Cleveland Cavaliers: 2 goals for Lamar Stevens in 2021-22

#1: Establish himself as valuable wing/forward defender for the Cavs for rotational stretches

For the first goal for Stevens for next season, it’s to establish himself as a valuable wing/forward defender for rotational stretches.

Given that there will be a number of others in the fold regarding the 3/4, it’s difficult to foresee just want kind of role Stevens will end up having early on. As we noted, he appeared in 40 games last season, with 12.5 minutes per appearance.

Even taking that into account, and players such as Cedi Osman, Dylan Windler and feasibly Larry Nance Jr./Dean Wade, Stevens did show he’s a player capable of playing quality defense against bigger wings/combo forwards last season.

When he was regularly involved in the rotation, injuries aside, Stevens did Cleveland a lift in that regard, and with his strength, ability to wall up in the post and with his feel for cutting off driving lanes, I do believe he could again contribute in spurts/stretches of games. That’s at least to give Isaac Okoro a breather, I would think, and he could seemingly play at the 4 at times with Evan Mobley/Kevin Love/Nance at the 5 for spurts.

Although Stevens is not a player that could be a floor spacer, such as Windler if healthy and/or if he can get into a rhythm early on, with Stevens’ defensive versatility, he could further establish himself as a valuable depth player.

That’s with his viability against wings/forwards with his size/frame, and additionally, the Penn State product is a very good rebounder, as evidenced by his 6.9 boards per-36 minutes in Year 1. Plus, Stevens did actually have a respectable 2.3 percent block rate, in relation to his rotational feel.

I can’t for certain what kind of opportunities Lamar will/can have game-to-game, but him meeting this goal would be meaningful for Cleveland to ease the burden on Okoro and to some degree, Nance, provided he sticks around.