Cavaliers Need More Shooters After Dealing With Jazz For Donovan Mitchell

After acquiring Donovan Mitchell via a blockbuster trade with the Utah Jazz, it appears the Cleveland Cavaliers are one of the NBA teams to watch this coming NBA season.

Cleveland will be back this 2022-23 NBA season with a stellar lineup, led by the likes of Caris LeVer, Isaac Okoro, Darius Garland and Kevin Love.

Easily, the insertion of Mitchell should give head coach J.B. Bickerstaff a formidable starting five that could give opposing teams problems.

Although that is a talent-laden starting unit, the Cavs may still have to address issues on offense as they do not have a reliable three-point shooter in the mix with most of their players not seen as being elite shooters.

This is the view shared by two NBA sources, pointing out how the Cavs still have a major problem as far as three-point shooting is concerned, Terry Pluto of Cleveland.com reported.

"They wonder about [Caris] LeVert or Isaac Okoro as small forwards–neither shoot well from the outside. That is something they'll need to face this season. Mitchell is a career 36% shooter from three-point range. That's respectable, not elite," the scribe wrote.

Last season, Cleveland finished tied at 20th place in the league in three-point shots converted as they only had 11.6 conversions per game and shot 35.5% from beyond the arc.

One player that could bring those numbers down is the loss of Lauri Markkanen.

The Finnish forward was part of the Mitchell trade, moving to Utah along with Collin Sexton and Ochai Agbaji, as well as three first-round picks and two pick swaps.

Markkanen accounted for 2.2 three-pointers per game and owned a 35.8% shooting clip from deep during the 2021-22 NBA season.

However, one thing that the unnamed sources may have failed to consider is that the addition of Mitchell means opposing teams will play a different kind of defense and potentially leave other Cavs players open.

Hence, this means that other players may be asked to take more shots from afar since they may find themselves left open during games.

One person to watch is Garland, someone who shone brightly last season. He averaged 21.7 points and 8.6 assists per game.

Add Mitchell to the mix, all that is left is for Bickerstaff to get everyone aligned with his plays and hopefully make the playoffs anew with a different outcome this 2022-23 season.