Last season, I was pleased with the play of Dean Wade for the most part for the Cleveland Cavaliers. As a two-way contributor that was an undrafted free agent signing shortly following the 2019 NBA Draft out of Kansas State, Wade did not get much NBA playing time with Cleveland.
When he did get some playing time with the Cavaliers though, Wade appeared hesitant to let catch-and-shoot looks fly, albeit that was understandable. Fortunately for the K State product, he was able to make his presence felt for Cleveland in his second season, and appeared in 63 games, and played 19.2 minutes per outing.
Wade, who was signed to a team-friendly, multi-year deal in the offseason of 2020 with the years from then onward non-guaranteed, proved to be a legitimate rotational contributor last season.
Although injury issues to Kevin Love more so pre-All-Star and Larry Nance Jr. to some extent at various points in the season did play into it, Wade gained valuable experience, and I thought was a bright spot for Cleveland.
He had 6.0 points and 3.4 rebounds per game in 2020-21, and looks to be a viable catch-and-shoot threat looking onward, and hit 36.6 percent of his three-point attempts during this now-past season. That was on a volume of 3.4 attempts per outing.
With what Wade showed last season for Cleveland, to me, he seems very likely to stick around. His defense should aid his case, too, along with his cutting/finishing.
So in that case, what would be two sensible goals for Wade for the Cavs next season, then?
The first relates to his three-point shooting/catch-and-shoot abilities for the Cavaliers.