The Cavs have reconstructed Caris LeVert into their X-factor

The context of LeVert’s development

The environment a player finds himself thrown into has so much more impact on their development than meets the eye. Caris LeVert started off his career on a young, fun Brooklyn Nets team. Him, D’Angelo Russell, and Spencer Dinwiddie threw caution to the wind and spearheaded the offense with not awful results.

Then, things happened, as Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant came to town and the band split up. D’Lo and Dinwiddie dispersed to the Golden State Warriors and Washington Wizards, respectively, before being quickly flipped to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Dallas Mavericks. LeVert stuck around in Brooklyn, couldn’t strike a chord with the new superteam, and was traded to Cleveland after a brief layover in Indiana with the Pacers.

Now, all three guards seem to have settled into new situations and roles within their new teams. No longer are they primary options. They sit further down the pecking order, below the rank of guys like Luka Doncic, Darius Garland, and Anthony Edwards.

Russell and Dinwiddie have reoriented their games to scale back alongside more talented players, taking on and embracing newfound identities. Erasing bad habits such as tunnel vision and defensive negligence, which are often picked up in less competitive team settings, can take some time before the work yields fruit.

In preseason play so far, LeVert has shown promise that he will do the same. His play has been the talk of preseason, drawing high praise from several different members of the Cavaliers.