Lamar Stevens has given the Cavs productive defensive minutes

It’s tough to say if Lamar Stevens will be on the Cleveland Cavaliers for a number of years and/or ends up being a regular rostered player at some point here. Stevens went undrafted after a four-year collegiate career at Penn State, and agreed to a two-way deal with the Cavs shortly following the 2020 NBA Draft.

Stevens has seen his share of meaningful minutes to this point for the Wine and Gold to this point, though.

Granted, injuries this season have played into that, and Kevin Love having been sidelined because of a high-grade right calf strain/reaggravation of that and a Larry Nance Jr. to-be extended absence (fourth metacarpal fracture on his left hand) could lead to some more 4 man minutes for Stevens.

Stevens has aided in filling in for some stretches at the 3 also, and on the year, he’s played at the 3 for 45 percent of his minutes-share, but at the 4 even for 42 percent of that. Anyhow, so in regards to Stevens, what’s been the key thing he’s provided in his minutes-share thus far, then?

Stevens has given the Cavs productive defensive minutes.

Stevens, whose made just two of 15 three-point attempts and wasn’t very effective from deep in his college career, is not a floor spacing presence, albeit his finishing has been decent inside and his mid-range game has been a plus.

Nonetheless, because of the lack of perimeter shooting and with Stevens not much of a playmaking presence, the Cavs having their worst offensive rating with him on the floor hasn’t exactly been a glowing endorsement. That’s among regular rotation players at least, of which Stevens I’d have considered one so far.

But on a positive note for him, Stevens has provided solid defensive minutes for Cleveland when he’s had opportunities, which, considering he was a two-way signing, has been good to see, frankly.

The 6-foot-6, 230-pound Penn State product has done commendable work in some tough defensive matchups in spurts, and his ability to wall up against opposing 3’s and 4’s but even sit and slide fairly well has made pull-ups and drives fairly difficult.

That sort of thing has been a welcomed sight for the Cavaliers, really, and to me, it could give him a carved-out role in some spot minutes and/or for some specific situations for a defensive boost. Stevens has appeared more fluid than I would’ve anticipated on the perimeter in spurts, too, realistically for the most part, which I give him his due for.

In that realm, while again I wouldn’t expect Stevens to regularly be playing big minutes, as he is a two-way contributor, in defense against pick-and-roll ball handling threats thus far, Stevens has placed in the 85th percentile, per Synergy Sports. He’s played 14.5 minutes per outing, so you read into it with a grain of salt, but on a 32.5 percent frequency, that’s been impressive.

Additionally, in the team defensive sense, Stevens has looked to have the instincts you’d like to see to help as a rotator, and has aided guys like Collin Sexton, Nance in minutes with him, along with Cedi Osman/Dylan Windler.

Stevens has seemingly gotten his hands in passing lanes somewhat regularly when he’s been out there, too, as evidenced by him having a respectable 1.2 steals per-36 minutes thus far.

And lastly, as he proved to do at Penn State, Stevens’ positional feel has helped the Cleveland Cavaliers in his minutes-share from a defensive rebounding standpoint, similarly to Windler, which has been a plus as well. Lamar’s had a pretty robust 6.7 rebounds per-36 minutes, and a defensive rebounding rate of 15.2 percent.

Anyway, it’s evident that with Stevens, given that offensively he’s fairly limited, and hopefully Cleveland’s player development staff can aid with that, along with the Canton Charge somewhat, from a G League affiliate perspective, that he won’t regularly get big minutes with Cleveland.

However, he has given the Cavs productive minutes when it comes to the defensive end, typically, although in Sunday’s loss at the LA Clippers, that wasn’t the case, really, but he wasn’t alone in that sense.

As far as him potentially getting a rest-of-season deal/normal roster spot at some point, we’ll have to see, albeit I don’t think that’s necessarily outside the realm of possibility down the road.

Lamar’s defense, regardless of the current offensive limitations, has been a legitimate positive so far.