Cavs should run O through Larry Nance Jr. some more again

Darius Garland is the primary playmaker for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and that’s abundantly clear. Garland, aside from when he was out in Friday’s blowout loss at the New Orleans Pelicans due to a left groin strain, has seemingly taken another forward in Cleveland’s recent stretch, too. Cleveland’s Tuesday loss at the Miami Heat wasn’t necessarily showing that, as he shot only four-of-11, and had three assists to five turnovers, but the proof has been in the putting with Garland this season.

The young point man, who has had a strong sophomore campaign with 15.8 points and 5.8 assists per outing in 2020-21, has done a nice job getting his teammates involved, and getting himself going, by and large.

And while he’s only on a 10-day deal, and we’ll have to see if a second 10-day were to come for him, Quinn Cook has largely done a solid job as a backup 1, to me. Albeit Cook is not nearly the passer of Garland, or Matthew Dellavedova, for example, who has not appeared for Cleveland yet this season because of him still seemingly working his way back from a severe concussion.

Delly has had a concussion history, in that realm, and also last month had an emergency appendectomy; he has no set timetable at this juncture. But it would appear he’ll back at some point, and he’s reportedly been working out individually.

Nonetheless, though Collin Sexton has progressed some in the secondary playmaking realm, and with Kevin Love having been seemingly banged up again, it would be meaningful for Cleveland to run some offense through Larry Nance Jr. more in coming games. He’s one of the Cavs’ best passers, and that could help out Garland, and to some degree, get Garland himself and/or Cook some spot-ups/off-movement looks.

Nance of course made his return at New Orleans after the All-Star break after having been sidelined since Cleveland’s game on Feb. 6 versus the Milwaukee Bucks due to a fractured left hand. So, it’ll take him some time, in the scoring sense, to get going.

But with it seeming as if Nance has gotten his bearings more, the Cavs should run some offense through him more again in coming games.

Run some more offense through Nance again, Cavs.

Nance, whose had 3.0 assists per outing, with him often slotting in as Cleveland’s starting 4 with Love sidelined, is a gifted passing big, as Cavaliers fans know.

He does a nice job in relation to his dribble handoffs to guards, such as Garland or Collin Sexton, and/or via give-and-gos, for one. We’ll surely see those continue to be in the fold when he’s in there, for one, which is fine.

Albeit Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff and the Wine and Gold need to get Nance some work operating at the elbows/high post, too, as he makes good decisions in those situations. He had four assists on Tuesday, but I’d still like to see him playmake more game-to-game from here.

Nance, whose had a solid 13.3 percent assist rate this season, and consistently seems to get the ball hopping, has great timing with hitting cutters, such as Isaac Okoro or Dylan Windler. And he’s more than capable of using ball fakes to help open up looks on the weak side to Jarrett Allen over-the-top.

Additionally, Jr. has the requisite feel and vision to hit skip feeds to catch-and-shoot threats, and perhaps he could hit the likes of Windler, Cedi Osman here and there, and Garland via relocation even, and a bit for Quinn Cook, maybe.

That sort of thing could get Garland some off-ball looks, and alleviate some pressure for him in the primary playmaking realm in coming games, most notably.

So again, while I’d still expect it could take some more time for Nance to get going more as a shooter himself coming off his injury, he has had some glimpses as a scorer that were promising, via drives on occasion, and he hit two triples at New Orleans. On the season, he’s hit a career-best 36.5 percent from deep, too, so I’d think he can get the catch-and-shoot stuff going again after a few games.

But either way, he seems more than fine to initiate more as a secondary playmaking presence, as was the case pre-injury, and that I think would help Cleveland/and spur on some more off-ball man movement.

Hopefully that plays out more in coming games, starting with Wednesday’s matchup versus the Boston Celtics.