When projecting what’s to come early on in the upcoming season for Cleveland Cavaliers forward Dean Wade, it’s well, not simple to predict what will play out.
Realistically, Wade could be a guy that can get some rotational minutes for Lauri Markkanen, and in theory, he could fill in in some stretches with Evan Mobley as a de facto 5 for stretches, maybe with Kevin Love on the floor, too.
There are others involved, though, and it’s difficult to say definitively, if barring injury, Wade could be a rotational guy normally. It was unfortunate near the closing stretch of last season that Wade, similarly to Jarrett Allen, missed most of that period. In that realm, Wade missed the last 15 games of the 2021-22 campaign, in the regular season in that sense, and both play-in games because of a partially torn meniscus.
Wade has been cleared for a while yet since, on the plus side, and this upcoming season, I do think that we could see him have defensive minutes again. He did a pretty nice job when the opportunities were there for him last season, and in the season prior, did well, all things considered.
Now, Wade is not going to be a player that’s as capable as others such as Markkanen or Love on the offensive end, but he can hit open perimeter looks via ball-swings, is a heady cutter and on defense, can defend multiple positions competently.
Last year, on the season he didn’t blow any doors off with 5.3 points and 2.9 rebounds in 19.2 minutes per contest, however, he was fine in spurts and in some spot starts, I thought Cleveland going 15-13 at various points when he was starting was fine. In those 28 starts, Wade had 7.8 points and 3.8 rebounds in 26.2 minutes per outing; off the bench last season, he had 2.2 points and 1.9 rebounds, albeit in 10.8 minutes per appearance in 23 outings.
In any case, Wade is not going a dude that’s going to be a higher usage player in his minutes. Despite that, I personally believe that in the early going of the upcoming season, he should have some legit chances in the rotation, and he can aid Cleveland’s defense in at least spurts.
Wade is deserving of some minutes early in the 2022-23 season for the Cavs.
I wouldn’t expect Wade to be in the Cavs’ rotation every night at the outset of this season, with the others involved, and to some extent, Isaac Okoro/Cedi Osman, if he’s around, and/or Ochai Agbaji based on matchups.
Wade did Cleveland solid minutes in spurts and in spot starts last season, though, and while it wasn’t as impactful as Allen’s absence (fractured finger), Wade not being available in that closing stretch last season didn’t help, either.
He can be a viable option for the Cavaliers in defense of opposing 3s and 4s for the Wine and Gold, and even at 6-foot-9, he moves laterally pretty well, and is usually in the right spots to be a factor when it comes to team defense. For those reasons, and him being decent in catch-and-shoot scenarios if given the chances, I’d like to see Wade get rotational PT in the early going.
With the minutes variance he had, a 35.9 percent from clip from three was fine, in my opinion, and if he can have meaningful play in the earlier portion of his fourth season to come, I’d expect that percentage to go up. He shot 36.6 percent from deep in 2020-21, for context.
No, Wade’s not a dude that’s going to generate much of his own offense, but he’s a player who is viable off-ball if given regular opportunities, and in that sense, can mesh well with Darius Garland, Love and/or Mobley. Granted, in bench looks, he was not able to get into much of a rhythm last season, but if those come earlier on, I’d expect that to be more competent, as was the case in the 2020-21 campaign.
I’m not suggesting Wade would get a ton of minutes at the outset of the 2022-23 season, however, with what he showed last season and the year prior, and being able to play in a variety of lineups, he should warrant early-season minutes. One could make a similar argument defensively for Lamar Stevens; Agbaji would figure to be involved, though, and Wade is a much better off-ball shooter than Stevens, and is far better defensively than Osman.
It’ll be intriguing to see if those looks do come for the 25-year-old Wade, anyhow.