Cleveland Cavaliers big Larry Nance Jr. is excited to get back at it.
It’s been March 10 since the Cleveland Cavaliers were last in game action, in what was a close loss to the Chicago Bulls. Shortly thereafter, the past NBA season went into a novel coronavirus-induced hiatus, and the 2019-20 campaign would ultimately be over the Cavs with them not being invited to the league’s Orlando-area bubble restart.
Most of the Wine and Gold were able to get some work in via the Cavaliers voluntary in-market bubble team workouts in late September, and that was a plus. It’s been tough for Cleveland and non-Orlando teams that haven’t been able to get in game action now what’s already been eight months, though.
Albeit it will be a really tight squeeze for the league from an offseason standpoint and probably from a ramping up perspective, but for teams like the Cavs, it will be nice to finally be back out there and get in game action again.
After reports of a tentative approval to a Dec. 22 start date for next season, the NBA and NBPA also came to terms on an amended collective bargaining agreement (CBA), per a Monday report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Tim Bontemps. Free agency is set to begin on Nov. 20 at 6 PM, with training camps set to begin on Dec. 1, per Wojnarowski and Bontemps.
So to reiterate, this is an offseason that’s going to be in hyperdrive, but for the Cavs, after what’s essentially been an extended offseason, I’d imagine the group is chomping at the bit to get after it.
And a recent tweet from Larry Nance Jr. highlighted that point to me (this was before the Woj/Bontemps report, though). Christmas will be coming early this year for Nance, who has “never been more excited to do conditioning and defensive drills,” which was so telling.
Christmas comes on December 1st this year!! I’ve never been more excited to do conditioning and defensive drills in my life 😂😂
— Larry Nance (@Larrydn22) November 9, 2020
Nance’s tweet said it all about the extended layoff for the Cavs.
The Cavaliers haven’t played in so long, and there’s been such limited group reps/opportunities to have the squad together, or at least a significant portion of it. Individual reps/1-on-0 reps for players such as Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, Kevin Porter Jr., Nance and others are meaningful, sure, but the above tweet to me shows how Cavs players have to be chomping at the bit.
Nance’s tweet was referencing the beginning of training camp, but clearly, it’s more so about the excitement he expressed for the regular season to get going, assuredly. And I can’t blame him, and I’m sure others; we know that Sexton is certainly in that realm.
While on the subject of Nance, he was also playing especially well leading into the hiatus, too, and I’d expect him to keep up his progression offensively next season. Nance is set to again set to be one of Cleveland’s best defenders next season, and continued in his progression as a shooter and I’d think should again have his share of playmaking opportunities.
He had yet another career-best in scoring with 10.1 points per game, to go with averaging 7.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.0 steals per contest in 2019-20.
And considering the strides he made, even while Nance’s name has reportedly been mentioned in trade discussions around the league, per ESPN’s Zach Lowe, we still haven’t seen reports/rumors involving the Cavaliers themselves wanting to deal Nance. I made my case as to why Cleveland shouldn’t seriously consider trading Nance as well, for what it’s worth.
Anyhow, that Nance tweet above just again highlights how he himself and I’m sure other Cavaliers players and I’d imagine the coaches are chomping at the bit for the 2020-21 season to get started.
I’m pumped to see Nance and the Cavs get back in game action, too.