Cavs: Larry Nance Jr. will be a bigger factor in the transition game

Larry Nance Jr. consistently gives the Cleveland Cavaliers juice.

Larry Nance Jr.‘s progression in recent seasons for the Cleveland Cavaliers has been great to see, and last season, he once again had a career-best as a scorer with 10.1 points per outing. He took the three-point shooting growth he displayed in 2018-19 a step further in 2019-20, too, and hit 35.2 percent of his 2.8 triple attempts per contest.

Along with that, it’s clear that Nance is a highly capable passing big for the Cavs as well, and next season, we’ll see him make a difference in that way for the Wine and Gold in his minutes-share.

And it’s apparent that Nance will still be one of Cleveland’s best defenders overall, to go with being a key screener/rolling presence for the Cavs. Nance is always so active on both ends on the glass, too, and had 7.3 rebounds per contest this past season.

For his continued improvement, on top of Nance being on a relatively team-friendly contract/declining deal looking onward, I still don’t foresee the Cavs seriously considering trading him any time soon.

Now, I bring that up because per a recent report from ESPN’s Zach Lowe, Nance has been a player mentioned seemingly as a potential trade target “a lot across the league,” but we haven’t learned of any rumors/reports of the Cavs really considering dealing him. That’s from the Cavaliers’ side, to be clear.

I made my case as to why they shouldn’t, too, and this tweet from Nance highlights how it still seems unlikely the Cavs do eventually deal him any time soon, frankly, and he loves to be here, as this tweet drove home.

But back in relation to offense and his presence for the Cavaliers, one area I’m pumped about involving Nance is the transition game.

While it was particularly encouraging to have seen Nance have a much improved handle last season for him in settled situations, both as a driving threat/playmaker for others, I’m looking forward to seeing Nance more in the open floor, too.

Nance will be a bigger factor in the transition game for the Cavs.

We saw Nance establish himself as a grab-and-go threat for Cleveland in 2019-20, and with his rebounding acumen, that was a key positive. This was more as the past season wore on, and even more so leading into the novel coronavirus-induced hiatus/ultimately the end of the season as well.

In 2020-21, though, I could definitely foresee Nance being a bigger factor game-to-game in this realm for the Cleveland Cavaliers. With the strides Nance made with his handle over the course of last season, and him continuing to come into his own as a scoring presence, I’d imagine we could see him take advantage more on-ball in secondary transition.

Nance is often more athletic/quicker than his primary matchups against opposing bigs, which is largely where I’m coming from here. And as a grab-and-go threat, if the look’s in-rhythm and the floor is spaced by the presences of Darius Garland/Collin Sexton and/or Dylan Windler, for instance, I’d like to see Nance attack off-the-bounce in early-clock scenarios at times.

With Nance’s growth as a driving threat, that could lead to high percentage shots for him at times in games when the matchup is there, and/or get him free throw chances. If rotators come over to help on occasion, Nance, a willing and able passer, could dish out to them from there, too.

Now, I’m not suggesting this could be a bunch of the time, but I’d look for it to be periodically for Nance for the Cavs, with how he’s improved off-the-bounce/become a viable grab-and-go threat.

Lastly, in terms of the off-ball transition impact, with Nance running the floor so well and always being an active cutter, I’d expect to see him get some secondary/standard transition cutting looks.

And another wrinkle the Cavaliers/he could build upon from last season could be feeding ahead to Nance when he gets transition seals following smaller defenders being cross-matched on him.

That’d feasibly lead to feeds from Kevin Porter Jr., Garland, Kevin Love and/or Dylan Windler, along with perhaps 2020 NBA Draft prospects such as Deni Avdija/Isaac Okoro. Those should be/will be easy chances for Nance, too, which could at times get him into a rhythm from layups/dunks.

In any case, given the strides he’s made as a ball handler and with his touch, while also being a very effective passer, I’d expect Nance to be a bigger factor in the transition game for the Cavs. He placed in the 76th percentile in transition scoring situations in 2019-20, per Synergy Sports, which demonstrates that further to me as well.

Hopefully Nance keeps ascending overall and in this sense, in regards to his transition impact for the Wine and Gold. And I firmly believe he will.