Cavs: Larry Nance Jr.’s likely return would be added lift on both ends

Cleveland Cavaliers big man Larry Nance Jr. is likely to return on Tuesday against the LA Clippers from missing near the last few weeks due to reported knee soreness, which would bring an added lift on both ends.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have the fourth game of a current six-game trip on Tuesday against the LA Clippers, and though this road trip has been surprisingly successful thus far with two victories over the Detroit Pistons and Denver Nuggets, it’s never a bad thing to get a solid contributor back.

That’s likely to be the case on Tuesday, as big man Larry Nance Jr. is probably going to be back for Cleveland; he’s missed nearly the last few weeks due to reported knee soreness.

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Given that it is the second game of a back-to-back, as the Cavaliers lost to LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday due to an 81-point second half for the Lake Show, Kevin Love, though, is going to be out due to rest, according to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor. According to The Athletic‘s Kelsey Russo, Ante Zizic will be out as well (due to vertigo symptoms).

Anyway, it is still an boost on both ends of the floor for Cleveland and head coach John Beilein to have Nance likely back available in the rotation.

Nance has continued to contribute in a variety of ways, as he clearly did last season in what was a career year, and you can see that mostly on game-in, game-out basis when Nance is able to go.

In this 2019-20 season to this point, Nance has had 8.0 points and 7.0 rebounds in 24.3 minutes per game, as noted by Basketball Reference. Along with that, Nance has continued to show he’s a capable three-point shooter when he’s been open for off-the-catch looks, and Jr. is just like last season, hitting 33.7% of his three-point attempts.

That’s while having a career-high 43.7% three-point rate (again, according to Basketball Reference), this season, too.

When factoring in the constant energy, very good passing feel he has for a big and with the way Nance is still a great finisher above the rim as a roller/putback man, his ability to keep on an upward trajectory as a perimeter shooter has been particularly satisfying, and I’m sure has been for Beilein and the coaching staff even more so.

Nance, though he’s undersized at 6-foot-7 when he’s occasionally the primary defender against traditional 5’s on the floor, is still sound from a positional sense a good chunk of the time, and is considerably better against 4’s than Kevin Love.

Plus, Nance is a really effective rotator and as a team defender, he communicates extremely well to help out players on the perimeter such as Darius Garland, Collin Sexton, Matthew Dellavedova and Brandon Knight, and Nance is outstanding at cutting off opposing passing lanes.

1.6 deflections per game for Nance (as indicated by NBA.com) is more than respectable for a reserve, for reference.

Even though the Cleveland Cavaliers not having Love against the Clippers of course kills their chances, on the defensive end, Nance’s presence should help a bunch, and his precise dribble hand-offs, similarly to Tristan Thompson‘s, often free up space for pieces such as Garland, Dellavedova and Cedi Osman, along with Kevin Porter Jr. KPJ will be sidelined for seemingly through the All-Star break, though, due to a reported left knee sprain, unfortunately.

Moreover, it’s an added lift on both ends to have Jr. back in the rotation, and hopefully, he can stay mostly healthy going forward, and if the Cavs eventually deal Love near the February 6 trade deadline, especially.

In a conversation with The Athletic‘s David Aldridge (subscription required), a Western Conference executive reportedly hit on how he essentially believes Love does not have much value at all, but again, given recent reports and Love seemingly not wanting to be in Cleveland anymore with the team rebuilding, I’d still be surprised if Cleveland general manager Koby Altman and the front office doesn’t deal him by the deadline.

Nonetheless, even if Love is around post-deadline or not, and the Cleveland Cavaliers potentially deal him near the 2020 NBA Draft, Nance is still a key contributor in a variety of ways for the Wine and Gold, and it’s nice to have him back soon to close out this road trip, hopefully against the Clips.

Nance, simply put, always seems to make right play, and is a team-first contributor on both ends of the floor.