INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- Richard Jefferson signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers for one simple reason, because he believes he can contribute to a championship team.
And Jefferson is excited to get to work with his new teammates, with whom he started the regular season with a double-digit scoring performance in a 97-95 loss to the Chicago Bulls in the opening game of the year Tuesday night.
"I just felt like it gave me my best opportunity to win a championship and to contribute to a championship team," Jefferson said at Cavaliers Media Day. "I feel like there's probably five to seven teams in this league that have a good shot at winning a championship, and this is one of them.
"As far as playing with LeBron, just the overall team, I'm excited to play with. I look at the bigs and Kevin (Love) and obviously, getting Kyrie back, there's a lot of different guys I'm excited to play with for the first time. I've been around this league now for 15 years, and other than the Olympics with LeBron, there's a lot of new teammates. There's nobody that I've played with before this, so I'm excited to be joining together with this group."
By signing with the Cavaliers, Jefferson joined a team that came within two wins of an NBA Championship a season ago despite playing three rounds without power forward Kevin Love (dislocated shoulder) and much of the Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Finals without all-star point guard Kyrie Irving (knee tendinitis/fractured kneecap).
During the offseason, the Cavaliers brought back many of the players who were key components to the deep postseason run, and Jefferson is okay with finding a niche where he can settle in and have a positive impact.
"There were no guarantees," Jefferson said. "There was nothing about my role. I understand my role. My role is to be kind of a glue guy. If you need spacing, you need defense, whatever you need, whether it's early in the game, late in the game, the ability to switch because I can guard multiple positions, that's who I am.
"If that's something that's not needed over a 10-game stretch, but it's needed over a five-game stretch, you just have to be ready. You have to be ready when your number's called. I'm very aware of how deep this team is. I'm also aware of how much success they had last year, so it's my job to try and fit in and see where I can contribute."
It was that mindset of finding a role to fill for a team that allowed Jefferson to become a spot-up three-point shooter after struggling to shoot from long distance early in his career.
Over his last two seasons, Jefferson has shot better than 40 percent from three-point range, which is nearly double the 24.1 percent he hit during his first two years in the NBA. But Jefferson will not let those numbers fool his opponents. If the right opportunity presents itself, he will take the ball to the basket.
"That's just the transition of life and the transition of basketball," Jefferson said. "Fortunately, I worked extremely hard in my 20s to try and develop my jump shot. It wasn't, 'All of a sudden, I'm 32 and I can't jump anymore. I should try and start shooting.' There were years and years and hours and hours in the gym that started when I came into this league, and you're starting to see some of the fruition of that hard work.
"I probably shot 17 percent from three my first two or three years combined, so I continued to work on it, and now, it's a tool that I have. I wouldn't say it's hard. It's more mentally hard having your body not be able to do the things that you want to do, but smart players learn how to adapt and stay relevant over the long haul.
"I joke with people and say that I'm not as strong as I used to (be). I need the lanes to be clear in order for me to fly, but I feel I still have some athleticism. I'm still 6-7, still have long arms. I'm still able to do some things around the rim. I'm not living at the rim like I once was early in my career, but I'm just happy. As a kid growing up, if you would've told me I would play 15 years in this league, play 1,000 games, I don't care what I'm doing. If I'm shooting threes or dunking, as long as I'm here, I'm happy."
