Last season, Jaylon Tyson came out of nowhere to be a key fixture in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ rotation during the regular season. He was one of the NBA’s best three-point shooters, finishing inside the top five in percentage.
A big reason why Tyson was able to have that big year was because of his amazing summer league performance. Tyson showed that he was far too good to be playing with G-League level guys in Vegas.
A few Cavs players will have the chance to follow the path of Tyson this summer. However, there seems to be one young guard with the inside track.
Cleveland looks to be prioritizing Tyrese Proctor’s development this summer and they need to
Koby Altman said during his end of season press conference that he expects Proctor to have a big summer. The organization is sending a coach with him to continue his progress while on the Australian national team, so Proctor will be playing a lot of basketball this offseason to prepare for opening night in October.
Proctor was a second round pick last year and was actually a member of the opening night rotation, albeit because of injuries. In the limited action he had though, he showed that he has the tools to be a complimentary guard off the bench.
Proctor’s frame allows him to be super active defensively and get steals and deflections. He is also not bad at the point of attack, although some added strength this summer will go a long way.
Offensively, he was not afraid to let it fly, and his three-point shot was very promising. He had a couple games throughout the season where he was able to fill it up off the bench, with a January game against Philly being a prime example (13 points in 11 minutes).
If the playoffs showed anything, it’s that the Cavs desperately need more ball handling and shot creation off the bench. They have too many specialists and not enough versatility, and the continued development of Proctor and even Tyson will help with that immensely.
The amount of reps that Proctor will get this summer will be very good for his development. Playing with the national team and having a full summer league should help him get more acclimated to playing either guard spot. Cleveland needs him to take that step, but it looks like they are more than prepared to help him do so.
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