3 reasons Lamar Stevens should be back in Cavaliers rotation

Reason No. 1: Stevens’ big wing defense

Firstly, Stevens could give the Cavaliers some capable defensive minutes for stretches, as he demonstrated with more time to establish himself last season.

Whether it’s defending wings or forwards, Stevens does a solid job of sliding to force tough twos over length, and seems to do a quality job of taking away slot drives, and can wall up in the mid-post if needed to deter forwards from getting to desired spots.

To me, based on how he showed he can aid the team in those areas last season when the opportunities presented themselves, it’d be sensible to give Stevens a chance to make a defensive impact against wings in upcoming games.

Sure, Dean Wade and Cedi Osman have been factoring into the rotation, along with Kevin Love, but Isaac Okoro still has had some looks, and just hasn’t been very effective on either end thus far, which has been disappointing. Okoro has his moments still defensively, and has the right mindset there; he’s just had issues dictating to opposing ball-handlers, and at the moment, there’s not much rationale to play him over Stevens, for instance.

Also, while Osman gives effort defensively like Okoro, and Osman can get hot as a catch-and-shoot threat, as we’ve seen, I would like to see Stevens perhaps at times in over Osman for defensive purposes. And frankly, the same could go with Stevens in some stretches maybe taking some minutes from Caris LeVert, who has issues against bigger wings on defense, despite him being more effective on that end than I would’ve anticipated thus far.

The gist is, though, with his frame, strength and with strides seemingly made with his fluidity, Stevens has a legit argument for minutes for big wing defense, and against some drivers, he might be better-suited than Wade. Wade is currently questionable on Sunday versus the Minnesota Timberwolves with knee soreness, too, so that could be additional rationale for Stevens getting chances.

Also, while there are some untimely fouls from Stevens, who can overexert himself at times to deter shots, his team defense off-ball can lead to deflections and he can make some plays as a rotator on the interior. His steal and block rate last year of 1.5 and 1.6 percent, with his minutes variance, was respectable, in that realm.

That’s something to keep in mind to perhaps cut down on some fouls for others, too, given Cleveland’s issues with fouling of late.