Cavs: Kevin Love can help Larry Nance Jr. develop his mid-post game

I’m sure Larry Nance Jr. having Kevin Love as his teammate on the Cleveland Cavaliers has paid off.

Larry Nance Jr. will be headed into his third full season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the same goes in that realm for him being teammates with Kevin Love. Love is one of the game’s best shooting bigs, and Cleveland’s best catch-and-shoot player, and I’d think that’s aided Nance.

Nance has taken significant strides the past two seasons as a spot-up shooter, and in this now-past season, he hit 35.2 percent of his three-point attempts. I give him his due for working it seems tirelessly to become a viable catch-and-shoot player from deep, though.

That above clip was on 2.8 triple attempts per contest, both of which took it a step further following him showing some ability to hit catch-and-shoot triples in 2018-19. And going forward, I believe Nance being a legitimate spot-up threat is here to stay. Along with that, though, Nance flashed as a post-up player.

Albeit the volume was not a ton, only 31 possessions, but Nance did place in the 92nd percentile in post-up scoring situations, primarily in the low-post, and had a free throw frequency of 19.0 percent, per Synergy Sports.

Now, I wouldn’t expect Nance, frankly, to be having a ton of low-post work next season, though. He will be more of a cutter, straight-line driver, thanks to a much-improved handle, and spot-up threat, in the scoring sense.

But I could see Nance as more of a mid-post player, especially with his impressive passing vision/feel for a big/the shooting progression from deep. And I’d imagine that Kevin Love could definitely help Nance in that regard.

Love could help Nance develop into a viable mid-post player for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Love is not a player that I’d expect to be operating out of the low-post much from here onward, with his injury history/prior back issues. He should still get his share of mid-post looks, however, and that aspect of his game, in particular, is something that could really aid Nance in his continued growth as a scorer.

Love is so good at utilizing jabs to create air space in the mid-post area, and his use of shot fakes often helps him get clean looks as well. That leads to some subtle one or two-dribble pull-ups in that area for him, too, with opposing forwards overplaying those the former.

Additionally, Love is a more than willing and able passer, which pays off in this regard, too, as if opponents come to double, he can find the open man for a spot-up or get them into a quality pull-up look.

Or if the single matchup is there, but a cutting Collin Sexton or perhaps Kevin Porter Jr., or maybe Nance even, makes a precise diagonal cut, for example, Love will often find them for a high percentage shot.

So in any case, while I’m absolutely not saying Nance is the shooter Love is, he does utilize ball and shot fakes often in his own right, and in the high-post, Nance is a very good passer. So I would think Love, with his polish in the mid-post, could help Nance develop there. The Cavs upcoming team in-market bubble workouts could get the ball rolling in that regard, too, actually.

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Kevin Love, who hit a career-best/near-career-best on shots from 10-16 feet out and 16-feet-to-the-three-point arc in 2019-20 at 60.5 and 46.7 percent, again, I’d think could definitely aid Larry Nance Jr. in terms of mid-post shooting polish.

With Nance being a highly capable passer like Love, too, you’d imagine the same could hold true in terms of how Nance could be a viable passing big in those instances at times as well.

Lastly, with Nance making significant ball-handling strides, if opposing forwards were to eventually expect mid-post shots from Nance, he could counter that by going into a quick drive at times out of that area, leading to a close-range shot.

And Nance is so good in those instances, as evidenced by him hitting 72.3 percent of his shots in the restricted area for his career, thanks to his athleticism, leaping ability and ever-improving touch.

So looking forward, while Nance again will likely be scoring more so in other ways, and should still get some elbow touches, working with Love could help him develop into a viable mid-post option.

That could also enable him to have even more of an impact as a secondary playmaker; he had a decent 2.2 assists per outing in 2019-20, and 3.2 assists per contest in his last 15 games. And, if the floor is spaced by pieces such as Sexton, Darius Garland, realistically Dylan Windler next season and others, Nance could counter that by again, maybe having more room to drive.

It should be fun to see how Nance, who I’d again expect to have a career-high in scoring next season (he had his best of 10.1 per game in 2019-20), continues to get better offensively.

And to reiterate, Love, especially regarding the mid-post area, should help with that as well, as I’d think he probably already has in some aspects.