasons’ worth of basketball due to a foot injury, and the Cavs were hoping that Texas Longhorn Chris Mihm could be the answer. He averaged around seven points and five rebounds in 20 minutes the two seasons he was on the team and Ilgauskas was out or limited but he never turned into the player they needed him to be.
The Bulls made the trade, despite getting the better player, in part due to their desire to get some cash back. Money was the big swing object attached to the player swap to make it something the Bulls would want. And it was some of the worst money the Cavs would ever spend.
Joe Harris
The only player on this list who could still not only help the Cavs but would’ve been a huge asset during LeBron James’ second tenure. He joined the club the same year they drafted Andrew Wiggins, and was the third pick of the second round that season. In some ways, his arrival mirrored that of Jason Kapono, a sharp-shooter that had a tremendous stroke that would have been a huge asset for James.
Harris and James arrived in Cleveland both during the 2014 season, and immediately James got to work and Harris got to sitting. He got hurt during the Cavs championship season, was traded to the Magic, and subsequently released. He’d catch on in Brooklyn and become one of the best three-point shooters in the league.
He’s a career three-point shooter for the Nets, and had the Cavs had him after the ’16 season, he easily would’ve given James a third shooter behind Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. That skill would’ve carried them for a while and may have allowed the Cavs to not trade for aging players like Kyle Korver or blow up their roster for someone like Rodney Hood and Jordan Clarkson.
Harris is only 31, shooting as well as ever, and the Nets will likely try to move him in the offseason if they’re going full-steam ahead with their rebuild. So maybe a reunion is in the cards.