We saw Larry Nance Jr. a bit for the Cleveland Cavaliers at the 3 position, and we should see him again there at times next season.
I’m not going to expect Larry Nance Jr. to play a ton of his minutes-share next season at the 3 position, but he could do so occasionally for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
In some instances post-All-Star break leading into the novel coronavirus-induced hiatus and what would ultimately be the end of Cleveland’s 2019-20 season, Nance did nice work then. That was when J.B. Bickerstaff took over the Wine and Gold’s head coaching reigns, and he utilized some instances with Nance at the 3, Kevin Love at the 4 and either Andre Drummond or Tristan Thompson at the 5.
It’s unclear at this point if the expiring Thompson will be back, for context, whereas Drummond seems extremely likely to pick up his $28.8 million player option for next season.
Anyway, given Nance’s all-around game and the offensive growth he’s shown in recent seasons, and with him being one of Cleveland’s best defenders, I believe we’ll see him at times again at the 3 next season.
In his second season taking them regularly, Nance hit a respectable 35.2 percent of his 2.8 attempts from three-point range (mainly via spot-ups) per game during this now-past season. In addition, his much improved handle and post-up game played some into him again having a career-high in scoring with 10.1 points per contest. That’d aid him in some minutes at the 3 as well.
Of course, Nance should still play the majority of his minutes at the 4 and 5, one would assume, next season. The Cavs could feasibly select a wing in the 2020 NBA Draft, they’ll have Cedi Osman, Dylan Windler should hopefully be in the fold and Kevin Porter Jr. could very well get some minutes at the 3 again, too, albeit he should likely play mostly at the 2 this go-round.
Nonetheless, Nance can be a solid option still at the 3 for the Cleveland Cavaliers, for two reasons really.
The first of those has to do with the playmaking element, and a bit more into his perimeter shooting growth.