The Cavs are relying on Dean Wade too much

Cavs news and links for Friday, August 16.

We’ve made it to Friday. Here’s your Cleveland Cavaliers news and links for the day.

The first sip

It’s easy to underrate Dean Wade as is the case for anyone who’s averaged 5.4 points throughout their career. The things that Wade struggles with are easy to see. He’s gun-shy and can get lost on the offensive side of the court.

Conversely, what Wade does well are also traits that aren’t immediately noticed. Defensive versatility and rebounding aren’t exactly crowd-pleasing skills. They also aren’t as easy to quantify. Even data like this, which seems impressive, is hard to put into context.

What we do know is that the Cavs have consistently played better over the last few seasons when Wade is on the court. Cleveland was 2.4 points better per 100 possessions with him on the floor in 2022-23 (66th percentile) and 6.7 points better this past season (84th percentile). This was due exclusively to his defensive impact as the Cavaliers surrendered 6.4 fewer points per 100 possessions with him in 2022-23 (93rd percentile) and 8.6 fewer last season (96th percentile).

This all led to Wade being a part of four of the Cavs’ six best lineup combinations from last season that played over 100 possessions. Only Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen were as present in Cleveland’s best lineups.

Wade’s defense is really that good. There aren’t many players who have the strength, size, and IQ to be able to effortlessly guard threes and fours as Wade does. He also is a clean fit on both ends alongside either, and sometimes both, of the Cavs’ two centers as he provides enough outside shooting to keep opponents honest. The issue is, he can’t stay on the court.

Wade has only played 60 or more games in a season once in the last four years. Injuries have kept him off the floor for long stretches. This past season it was an ankle injury that sidelined him for over a week early on and a knee injury that caused him to miss nearly two months.

The Cavs have no depth in their frontcourt right now. Georges Niang is coming off of a rough season and they currently have no centers on the roster besides Allen and Evan Mobley.

The question isn’t whether Wade is good enough to be the team’s back-up big. We know his versatility allows him to have a positive impact on the game no matter who’s around him. The question is whether he can stay on the court enough to adequately fulfill that role. Unfortunately for Wade, the last four seasons have shown that isn’t something he can be counted on doing.

Random Cavalier of the Day - Lester Hudson

There was a brief window in April 2012 where people thought Lester Hudson, a journeyman guard coming off of playing in China and the D-League, was going to be the next Jeremy Lin. Among those was seemingly Dan Gilbert who tweeted this after Hudson put up 23 points and seven assists in an 84-80 win over the Toronto Raptors.

The Cavs signed Hudson to a ten-day contract partially due to rookie phenom Kyrie Irving injuring his shoulder. Hudson made the most of his brief window by backing up his performance in Toronto with games of 26, 25, and 19 point-outings.

These outings led to some outlandish takes like this one from BleacherReport:

And he’s doing much of his damage in the fourth quarter, including 14 points last night against the Bobcats and a game-tying three with less than a second remaining in regulation against the Nets.

That three-pointer is a perfect picture of Hudson’s game: fearless. He’s not afraid of the moment. He plays like a man with nothing to lose, yet he has the determination to overcome any obstacle.

His theme song should be “Not Afraid” by Eminem (the clean version, obviously...for the kids). While the rest of the team is shrinking from the moment, it’s Hudson who has stepped up to take a stand and tell his teammates to take his hand and say, “We’ll walk this route together through the storm, whatever weather, cold or warm. Just lettin’ you know you’re not alone.”

I think it’s that attitude that really embodies the city of Cleveland and is a reason that fans have rallied around the “Lesanity” phenomenon. While we may love our stars like LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, we tend to get most excited about the underdog.

Aside from getting the lyrics wrong, this take didn’t age well for multiple reasons. Most of all being that Hudson signed with the Memphis Grizzlies after his second two-way deal with the Cavs expired. He finished that campaign with Memphis and wasn’t on the team the following season. He spent the next two years playing again in the D-League and China before getting one more NBA contract with the Los Angeles Clippers at the end of the 2014-15 season.

Links of the Day

• Five Cavs games to look forward to
• The Lakers are completely squandering LeBron’s final act
• How former NBA vet Quincy Pondexter helped Paul George land in Philly
• Twenty must-see matchups in the first two months of the season
• Every popular Toronto WNBA name suggestion and why none of them are good enough