Cleveland Cavaliers: One key goal for the bench in 2020-21

Look for the Cleveland Cavaliers to have more consistent bench production in 2020-21.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are a club that needs to have their share of contributions from the bench unit next season, and I believe they definitely will.

Of course, Cleveland no longer has a game-to-game bench scorer such as the likes of Jordan Clarkson anymore, who was traded to the Utah Jazz in December.

Even with that being the case, I’d imagine the Cavs should get key production in a variety of ways again from Larry Nance Jr., who had a career-best 10.1 points per game in 2019-20.

Kevin Porter Jr., who I’d still likely at this point expect to be more in that bench bucket-getting role mostly and lead Cleveland in bench scoring next season, and also feasibly Dylan Windler will factor into that.

Windler has not yet played with the Cavs yet due to complications involving a stress reaction in his left leg, but he is reportedly progressing well in his rehab, and I firmly believe he could end up being a key bench piece early on. Windler knocked in 40.6 percent of his three-point attempts in a four-year collegiate career at Belmont, and 42.9 percent of his 7.1 deep attempts as a senior.

With his ability to knock in looks from way outside via spot-ups, and connect off of movement and some in the pull-up game, he should make his presence felt as a floor spacer in his minutes-share.

That should help out post-up players such as Andre Drummond, who fully intends to pick up his $28.8 million player option for next season and will be back, along with Nance himself some, and seemingly Kevin Love in the mid-post area.

Granted, Nance himself has come a long way in the perimeter shooting realm, too, and is fresh off hitting a career-best 35.2 percent from downtown in 2019-20.

So while we’re on the perimeter shooting off the bench subject for the Cavs, what could a key goal related to that be for Cleveland’s bench for 2020-21?

A key goal for the Cleveland Cavaliers bench for 2020-21 is placing in the top half of bench units in three-point shooting percentage.

Cleveland’s bench for the most part was not able to have much of a floor spacing element in games in 2019-20, as they were only 26th in three-point shooting hit rate. Matthew Dellavedova, who shot only 23.1 percent from three-point range, didn’t help in that department when he was in games.

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Delly I believe is still a nice reserve guard to have next season still, though, given his playmaking ability, and I’d think the Cavs could definitely re-sign him in the upcoming free agency period.

If that is the case, though, I wouldn’t expect him to help in the perimeter shooting department, but he wouldn’t be taking many looks from deep anyhow. Coupled with that, he could help generate quality catch-and-shoot looks for the likes of Porter and Windler.

Porter shot only 33.5 percent from three-point range overall as a rookie, but on catch-and-shoot three-point attempts, he knocked in 40.7 percent from deep, per NBA.com’s shot tracking data.

Also, KPJ show flashes overall from deep last season.

In what would turn out to be Porter’s last 16 games active before missing Cleveland’s last three with a concussion leading into the novel coronavirus-induced hiatus and ultimately the conclusion of their season, KPJ hit 38.8 percent from there.

I definitely believe we’ll see continued growth from Porter from downtown in 2020-21 and/or with him realistically playing a starting minutes-share often anyway, he’ll get his share of catch-and-shoot looks from Darius Garland and others.

Moreover, if the Cleveland Cavaliers end up drafting a wing such as Auburn’s Isaac Okoro, Florida State’s Patrick Williams (a 3/4) or Florida State’s Devin Vassell, that could be a more viable starter than Cedi Osman, perhaps we’ll see Osman move to more of a bench role early on.

Even if that is eventually the case, Osman did hit 38.3 percent from three-point range last season, which was great to see from a floor spacing standpoint, and he could still get a considerable chunk of minutes. On the flip side, even if Vassell, for instance, were to be more of a bench contributor, he’d add a three-and-D element, and hit 41.7 percent from deep in his two seasons at FSU.

Anyway, to me, a clear key goal for 2020-21 for the Cavs bench would seem to be placing in the top half of NBA bench units in three-point shooting hit rate.

Factoring in the likes of Windler, KPJ, Nance from a spot-up standpoint and even potentially Osman or perhaps Vassell, that goal seems attainable.

KPJ I believe is more than capable becoming a better shooter from deep if he gets more run next season to get more into rhythm game-to-game, and Windler again has the potential to be a knockdown shooter.

Osman if he’s moved to a bench role is a more than capable three-point shooter as well and could help in that regard as well, and he could be freed up a bit as a bench player.

So in any case, piggybacking a bit off of what I hit on earlier regarding the Cavs bench maybe placing in the middle of the pack in three-point shooting, albeit not definitively, I could that a step further here.

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If the Cavaliers bench met this suggested goal for next season, feasibly in about the middle of the pack in attempts, that’d make a notable impact for the Wine and Gold. That could help the overall squad place in the top 12 in three-point shooting, too.