Lamar Stevens is a Cavs player to watch in Summer League
With the 2020-21 NBA season now in the books, and the 2021 NBA Draft on the horizon, we now can also look forward to the Las Vegas Summer League, set to commence from Aug. 8-17, where many young prospects get a chance to show what they can do for an NBA contract.
For the Cleveland Cavaliers, that means not only showcasing whomever they draft #3 overall, (which could very well be Evan Mobley), but also spotlighting some of the other young players and undrafted players who are looking to grow their game.
Forward Lamar Stevens is one of those players looking to earn more minutes in the Cavaliers rotation next season.
The 6-foot-6 Penn State product spent most of his rookie season at the end of the Cavaliers rotation after going undrafted.
He was initially on a two-way deal, but after some strong play on the defensive end, in particular, he was eventually signed to a team-friendly multi-year deal in-season. Albeit it’s set to be non-guaranteed, but he did show some encouraging signs in his 40 appearances last season, and could potentially help his case for sticking around in Summer League.
Although his minutes were short, he had some highlights sparkled in between that showed that he could be a viable piece for the Cavaliers in spurts. His 4.0 points in 12.5 minutes per contest didn’t pop, however, he flashed an ability to score both going to the basket and with some mid-range pull-ups when he was getting rotational time, but more so when Larry Nance Jr. and/or Kevin Love were sidelined.
That said, though the opportunities were fairly limited, he did also show he is not afraid of big moments, when he hit the game-winning shot against the Atlanta Hawks back in the regular season.
Along with scoring, he again demonstrated he’s a highly capable defender that can defend a number of different positions, and his 6.9 rebounds per-36 minutes were nothing to sneeze at.
So, in regards to Summer League, one would assume Stevens should be able to have plenty of opportunities to show the Cavs coaching staff and front office what he is capable of.
He can come in and build on the success he’s had thus far by becoming one of the Cavs’ best options offensively in Vegas, and can also ulitize that time as a chance to show that he has been working on expanding his offensive game.
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That could in turn help his case for sticking around going into next season/perhaps in the near future.