Cavs should have sense of clarity with regard to Lamar Stevens

I recognize that Lamar Stevens is not going to be the most prominent jersey fans are rocking at Cleveland Cavaliers home games. He’s not the offensive presence of Darius Garland, or the Rookie of the Year snub from this now-past season in Evan Mobley.

I don’t dispute those things when it comes to Stevens. During his second season, Stevens had 6.1 points and 2.6 rebounds per game in what was an average of 16.1 minutes.

The dude didn’t post the most gaudy of traditional box score numbers in 2021-22. He’s not typically going to be a guy that is going to be necessarily a focal point for Cleveland when he’s in offensively. As of now at least, things are trending that way looking onward as well.

That being said, Stevens made strides on both ends of the floor, when the opportunities were there, in his second year. After his rookie campaign, in which he began on a two-way contract, when he had 4.1 points and 2.4 rebounds per game in an average of 12.5 minutes, as we noted, Stevens did show more positive signs offensively. Plus, his defense I thought was a positive, too, as it was in Year 1.

Some of it was in relation to injuries to other guys, such as Isaac Okoro a bit, and later on in the closing part of the regular season to Dean Wade, but overall, I thought Stevens showed legit improvement in Year 2. And for the Cavaliers, with next season in mind, it seems that there should be a sense of clarity in regards to Stevens, in that he can be pretty reliable defensively for stretches and he can help offensively if the chances are there.

The Cavs should have a sense of clarity with regard to Stevens, who is an impactful defender, and can create at times offensively in stretches. He can still help the team, even with some minutes variance.

We’ll examine the defensive skill set of Stevens further next, and then touch on his offensive development.