When the Cleveland Cavaliers acquired Larry Nance Jr. from the Los Angeles Lakers during the team’s overhaul last February, they were receiving a player who was overflowing with potential. It looks like that potential is being turned into production this season.
It didn’t start that way for the former Wyoming product. Larry Nance Jr. was seeing fluctuating minutes and a shaky role behind then-healthy Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson. After the fourth game of the year, Nance Jr. started to move into a higher priority on the Cleveland Cavaliers’ list due to Love’s injury. They don’t have many other big men on the team, why not give the 25-year old they just re-signed his chance?
So they have, and it’s worked. Tuesday was just another example.
Nance Jr. played like a man possessed on the road against the Indiana Pacers, securing his season-high in rebounds with 16 boards. He decorated the entire stat sheet, finishing with 15 points, six assists, three steals, and a block as well on what was his biggest night of the season thus far.
Oh yeah, he also had the game-winning putback off of a Rodney Hood miss as time expired, propelling Cleveland to their eighth victory of the season.
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The Cavaliers certainly have something with Nance Jr. and it’s quite exciting. As discussed earlier this week, the team has a “big” problem and it’s tricky right now to figure out how to allocate minutes when everyone is healthy. Let’s make this clear though, Larry Nance Jr. deserves a good portion of that time.
When Nance Jr. first came into the league, he was seen as an athletic player who could make some highlight-reel plays and provide hustle. He wasn’t seen as a scoring option, nor as a guy who could be trusted with the ball longer than a few seconds.
He was a little awkward at times in his first couple of years in the league, to be quite honest, due to him not seeming to have a strong suit.
That’s all changed and Nance Jr. has started to become a complete player in this league.
Oftentimes, a rebuilding process can take away the motivation for the players going through it every night. But in Nance’s case, he’s thriving because of that very reason. He’s had Tristan Thompson become a mentor in some ways, guiding him on the court to become a better rebounder and even a stronger voice in the locker room. It’s apparent when Nance Jr. touches the floor that guys can flock to him for stability, meaning he’s quickly becoming a young leader on this roster.
It can mean nothing but good things for the Cleveland Cavaliers organization. Of course, there is the conundrum that will eventually surface and the team will have to figure out how to incorporate the bigs they want to use for now and the future. But with three steady guys in Thompson, Love, and Nance Jr., could things be looking a lot better in a few months?
That could possibly be the case. If it is, a once-feeble area on the team could become one of their stronger suits in a quick matter of time.