Weighing In On Wade And The Role He Can Play During This Season
After being eliminated in the play-in round to end the 2021-2022 season, the Cleveland Cavaliers went out and made a bold move in trading for Donovan Mitchell — leaving all to make their assumptions of what expectations were coming into the year.
But as the 2022-2023 season wound down and the Cavaliers made their way through the season's colder months, Kevin Love quietly went to the organization to express his desire to play on a contending team.
Love had fallen out of the nine-man rotation, and it looked like head coach J.B. Bickerstaff was working his way through the lineup he felt fit best as the team pushed onward.
Bickerstaff, who is now entering his fifth year as the Cavaliers’ head coach, doesn’t mind shaking up lineups when the team needs a jolt — or when a player has been underperforming.
Love, who felt he had much more to give and wanted to maintain that role, went to the organization and made his case. Granted, he was at the tail-end of the four-year contract extension and of course, a 2016 champion, he was awarded his wish and wound up in Miami after the buyout was complete.
With that, Cavaliers’ forward Dean Wade, who had made the cut of the Bickerstaff’s rotation, had a much more clear path to fill that position as Love exited.
Wade, who signed a three-year, $18.5 million extension prior to the start of the last season, was coming off a year averaging 5.3 points and 2.9 rebounds while shooting at a 36% clip from deep in 51 games before missing the final 15 games due to injury.
Now, speaking of injuries, Wade ran into another issue when he was returning from a shoulder injury but then tweaked his ankle for another setback. The young Cavalier, who was ready to fulfill a large role, was struggling to get on the court and stay there.
Regardless, Wade was able to get back to the floor, and finished the season having played in 44 games, averaging 4.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, and a three-point shooting percentage holding pretty steady from the season previous.
But, Wade only played in 13 games following the All-Star break, and his shooting, which the Cavs desperately needed from him, had plummeted to around 26% from beyond the arc.
Once the postseason hit, Wade only touched the floor in games one and three. Touched is a pretty accurate statement as the forward only racked up just over 11 minutes of gameplay, had one three-point attempt, and logged just two points and three boards.
Winning just one game in the series before the New York Knicks put them away, it was clear the Cavs roster could use some more bolstering, and the organization brought in some offseason acquisitions — including Max Strus, who was a sign and trade with the team following a championship run with the Heat. Strus started in all 23 games for the Heat during the postseason and averaged 9.3 points and 3.6 rebounds in the 28.2 minutes per contest.
To note, the team shot at a 33% clip from deep in their series against the Knicks, which fell short of the nearly 37% they logged during the regular season. And, only logged 23 three-point attempts in game four, well below their regular season 31.6 average per game.
Now as the new season is upon us, Wade is working his way off the bench and has logged 17 and 20 minutes, respectively, in the first two preseason contests.
Against the Hawks, he went 3-6 from the field, two of which were from deep, for eight points and two boards. In Thursday night’s game at home against the Magic, Wade shot 4-6 from beyond the arc for 14 points with six rebounds.
Preseason is not the regular season — but if early indicators can mean anything, it's that Wade is coming in ready to shoot and providing some much-needed floor spacing. And, maybe in a role in which he can continue to provide the Cavs more depth in that position, we may see it pay dividends if he can stay healthy.
While fans may look to the external acquisitions that the organization sought out, such as Georges Niang, the start that Wade is off to can indicate he’s still a viable option for that stretch-four shooting role and will continue to see opportunities throughout the long season.
