Cavs: Larry Nance Jr. should keep playing starter’s minutes for foreseeable future

Larry Nance Jr. solidified his place as a building block player for the Cleveland Cavaliers last season, and in 2019-20 and for the foreseeable future, Nance should keep receiving starter’s minutes, as he did in 2018-19.

As we’ve touched on here at KJG a number of times, Larry Nance Jr. was a bright spot in a rough season overall for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2018-19, in which the team ended up having a 19-63 (per NBA.com).

It was unfortunate that Cleveland’s best player, Kevin Love, was only active in 22 games (per Basketball Reference), mostly due to reported toe surgery, and Tristan Thompson, a quality big in his own right for Cleveland, was only active in 43 games, mostly due to a reported foot injury.

That being the case opened the door more open for Nance to receive additional minutes, though, and he ended up playing the most of any in his career in the NBA at 1,795 in total and 26.8 per game (per Basketball Reference).

With that added minutes-share, he responded with statistical bests really across the board, as he had career-highs in points with 9.4, rebounds with 8.2, assists with 3.2 and steals with 1.5 (per NBA.com).

With Nance reportedly signing a four-year, $44.8 million extension (h/t Spotrac) with the Cavaliers just before the start of last season, that career year was right on cue, as he established himself as one of the most important components of Cleveland’s rebuild, as our own Tyler Marling demonstrated, and Nance seems to have the makings of one of the team’s leaders, too.

As Marling noted, Nance’s progression as a three-point shooter (a respectable 33.7% hit rate for a roller, per Basketball Reference) and playmaker last year was very encouraging, and I would imagine that the influence of head coach John Beilein‘s motion-driven offense should be able to maximize Nance’s passing vision, too, and with quality shooters around Nance likely at varying times in Darius Garland, Love, Kevin Porter Jr., Dylan Windler and to a larger degree now in Collin Sexton, in particular.

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Nance is a player that can alternate playing the 4/5 a fair amount, and should get reps at both with the Cleveland Cavaliers being in a rebuild, and needing to get a number of young pieces on the floor meaningful minutes, anyway, an-d with Cleveland potentially trading both Tristan Thompson and/or John Henson in the offseason/maybe in the early portion of next season, it will be paramount that Nance continues to get a starting minutes-share in 2019-20/in the coming years.

Nance is a much-improved screener both on and off the ball (and Thompson should get some credit for that), has probably the best feel as a secondary playmaker among Cleveland’s bigs, as evidenced by a healthy assist rate of 17.9% (per NBA.com) last year, is always a threat above-the-rim via rolls and putbacks, and is Cleveland’s best defender, with David Nwaba reportedly now on the Brooklyn Nets, via unrestricted free agency.

Nance seems to always be communicating on the defensive end of the floor, and with him on the floor, though the Cavaliers will still struggle I would think due to lack of plus perimeter defenders, at least the rotations to shooters will be better, and Cleveland would have a solid switchout defensive big when those situations arise.

With the way Thompson has struggled with injuries in recent years, I wouldn’t expect him to be as effective in that aspect of the pick-and-roll game as often anymore (to go with him feasibly being traded mid-season, anyway), and while I want to see Ante Zizic get rotational run a good amount due to back-to-basket offensive polish, I’m still anything but confident that Zizic can ever really be a competent defender (his interior defense is alright but not stellar and he’s not a rim protector/switchout player).

With Cleveland not being loaded with plus defenders (and having if any, outside of likely Nance at this point), and with Nance’s presence and high IQ on both ends, really, that should lead to him playing in the 28.0 minutes per game range in the near future; he is the most well-rounded two-way big the Cleveland Cavaliers have on their roster, and his unselfishness and great awareness fits right into the team-first approach the coaching staff and organization seem to be preaching.

Whether or not he can play big minutes with Zizic in the coming years is uncertain, given that neither can be considered floor-spacers yet, but Zizic starting games down the road and Nance coming in for the majority of the game following that seems like a sound move for Beilein, as Nance seems to fit in well as a playmaker/ball-mover with Windler/Porter in creating/dribble hand-off scenarios on the perimeter, but also could fit in just as well as a roller as opposed to Thompson with a variety of primary ball-handlers such as Sexton and Garland with much more bounce as a traditional lob threat.

Lastly, with Nance’s athleticism, outlet passing vision, seemingly improved handle, and speed down the floor for a big, he is the best transition big on the Cavaliers’ roster, too, outside of maybe two-way Dean Wade, who seems to be a quality trailing and occasional lob threat on the break, but won’t get nearly the run of Nance.

Though the most games Nance has played in his four-year career came last year with 67 games played (per Basketball Reference), I believe he should continue to play starter’s minutes for the long haul for Cleveland, given that he seems like a really hard worker and is by far the best two-way big they have and likely will have in Beilein and the coaching staff’s rotation.

Nance’s workload in 2018-19 shouldn’t be an anomoly, as the best is yet to come for him and him playing big minutes (even that means coming off the bench to start) should further develop his chemistry with Love and should especially aid in the progression of younger pieces with Nance’s versatility.