Watching the NBA Playoffs, it’s still a little tough to watch and not be a bit disappointed that the Cleveland Cavaliers couldn’t be in the field. The team had a very promising season, to say the least, as they had 44 wins, which was the most by a Cavaliers team without LeBron James since 1998.
The Wine and Gold improved their win total by 22 games, doubling it from last season, and guys such as Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen had breakout campaigns. Both of those two even repped the hometown Cavaliers in the All-Star festivities in Cleveland this year, too.
Unfortunately for the Cavs, injuries eventually caught up with them, and Allen’s fractured finger, in particular, played a crucial role in the team stumbling to the finish and they lost two play-in games, resulting in missing the postseason. The Cavs post-All-Star had just nine wins, and their defense was not close to as effective, that’s also with the loss of Dean Wade to some extent.
It was still a season where the team exceeded seemingly everybody’s expectations heading into the year, on the plus side, and as we noted, there were a number of guys that took their games up a notch. Garland and Allen were big-time, Evan Mobley was outstanding as a rookie, Kevin Love terrific in a shift to a bench role, and Lauri Markkanen seemingly got more comfortable as the season wore on.
Another player that jumped out to me as somebody who stepped up was Lamar Stevens, who we’ll examine further here.
Next up in our KJG Cavs grades is Stevens, who was a pleasant surprise.
In his second season with the Cavaliers, Stevens turned a corner. With that, let’s take a closer look at his offensive grade for 2021-22.
Stevens’ offensive play this season
When there were opportunities for him as a rookie, there were some encouraging signs from Stevens as a driving threat and finisher, and his body control was something that really stood out inside.
There were more instances from Stevens in those areas in his second season with the Cavaliers, too, and in some spot starts or games where he had more chances, a production uptick followed.
Stevens, who was originally on a two-way deal with Cleveland as an undrafted rookie out of Penn State, had 4.1 points and 2.4 rebounds in 12.5 minutes per outing last season. There were again some flashes from him last season on-ball offensively, and he did show some mid-range pull-up qualities as well, but this season, there were plays like that more frequently for stretches of games.
With more opportunities, Stevens had 6.1 points on 51.7 percent effective field goal shooting, and 2.6 rebounds per contest, in what was more chances to make plays, with 16.1 minutes per game. That was in 63 appearances, which included 13 starts, where he filled in at multiple positions for the Cavaliers.
There are some instances where Stevens might be prone to forcing things a bit here and there, and there still were some blown looks inside where you’d expect him to convert, but overall, I thought there was tangible progress from Stevens this season offensively.
He’s got a ways to go to be considered a viable catch-and-shoot threat, as while he did have some positive strides there, he still hit only 27.7 percent from three, and I do believe some more playmaking from him on drives could be a point of emphasis.
Even still, for a rotational contributor that feasibly can have some notable variance in minutes for stretches of games it seems, Stevens’ offensive play was encouraging. When there were consistent looks, he provided some legit driving and finishing help, and his cutting feel also improved, in my opinion.
He’ll need to show more off-ball growth, but Year 2 was solid from Stevens.
We do know the deep shooting is a point of emphasis, however, and Stevens does need to make quicker decisions at times.
Stevens’ offensive grade this season: B
Stevens’ defensive play this season
Coming into the season, I was hopeful that, even with plenty of others involved, Stevens would receive situational defensive minutes.
Injuries did admittedly play some into it, but he eventually became a regular throughout the season for his ability to defend multiple positions.
Stevens often did a more than respectable job in his defense of opposing wings, and at his size at 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds, did admirably against bigger wings and forwards a fair amount in his minutes. That gave the likes of Lauri Markkanen, and at times, Isaac Okoro a breather for stretches.
Stevens at times can be a bit overaggressive with his contests, more so when trying to get through off-ball screens, and that’s an area that needs to be cleaned up for him.
Although in his role as mostly a rotational contributor, Stevens’ physicality, toughness, and feel as a rotator often gave Cleveland energy this season. He did have 3.8 fouls per-36 minutes again in Year 2, but that wasn’t the end of the world, given how he gave them typically quality defensive wing minutes.
I don’t personally read a ton into his defensive rating being 0.8 higher than Cleveland’s overall defensive rating, especially given what he was tasked with doing in his defensive minutes.
Stevens defensively again proved to be one of the Cavs’ most versatile players in his second season, and his rotational feel improved, leading to some timely blocks and deflections, which helped generate runouts.
There’s plenty to build on from him in that regard, but the fouls on shooters at times, and sometimes him maybe overextending a bit are areas to work on.
Stevens’ defensive grade this season: B+
Stevens’ overall play this season
I recognize that Stevens needs to show he can be a viable catch-and-shoot threat, ideally, to be a near-every night contributor, with others involved in the Cavaliers’ rotation. He again was sub-28 percent from three in Year 2, and that’s the glaring area of focus, one would assume, for him.
However, there’s plenty for him to build on from this season, as Stevens showed some encouraging creation abilities as a driver, and some of his mid-range play off-the-bounce gave the Cavaliers a lift.
From what we saw from him this season, even more so, it’s reassuring that Stevens will be on a team-friendly deal from here with Cleveland, with the rest of his deal non-guaranteed for the next two seasons. That’s also with a 2023 club option.
Now, I can’t say definitively if Stevens will stick around, but he’s shown far more than Dylan Windler thus far, and Cedi Osman‘s had his share of inconsistencies, even though I thought he had some of a raw deal near the end of this season.
In any case, with what Stevens showed with more opportunities in 2021-22, he helped his case, I thought at least, for more chances in the Cavs rotation next season. Despite his net rating being minus-1.3 on the season overall, some of that realistically had to do with other injuries to key contributors, and the teams’ slide post-All-Star. And I think next year, we’ll see that mark for Stevens be far better, with him heading into his third season.
Stevens’ 2021-22 overall grade: B+
For the year in general, I think he turned a corner, and I’m going with a B+ grade; I just can’t go in the A range.