Cavs: Dean Wade is showcasing stretch big abilities in rotational burn

Last season, we didn’t see much of Dean Wade in regular season action in meaningful burn with the Cleveland Cavaliers. In 2019-20, in run with the Cavs, Wade had only 12 appearances, of which he played an average of 5.9 minutes per outing, averaging 1.7 points and 1.6 rebounds.

He was an undrafted free agent signing shortly following the 2019 NBA Draft and was a two-way player, though, and that largely played into the lack of burn for Wade.

But Wade was able to get plenty of experience last season with the Canton Charge, the Cavs’ G League Affiliate. With the Charge, he had 14.2 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.4 blocks per outing as a starter.

And perhaps most notably, Wade, as he showed more so as his career progressed in college at Kansas State, was a quality catch-and-shoot threat. With Canton last season, Wade hit 1.8 of his 4.6 three-point attempts per outing, a 39.9 percent clip.

Conversely, although the opportunities were few and far between with the Cavaliers in 2019-20, Wade seemed to clearly not have nearly the same confidence as a catch-and-shoot threat when the chances with Cleveland did come. But it was tough to read much into that for Dean, as even while he did play decently otherwise I thought, he only played 71 total minutes with the Cavs in his rookie campaign.

It’s been different for Wade during this season, however. Of course, injuries to Kevin Love, whose barely played because of a right calf injury, and Larry Nance Jr. missing 13 games leading into the prior All-Star break due to a fourth metacarpal fracture on his left hand has played into Wade getting some more burn.

It’s been a plus that we’ve ended up seeing Nance initiate offense some in recent games, as we’ve seen more of seemingly, as I wanted to play out earlier this week, for context, though.

Albeit even with Nance back now, Wade, has had some rotational run, and it’s been nice to see him contribute this season. And he’s looked so much more comfortable as a shooter.

Wade is showcasing his stretch big abilities in his rotational burn for the Cavs.

In 33 appearances, he’s had 3.5 points per game, so you take it with a grain of salt, but Wade’s played 12.2 minutes per outing.

And again, when he’s had his rotational burn, Wade has often been able to prove he’s a viable floor spacing presence for Darius Garland, Collin Sexton and others. On the season, Wade has hit 37.1 percent of his three-point attempts.

In his last seven games, Wade’s further proven his floor spacing abilities, and hit a solid 36.4 percent of his deep balls on 4.3 attempts in 20.4 minutes per appearance. He’s shown that he’s more than capable via spot-ups, and shown some viability a bit off movement even, which has been great to see.

That sort of thing has given the Cavs energy, and it’s been awesome to see in the past two outings versus the Boston Celtics, and helped Cleveland get back into things against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday. Hopefully Wade’s only helped his case for minutes looking onward, too, and I’d imagine we’ll still see that in coming games.

And Iastly, it’s been nice to see Wade hold his own defensively, and even in some switchout situations when needed.

Moreover, with the energy he’s provided, and the three-point shooting capabilities he’s shown, it’s looked to be an added lift for Cleveland. Let’s hope we’ll continue to see that from Wade in coming games, as he’s only been helping his case for minutes.

The confidence Wade has been playing with in rotational burn has been key for him, too, and I’d look for him to keep getting those perimeter shooting looks in this coming stretch.