Dean Wade’s case for Cavs playing time is evident

This season, there were a number of guys who stepped up for the Cleveland Cavaliers, which helped the team make noticeable strides in the right direction.

Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen made All-Star leaps, and that was front and center, along with Evan Mobley’s play. Kevin Love also had a very successful season in a shift to a bench supersub-type role, as he finished second in Sixth Man of the Year voting.

I also thought there were encouraging signs from Lauri Markkanen, even in a move to a de facto 3 role, and next season, I believe he could hit the ground running after being more acclimated this next go-round.

I don’t gloss over the contributions of guys such as Lamar Stevens and Dean Wade, either, though, and both have panned out to be legit rotational options often for the Cavaliers. For both guys, that’s no small thing, as both were initially undrafted, two-way players that were eventually inked to several years deals, albeit ones that have been/are non-guaranteed in those respective seasons.

Stevens is a player that has shown defensive versatility, and this season, he had a number of nice games offensively, and I believe could be headed for a strong start to next season. That’s if the opportunities come for him.

Wade is another player that could be in contention for minutes with Stevens, but I do think both could receive some decent minutes, anyway, and in Wade’s case, his continued defensive growth plays into that.

Wade’s case for minutes is evident, as he has proven to be multi-positional on defense, and has shown viability throughout games with varying players.

Wade is not a player that’s going to be a common jersey you see at Cavs games, nor is he going to be lighting up traditional box scores regularly. In 2021-22, Wade had 5.3 points and 2.9 rebounds in 19.2 minutes per outing, in what was in 51 appearances.

But his defense is his calling card.