NBA Free Agency 2017: Cavs, Jose Calderon have mutual interest

One of the Cavaliers’ offseason to-dos will be figuring out who will back up Kyrie Irving next season. Deron Williams could be back, depending on the price and Kay Felder will get a chance to audition at summer league.

You can now add veteran Jose Calderon to the list, as Jason Lloyd of The Athletic reports that that Cleveland and Calderon have “mutual interest” and that the Cavs are looking at him as the team’s backup point guard.

The Cavs were interested in Calderon in February after he was waived by the Lakers, but he ended up signing with the Warriors. Kevin Durant’s injury, though, saw him get waived without playing a game. He then signed with the Hawks and finished out the season in Atlanta. For the year, he averaged 3.3 points and 2.1 assists in 41 games.

Calderon is an odd pick to backup Irving. He’s an horrid defender — something the Cavs don’t need more of — and likely wouldn’t make a difference against Golden State. He’s also saw his three-point percentage dropped to 31.3 percent last year — a significant drop from the 41.4 percent he shot with the Knicks in 2015-16. Dating back to Matthew Dellavedova’s success in 2014-15 and 2015-16, shooting and defending are the two things the Cavs actually need from their backup point guard.

Williams, aside from his poor performance in the Finals, is better than Calderon at this point. Even Felder — who struggled in the NBA last year, but was much better with the Canton Charge — has a chance to be better than Calderon next year. The veteran appeal of Calderon makes some sense, but not much else does. Even with their limited resources, Cleveland can do better.

And as a reminder: the Cavs still haven’t hired David Griffin’s replacement, Chauncey Billups or otherwise.