Cleveland Cavaliers: 2 goals for Dean Wade in 2021-22

Cleveland Cavaliers forward Dean Wade shoots the ball. (Photo by David Richard-USA TODAY Sports)
Cleveland Cavaliers forward Dean Wade shoots the ball. (Photo by David Richard-USA TODAY Sports)
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Dean Wade, Cleveland Cavaliers
Cleveland Cavaliers big Dean Wade shoots the ball. (Photo by David Richard-USA TODAY Sports)

Goal #1: For Wade to shoot 38.0 percent from three for the Cavs

Wade again hit a respectable 36.6 percent of his 3.4 three-point attempts per outing last season for the Wine and Gold, which was nice to see. The vast majority of Wade’s shot attempts from here will likely be involving him/the team leaning into that, too, particularly off-the-catch.

65.6 percent of Wade’s shot attempts in his second season with the Cavaliers came via those catch-and-shoot three-point looks, per NBA.com’s shot tracking data. As was stated, nearly all of his threes were catch-and-shoots, for what it’s worth, but that’s just fine looking onward.

Along those lines, in a rotational role, including some spurts here and there as a jumbo 3 I would think, and here and there too at the 5, to go with feasibly 4 minutes, a first goal of hitting 38.0 percent from deep seems fair for Wade next season.

While it was for Cleveland’s G League affiliate, the-then Canton Charge, of which is now set to be playing in Cleveland at Cleveland State’s arena, per a Charge release, Wade hit 39.9 percent of his three-point attempts for them in 2019-20. That was on 4.6 attempts per outing, for context.

Anyway, with what Wade demonstrated last season for Cleveland, to me, I would foresee him hitting 38.0 percent or better in Year 3 from beyond the arc.

He’s a viable floor spacing presence for the Cavaliers, and off of spot-ups and via ball-swings from the likes of Darius Garland, Collin Sexton and others, and some off movement, I could see Wade taking a step forward as an off-the-catch player in 2021-22. And him meeting/exceeding that first goal would indicate that.

From there, the second goal for him relates to him continuing to have a legitimate role game-to-game and further establishing himself in a general sense.