The Cavaliers use a contract of tens of millions to leave backcourt pitchers, and their salary pressure continues to increase?

According to ESPN authoritative reporter Shams Chrania, Cleveland Cavaliers backcourt player Sam Merrill, who was about to become a free agent, will renew his contract with the team on a four-year contract with a total amount of $38 million.

In the NBA regular season this season, Merrill played a total of 71 games in 82 games, averaging 19.7 minutes per game, averaging 7.2 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.2 blocks, and 0.5 turnovers and 1.7 fouls. His shooting percentage was 40.6%, three-point shooting percentage was 37.2%, and his free throw shooting percentage was 96.6%. In the playoffs, Merrill played 8 games in total, with averaging 19.9 minutes per game, with averaging 5.8 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.5 steals and 0.2 blocks, and 0.2 turnovers and 2.2 fouls. His shooting percentage was 37.5%, his three-point shooting percentage was 35.9%, and his free throw shooting percentage was 66.7%.

Overall, Merrill's performance this season is quite average. He can still show his own characteristics in the regular season. His ability in outside shooting is quite outstanding, and he is also a good pitcher. But apart from that, his abilities in other aspects are not good. As a backcourt player, Merrill lacks sufficient passing ability and organizational ability. Although he is more positive on the defensive end, he also has serious shortcomings in his defensive ability. He is easily targeted by his opponent on the defensive end. In the playoffs, Merrill's shortcomings were further magnified. His shortcomings on the defensive end were very obvious, and his stability on the offensive end also showed a significant decline. His playing time was not guaranteed, and his importance in the team was quite limited. We can understand that the Cavaliers want to keep Merrill, after all, he is the favorite of head coach Kenny Atkinson. However, the problem is that their salary space is seriously insufficient, and the team's total salary has exceeded the second rich line. After signing back to Merrill at this price, the situation further deteriorated. We don’t know what the Cavaliers want to do. Their total salary is almost 20 million yuan now, and the team’s next operations will have a huge impact. For players like Merrill who have no substantial impact on the team's competitiveness, we don't know why the Cavaliers signed him back at this price. They can clearly find suitable substitutes with contracts that are close to the basic salary. Even the team's 9th or 10th person can get a contract with an annual salary of nearly 10 million yuan, but it would be strange if the team's salary is not high.