Cavs: 3 potential 2020-21 two-man games with Matthew Dellavedova
By Dan Gilinsky
#3 2020-21 Cleveland Cavaliers two-man game involving Delly: Delly-Nance
Dellavedova and Nance have a well-established chemistry at this point.
More from King James Gospel
- 3 possible starting lineups for Cleveland Cavaliers in 2023-24
- The Cavaliers may have snagged a hidden gem in Craig Porter Jr.
- 4 players the Cavaliers should pursue in 2024 free agency
- 6 players Cavaliers might replace Jarrett Allen with by the trade deadline
- This stat is one to keep an eye on for Cavaliers’ Max Strus in years ahead
Throughout this season, Dellavedova has gotten Nance the ball to help initiate the Cleveland Cavaliers’ offense at the elbow and out on the perimeter, and that’s paid off.
Nance has had 2.2 assists per game in 2019-20, and Dellavedova was beginning to hit some catch-and-shoot three-point attempts after some deliveries from Nance, who had 3.2 assists per outing in his last 15 games leading into the hiatus. Some of that could be the case again next year as well.
Additionally, with Nance continuing to prove himself as a viable three-point shooter, as evidenced by him hitting a career-best 35.2 percent of those attempts this season thus far, Dellavedova has swung the ball to him and hit him via kickouts a bunch.
If Delly is on the roster in 2020-21, I’d expect much more of that to Jr. in minutes they’d be on the floor together, too.
Along with that perimeter game, the bread-and-butter pick-and-roll between Delly and Nance could again be an effective part of Cleveland’s offense next season. Delly has always had good timing on his lobs passes, and Nance is the Cavs’ best lob catcher/finisher in those situations.
Plus, overall, the highest percentage of passes Dellavedova has made thus far this season have gone to Nance, per NBA.com’s passing tracking data. Meanwhile, the third-highest percentage of Nance passes went to Dellavedova, too (again per NBA.com’s passing tracking data).
The two clearly play off each other well, and with Nance also having really good feel/vision as a passer, I’d expect to see some dishes from him to Delly as a cutter on the weak side along the baseline.