What would a successful 2022-23 season look like for Cavs’ Dean Wade?

In the past two seasons, it’s been nice to see how Cleveland Cavaliers forward Dean Wade has done when he’s had opportunities.

Wade, who was originally an undrafted two-way signing following the 2019 NBA Draft by Cleveland, has had far more chances in the past two seasons with the Cavaliers. In his rookie campaign, Wade played most of his meaningful minutes with Cleveland’s G League affiliate, the then-Canton and now Cleveland Charge.

Since then, Wade has demonstrated that he can make a difference for the Cavaliers on the defensive end of the floor, can hit open catch-and-looks, and make sound plays when those are there to be made.

Wade’s traditional statlines of 6.0 and 5.3 points and 3.4 and 2.9 rebounds per contest in Year 2 and Year 3 don’t jump out, but he has given Cleveland a lift on defense, and he’s shown positive signs in some spot starts.

Last season, he filled in more so at the 3 position, as opposed to more at the 4 the year prior, and for stretches, it’s evident that Wade can give the Cavs energy on defense, and hold his own against opposing forwards and wings.

As we also mentioned, he can knock down looks from three off of ball-swings, and demonstrated flashes off of movement. His cutting, finishing prowess and ball movement feel are underrated aspects of his skill set as well, in my opinion.

So, looking at this upcoming season for Wade then, what would constitute a successful one for him with the Cavs?

For Wade, currently, he looks to be a logical defensive sub option for Lauri Markkanen for a few stretches in games, or a guy that could fill in in stretches at the 4, more his natural position. He’ll register minutes at both this coming season, for what it’s worth.

When it comes to a successful outlook for Wade in 2022-23, generally, it comes down to him really honing on taking advantage of his catch-and-shoot opportunities, while becoming more comfortable guarding wings and forwards.

Last season, Wade connected on 35.9 percent of his three-point attempts, and in 2020-21, hit 36.6 percent from three. That was on 2.8 and previously 3.4 attempts per game, with an identical minutes-share of 19.2 per contest in 63 and 51 appearances, respectively.

The only 51 appearances were a bit misleading as compared to the year prior, though, as Wade missed most of the closing stretch of the regular season because of a partial meniscus tear, of which he’s since been fully recovered from. There were some other absences earlier in the season as well injury-related, for further context.

Anyways, when projecting what a successful upcoming campaign would look like for Wade, it’s finding his rhythm in his bench opportunities, from my perspective, and maybe providing some on-ball creation here and there. He has shown the capability to make plays countering hard closeouts, but I’d like to see that a bit more from time to time; I know that wouldn’t be a considerable amount of the time.

To the previous point involving shooting in his bench stretches, I think with the minutes variance, Wade’s done fine there, all things considered. Last season, his bench opportunities were trimmed to 23 games of those 51 appearances, whereas he had 28 starts filling in for Markkanen, mostly.

I don’t read a ton into it with the minutes-share having been 10.8 minutes per game in times off the bench, but in those, he hit only 30.0 percent from deep, albeit on 1.3 attempts on average. In his starts last season, Wade connected on 37.5 percent from three on 4.0 attempts on average.

Objectively, I’d think that next season, provided he’s back and sticks around, as Wade’s deal for next year is again non-guaranteed, that the Cavs should be more competent in getting guys like Wade better looks in bench appearances. Darius Garland/Collin Sexton to some extent, Evan Mobley and/or Raul Neto could help in that realm for Wade, for example.

The minutes-share is somewhat up in the air, sure, but I’d imagine some spot starts could be in the cards for Wade, either way, and in general, with him being one of Cleveland’s best defensive forwards, perhaps we’ll see him with Evan Mobley in some frontcourt pairings. Wade’s shooting capabilities will feasibly be part of the rotational 3 case for him, combined with his defense, for minutes, too.

With those areas of his game in mind, and with his fit alongside others, and his off-ball cutting feel all at 6-foot-9 also, I’d think he’d have more of an argument at this point over Lamar Stevens and Cedi Osman, if Osman is around. That’s if it came down to it, theoretically at least; he could still get some minutes with Stevens, anyhow.

To recap, a successful 2022-23 for Wade would result in him really honing in on that shooting from deep, both off the bench and as a starter here and there I’d think, maybe providing a bit more on-ball and for his defense to continue to be effective. It was notable that when Wade was in games last season, opponents had 5.5 less points per 100 possessions, which placed in the 89th percentile in that swing metric, per Cleaning The Glass.

Look for the 25-year-old forward to further solidify himself as a 3-and-D presence for Cleveland next season, provided he sticks around, of which I do believe he will.