It’s tough to not be bullish on Cavs’ Lamar Stevens moving forward

It’s not going to be glamorous when he’s out there, but Cleveland Cavaliers forward/wing Lamar Stevens keeps making things happen when he’s given the opportunities. The former two-way player that was originally an undrafted signing out of Penn State following the 2020 NBA Draft showed flashes last season, and it was understandable why the team eventually signed him to a multi-year deal, albeit a team-friendly one.

This season, Stevens has had his share of rotational chances, and he’s filled in in spot starts when needed because of injury. On the year, he’s had 6.1 points and 2.6 rebounds in 16.0 minutes per game in what’s been 60 appearances, 13 of which have been starts.

Lately, though, Stevens has had more playing time, since, in particular, the beginning of March, and he’s given the Cavaliers quality minutes pretty regularly in this past month or so.

In his last 16 appearances, five of which have been starts, he’s averaged 9.7 points and 3.9 rebounds in 21.7 minutes per outing then. Stevens had some starts realistically because of Dean Wade being sidelined through the rest of the season (partial meniscus tear) and Caris LeVert having been out (foot sprain) before.

Either way, even since LeVert’s return and with Stevens being multi-positional, Lamar has regularly been involved in the Cavaliers’ rotation, and he’s made an impact on both ends. With what he’s provided in this recent stretch, even still with some inconsistencies, the Cavaliers and we as fans should be high on him from here.

It’s tough to not be bullish on Stevens moving forward for the Cavs.

It’s not breaking news to say that Stevens is not a guy that’s going to be a Kevin Love or even Cedi Osman-level catch-and-shoot player, regarding other bench contributors, for example. That’s not Stevens’ game offensively, as other KJG writers and myself have acknowledged plenty of times.

Stevens has made some improvements over the course of the season on catch-and-shoot play, on the plus side, but he’s at just 29.0 percent on the year, on 1.0 attempts per outing.

Looking past that, though, Stevens has again been a very effective finisher, converting on 69.8 percent of his restricted area shot attempts, per NBA.com’s shooting data. Those are generally going to constitute the vast majority of his shots, and this season, they’ve been 43.3 percent of his total shots. That’s a marginal increase from his rookie campaign, in which those were 39.0 percent of his total shots, again, per NBA.com’s shooting data.

Just as we touched on before, Stevens has proven to be an impressive finisher for the Cavaliers, and has consistently made his presence felt near the rim in this last month-plus. His cutting feel and timing has seemingly improved in Year 2, and that’s flashed in recent weeks in both set offense and in transition.

Stevens does need continued work on his handle in the coming offseason to further build on his driving/slashing abilities, however, with his strength, quickness in getting off the floor and with his body control even at 230 pounds, he’s difficult to handle when he gets downhill. In early offense and/or in the open floor, that’s even more so the case, but either way, in set offense, he’s become more comfortable finding gaps and making quick decisions, getting to the rack against opposing guards and wings/forwards.

Along with that, Stevens has continued to show some mid-range abilities for the Cavaliers, getting to those plays occasionally when he’s found his rhythm and has had the room. That was shown a bit in the close loss to the Sixers on Sunday, when he had 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting and gave the Cavs energy in bench minutes.

The volume’s not going to be high in that sense with Stevens not being near the presence of Garland or LeVert, for instance, but Lamar has hit 8-of-11 (72.7 percent) of his mid-range attempts in the past eight games. And in his four-year Penn State career, he demonstrated he’s more than capable in the mid-range.

With the offensive growth he’s shown this season, it’s tough to not be bullish on Stevens’ outlook moving forward, and his ability to play and defend multiple positions, feasibly 2-4, has been a key bright spot for Cleveland. That’s even with the team’s inconsistencies overall in recent weeks, and among Cavs players in the past 10 games, he’s second among regular rotation contributors behind only Darius Garland with a plus-minus of 3.2.

Stevens, who turns 25 in July, is signed through 2023-24, and with how he’s seemingly one of the emotional leaders on this Cavaliers basketball team, it’d behoove Cleveland to keep him around.

I get that there’s others that’ll be involved, and I still want to see Cedi Osman get more opportunities in coming games, and both he and Stevens I believe could very well be involved in potential play-in/postseason contests. That’d be warranted.

Regardless, while it’s difficult to suggest at the moment what a potential deal/extension for Stevens may look like, and he’s essentially on a team-friendly, non-guaranteed deal for two more years with a club option in the final year, the arrow looks to be pointing up for him. Stevens’ contract being fully-guaranteed for the rest of the season (in which he’d be set to make $1.5 million as a result) earlier in the campaign was a wise move.

Rest assured, with the growth he’s shown offensively, and with his defensive impact and versatility, he could be a piece Cleveland considers keeping around moving forward, even if potential consolidation occurs. It’s tough to not be bullish on him from here, and the energy Lamar brings and his effort level is infectious.

We’ll ultimately have to see what plays out, but I continue to be impressed with Stevens on both ends of the floor.