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

Goal #2: For Wade to play in at least 73 games, keep establishing himself in the Cavs rotation

The second goal is more so for Wade to keep demonstrating that he should be a rotational regular for Cleveland. As was stated, injuries to others did factor some into Dean getting more playing time game-to-game, by and large, but he often made an impact with that having been the case.

Next season, even with Love and Larry Nance Jr. factored in seemingly, and/or perhaps a combo forward draft pick for Cleveland such as Scottie Barnes/Jonathan Kuminga to some extent or Jalen Johnson, I still believe Wade will end up getting a decent share of minutes.

And while I’m obviously not predicting it or anything, with Love and to some degree Nance’s injury histories, it doesn’t seem unrealistic that there could injuries that happen involving them at times next season, which could lead to some more spot starts even.

Regardless, though, in bench lineups, Wade could get some playing time at the 5, too, either way, and in a general sense, with Wade’s ability to contain driving and pull-up threats pretty competently on defense, that should help his case. His off-ball defensive positioning is typically sound as well, and his 6.4 rebounds per-36 minutes was decent.

Anyhow, for Dean for next season, hopefully we’ll see him continue to gain confidence in-game in a rotational role, and with his catch-and-shoot and cutting capabilities, I’d imagine we could see him further establish himself as a solid contributor for Cleveland next season.

Things seem to be looking for the 24-year-old stretch big with the Cavs.