With what he’s shown with gradual growth over the course of the past two seasons, I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the play of Cleveland Cavaliers forward Dean Wade.
Now, is Wade going to be one of the more commonly seen jerseys in the stands at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse? No, that’s not going to be the case; the dude isn’t Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen or Collin Sexton, who hopefully can be locked up long-term eventually; time will tell there.
With Wade, he has gotten more comfortable in real minutes when the opportunities have come for him in the past two seasons, though, and that’s been nice to see.
Wade, who was originally an undrafted free agent, two-way signing out of Kansas State following the 2019 NBA Draft, has gotten far more chances the last two seasons. In his first season with the Cavaliers, he mostly played meaningful minutes with the Cavs G League affiliate, the then-Canton (now Cleveland) Charge.
In the last two seasons, there have been regular chances with Wade, who signed to a multi-year deal after his rookie campaign, albeit with the years from there non-guaranteed. This coming season, Wade’s deal is non-guaranteed again, for context, but he could be a player the Cavaliers look to bring back next offseason when he could be unrestricted via reasonable deal, seemingly.
In the last two seasons, Wade’s traditional statline hasn’t popped off, per se, at 6.0 points and 3.4 rebounds and then 5.3 points and 2.9 rebounds per game last season. Although he’s helped the Cavaliers on defense when he’s had his share of minutes typically, and has filled in respectably within the team sense in spot starts, such as last season. His catch-and-shoot play has been fine, all things considered, too.
So, heading into Wade’s fourth season with the Cavaliers, how does he take another step forward, then?
With that in mind, we’ll take a look at two goals here for Wade with the Cavs in the 2022-23 campaign.
Let’s begin with the first, pertaining to his general role.
Goal No. 1 for Wade in 2022-23: Play in at least 60 games
The first goal, from my perspective, for Wade is to play in at least 60 games this coming campaign.
Last season, Wade appeared in 51 games, and the season prior, appeared in 63 games. In those 2021-22 and 2020-21 seasons, he averaged 19.2 minutes per game, for what it’s worth.
As far as additional context, Wade started in 28 of his 51 appearances last season, and 19 of his 63 appearances in his second year with the Cavaliers.
As it pertains to the role outlook for Wade, last season, he played more at the 3, with Cleveland looking to play with three bigs often, as opposed to the previous season, where he filled in at the 4 far more, which is more natural for him.
What we’re getting at here with this first goal for Wade, he’s one of those more rotational guys where there’s a number of others involved, too, with Lauri Markkanen and Evan Mobley/Kevin Love in there, and Lamar Stevens, Cedi Osman, if he’s around, are others. Caris LeVert, Isaac Okoro and even Ochai Agbaji are seemingly others somewhat involved in relation to the 3, too.
Regardless, based on Wade doing a solid job defensively against opposing forwards, and some wings, and typically being in the right spots as an off-ball defender/helper, I do believe he could function as a defensive sub pretty regularly in Year 4.
Plus, while Wade’s minutes off the bench were decreased on average last season, making it tougher to get into a shooting rhythm, him hitting 36.6 percent and then 35.9 percent of his three-point attempts were still decent, given some role variance.
I personally think this upcoming season, he could more of a rotational regular, and could feasibly cut some into Okoro’s minutes, and often be favored over Osman (if he’s around). And despite me being a fan of Stevens, he needs to show more catch-and-shoot viability to be favored over Wade, in times it comes to that.
So, overall, I’d think if the 6-foot-9 Wade plays in at least 60 games this coming season, with the number of others in the fold, that’d be notable. Injuries could definitely play into more opportunities, in fairness, but for Wade himself, him missing most of the closing stretch of last season due to injury was a bit misleading for last year’s appearances.
Goal No. 2 for Wade in 2022-23: Keep proving himself defensively, and average 7.5 points per game, while shooting 37.0-plus percent from three
For Wade, whether this is realistically the first or second goal, I’d say for him to keep making a difference on defense, and to average 8.0 points, while shooting 37.0 percent or so from deep.
Wade is not going to be Evan Mobley or Jarrett Allen on defense when it comes to the effect on games, but he’s been pretty competent there on-ball, and usually, does a good job with his shot contests, and knows where help is.
To me, part of Wade’s argument for minutes is for him being one of the Cavs’ more capable defenders versus opposing forwards, and that’s part of the reasoning for him being viable in some spot starts. Wade is honestly better in that sense than Lauri Markkanen, even with Markkanen being far better on that end is a role adjustment last season than I would’ve thought.
Of course, him not playing starters minutes overall played into it, but Cavaliers opponents having 5.5 points per 100 possessions less last season when Wade was in, per Cleaning The Glass, was impressive on Dean’s part. That seemingly also shows he’s a heady off-ball defender, too.
For the other portion of the aforementioned second goal here for Wade in 2022-23, him having 7.5 points per game would be an uptick, however, this is factoring in how he could have more regular chances in Year 4.
And coincided with that mark, which would be fine for a rotational low-usage guy, Wade hitting 37.0-plus percent of his deep attempts would be some of an increase as well, based on what we’ve referenced in the last two years.
If Wade can find his rhythm more off the bench this upcoming season, provided Cleveland can find ways to get him time, that could enable him to have more of an offensive groove, too. Whether it’s at the 3 or 4, I’d look for Wade to be more in-tune to let it fly as a catch-and-shoot in his fourth season ahead.
Guys such as Darius Garland obviously, Evan Mobley perhaps and Raul Neto, and Ricky Rubio when he’s back could help Wade in doing so more this season as well. In a similar light, those players should aid Wade as a cutter.
So, hopefully the 25-year-old Kansas State product in Wade can find a way to keep on the right path in his development in the 2022-23 campaign, and help his case to stick around.