Another Las Vegas Summer League game was in the books as of Wednesday for the Cleveland Cavaliers as they evened their record at 1-1 and much like Game 1, there was a ton to takeaway from this one.
Evan Mobley looked a bit more comfortable taking shots and really showed his ability to facilitate, Isaac Okoro continues to reward the Cavs brass in their decision to allocate him more opportunities to show that he could possibly be a tertiary playmaker. Trevon Bluiett and Matt Ryan went 4-6 and 4-7 from three-point range respectively. While all of the Cavs listed above played well, today’s focus is on none other than Lamar Stevens.
The second-year wing went undrafted out of Penn State in 2020 before signing a two-way deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers in November of last year. He appeared in 40 games with the team last season and averaged 4.1 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 0.6 assists in just 12.5 minutes a game.
While the Cavs brass liked Stevens enough to convert his two-deal into a regular contract, he is still facing an uphill battle in regards to a spot in the regular season rotation. His quest towards that goal continued against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday and with that being said, here are three takeaways from Game 2 of Summer League for Stevens.
#1: Stevens could be the Cavs’ second best perimeter defender.
Listed at 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds, Stevens is prototypically built for today’s switch-heavy NBA. He’s small enough to step out on the perimeter and defend guards and most wings, yet big enough to defend forwards. We’ve seen him play near-lockdown defense on occasion and when faced with a difficult matchup, we’ve seen him give his all.
Just last season, Stevens had an opponent field goal percentage of 47.0, per NBA.com. That was actually tied for the second-best among all current Cavs players who defended at least 880 attempts, just a hair behind do-it-all reserve Larry Nance Jr. at 46.8 percent.
Yes, that is only a 40-game sample size, but I’m confident that his output would remain largely the same based off of his skill set. The Penn State alum has continued to flex his defensive prowess throughout the first two games of Summer League, despite the Cavs losing their first outing against the Houston Rockets, and he could always be seen being an impediment to the Magic on defense.
That stood out on a possession around the 4:50 mark in the 1st quarter when Stevens forced Jalen Suggs to kick the ball out and although they would end up scoring, he still held his own.
#2: Stevens appears comfortable working from the mid-range for the Cavs and has improved as a cutter.
Several of his field goal attempts came from just outside the key as he’s starting to appear more and more comfortable taking and making shots from that range. He took a few pull-up jumpers that drew iron but I liked the confidence to take them nonetheless.
Another aspect of his game that has greatly improved from since last season is his cutting.
Stevens shows he’s starting to show an uncanny ability to cut to the basket appearing to work himself open almost every time he does so. His knack for catching lobs at the rim could pay dividends for the Cavs guards be it Darius Garland, Collin Sexton, or Ricky Rubio.
Isaac Okoro and Evan Mobley, whose passing prowess could be key for Cleveland, found Stevens a few times in Game 2 which was a highly encouraging sight. He’s still got to work on his finishing around the rim but all things considered, he’s miles ahead of where he was last year in that department.
If he’s able to perfect these parts of his game, he could see his field goal percentage greatly increase; he shot 6-of-11 (54.5 percent) from the field against Orlando, to that point. It wouldn’t be a stretch for him go over the 50.0 percent mark next season after finishing last season at 45.6 percent.
#3: The lack of a consistent three-point shot could keep Stevens out of the Cavs rotation.
Time for some cold hard facts folks. Lamar Stevens may not see the court on a regular basis until he provides perimeter shooting that’s at least sub-optimal. He’s a career 16.0 percent shooter from beyond the arc with the Cavaliers (4-of-25) and through two Vegas Summer League games, has only completed 1-of-3 attempts.
With three games remaining, he needs to start taking that shot with more volume.
That’s not encouraging for a team that finished dead last in three-point percentage (33.6) last season and needs perimeter shooting in the worst way. I’m not saying that he couldn’t overcome this, but he would need to be rendered invaluable by providing top of the line defense and to be able to score in other ways efficiently on a game-to-game basis.
When combined with the fact that he would likely need to beat out one of Cedi Osman, Dean Wade, Nance, Dylan Windler, or possibly Kevin Love if he starts the year on the bench, it becomes a tall task for the former Nittany Lion in Stevens.
My guess would be that if one of the above struggles offensively, Stevens could step in and attempt to earn a permanent spot in the lineup. If that isn’t the case, he could be in for another season as a reserve whose minutes are fairly spotty.