The Cleveland Cavaliers are fourth in the Eastern Conference at the moment as the squad hosted the All-Star festivities this year, which is nice timing. The Cavaliers are an up-and-coming team, after three years largely consisting of growing pains.
To put it simply, with Cleveland hosting All-Star Weekend this go-round, the team turning a corner this season has been great to see, and this season, the Cavaliers have had two players compete in the Clorox Rising Stars Challenge, and they had two players in the All-Star Game itself.
Evan Mobley and Isaac Okoro repped Team Barry in the Rising Stars Challenge on Friday and won that, and Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen (as James Harden’s injury replacement) competed with Team LeBron in the All-Star Game on Sunday, and helped them win. Garland, Mobley and Allen participated in the Taco Bell Skills Challenge on Saturday, and took the W in that, too.
The gist is, it’s been a resurgent year for the Wine and Gold, to say the least. Even with the club having its share of injuries this season, such as most notably Collin Sexton and later on, Ricky Rubio, the Cavaliers have found ways to win throughout this season, and I’m not going to overreact to their last two losses before the current All-Star break.
It’s also good to know that Lauri Markkanen, who has missed Cleveland’s past 11 games because of a high ankle sprain, is progressing tangibly, and he is reportedly ramping up his workouts and could seemingly be back soon after the All-Star break concludes.
One player that appears to be on the outside looking in for minutes for the Cavaliers as they’re set to begin their closing stretch of the regular season is Lamar Stevens, though, and I still do believe he can be a meaningful contributor for Cleveland.
Stevens minutes for the Cavs can still be impactful.
We’ve often seen Stevens make his presence felt as a multi-positional defender for Cleveland consistently when he’s received rotational minutes this season, as he did at various points during last season, and his offense has improved.
Stevens is multi-positional defensively, and his offense has improved
Stevens has done a fine job filling in for stretches for Isaac Okoro this season, for example, and he’s more than capable of containing wings, and with his sturdy 6-foot-6, 230-pound frame, he can handle 4s as well.
Plus, this season, we’ve seen Stevens at times prove to be more than capable of limiting penetration from opposing primary playmakers; he’s not as effective in those situations as Okoro, but has been solid on a number of occasions, still.
Generally speaking, Stevens’ defensive versatility can still be valuable for the Cavaliers, and he has made tangible strides offensively.
In spot starts filling in for an injured Isaac Okoro last month, Stevens had career-highs in scoring in two of three games, and this season, he has shown he can regularly to his spots with mid-range pull-ups when possessions call for it. His cutting and finishing shouldn’t be discounted, either, nor his transition abilities.
Overall, he’s converted on 65.8 percent of his shot attempts in the restricted area, per NBA.com’s shooting data; those shots have made up for a healthy 41.2 percent of his total shot attempts. And he’s placed in the 66th percentile in transition scoring on a frequency of 19.0 percent, per Synergy Sports.
That said, with Markkanen seemingly likely to return soon, and with Caris LeVert‘s recent trade acquisition, and with others, such as Okoro and Cedi Osman heavily involved, Stevens is likely on the outside looking in, regarding regular rotational minutes.
Stevens seems to be the odd man out currently, but the Cavs should know what they have in him now
Stevens has appeared in just 6.9 minutes per contest in his last five games active, and did not play in Cleveland’s loss at the Atlanta Hawks last Tuesday, which was a game I thought Cleveland could’ve used his defense.
Granted, he did play 15.8 minutes per game in his six appearances before that last span of games, and had 6.2 points and 2.7 rebounds per outing, and shot 55.6 percent in that span, so perhaps Stevens does still have some stretches of games where he’s still involved for meaningful stretches.
But with the other perimeter contributors involved, and with Dean Wade’s catch-and-shoot play, it’s uncertain if Stevens will receive his share of minutes as he had more of last month. For context, in 41 appearances this season, the former two-way wing and Penn State product has had 5.0 points and 2.2 rebounds in 14.3 minutes per game.
However, with his defensive versatility, toughness, alert team defense, and with his rim pressure/transition play, some Stevens stretches in games can still be impactful for the Cavaliers, I believe.
It’s tough to tell whether Lamar will regularly receive chances to affect games, is the only thing; I do still think he’s a player they may want to have in for some stretches come postseason play, though.
And in the closing stretch of the regular season ahead here, I still believe some Stevens stretches would be sensible, as he looks to be a viable rotational contributor looking onward.