Cavs: Three goals for Larry Nance Jr. for rest of 2019-20 season

Goal #1 for Nance for the rest of 2019-20:  Average 1.5 steals per game

Nance is a genuine stud on the boards. Averaging those aforementioned 7.3 total rebounds per game, his knack for getting under the basket in the right moment is impeccable and he often gets putbacks on the offensive end.

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However, there are more ways that Nance can improve his defensive skills, and excel even further on the court.

Larry needs to take the initiative for Cleveland and though he’s going to play a good chunk of minutes with an ever-alert defensive big in Tristan Thompson and some with Andre Drummond, who is second in the league in steals, per Basketball Reference, I’d like to see Nance average 1.5 steals per game during the latter half of this 2019-20 season.

Cleveland appears to be moving a bit quicker, and aggressively as rotators under new head coach, J.B. Bickerstaff, and I would imagine under this new leadership, that we would see this trajectory continue.

Nance is still putting up 0.9 steals per outing this season, which is solid, but it’s a bit below his career average of 1.2 per game.

Furthermore, Nance put up a career-best 1.5 steals per outing last season, and with Nance’s ability to anticipate in getting in passing lanes, I’d like to see him average that 1.5 per outing the rest of this season for the Cavaliers.

While Saturday’s game at the Miami Heat was a total blowout loss 124-105, Nance did fairly well individually starting in place of Kevin Love, who was out due to reported right Achilles soreness, and Nance was able to get two steals, per ESPN.

Plus, in a 127-105 win against the Atlanta Hawks before the All-Star break, he had three steals, and also had a career-high 23 points, per Basketball Reference, to go with 12 rebounds and two blocks.

Nance played a huge role in Cleveland’s comeback win over the Heat on Monday, too, and had two steals in that one. So, anyhow, if Nance can continue to keep near this sort of consistency up, I believe averaging 1.5 steals per game should be no problem for him.

By continuing this upward trajectory in terms of high level defensive awareness, Jr. would become more of a dominant presence on the court the rest of this season.

Secondly, I’d like to see Nance maintain the considerable playmaking impact he’s had recently.