3 reasons Lamar Stevens should be back in Cavaliers rotation

Reason No. 3: Okoro’s struggles, and just a potential injection of energy

Thirdly, as we touched on previously, Okoro has struggled mightily to begin his third season. Thus far, Okoro has had some ups and downs defensively, and his screen navigation has seemingly regressed a bit, and he’s had some trouble at times with bigger matchups.

And on the other end of the floor, it’s not been pretty. Okoro has had 2.2 points in 14.7 minutes per outing, is zero-of-12 from three, and has shot nine-of-32 overall (28.1 percent). He’s had some encouraging flashes as a cutter, but has been a bit underwhelming in transition, and while there was positive signs offensively in preseason, those unfortunately have not materialized.

So, to me, Stevens should be a player that gets some burn from here, with how Okoro simply looks lost at the moment, and while Stevens is not a catch-and-shoot guy a la Wade, Stevens can create at times on-ball, and he’s shown he can finish.

Plus, generally speaking, with how he gave the team a lift last season, and with his creation flashes in his second year, Stevens could inject some new life into this Cavs team.

Like Wade, Stevens was originally an undrafted, two-way signing, but he’s demonstrated that when he’s given rotational opportunities for some chunks of games, he can make things happen and can guard multiple positions with his 6-foot-6, 230-pound size. The Cavaliers did have a 9-4 record in Stevens’ spot starts last season, too, which was pretty impressive.

He deserves a shot.