Dean Wade ‘doesn’t know how good a shooter he is’

“He doesn’t know how good a shooter he is.”

Cleveland Cavaliers forward Dean Wade seems tired of hearing about how he needs to shoot more threes. So much so, that he jokingly gave Jarrett Allen two middle fingers from the other side of the locker room when he was about to answer a question about Wade’s shooting.

“Yeah, he needs to shoot more,” Allen said matter-of-factly despite the double birds being thrown his way. “He has open looks, and I know he wants to share the ball and make the correct play, but sometimes the right play is shooting the ball.”

This is a consistent conversation with Wade because of how good his defense is. Kenny Atkinson knows this and is trying to find additional ways to use him on that end and even as a small-ball center. The Cavs played him at center for stretches in their first two preseason games and against the Boston Celtics last postseason.

“Usually when you go quote-on-quote small, you feel super vulnerable defensively, but with him you don’t,” Atkinson said after Thursday’s game. “Even if they have a traditional five out there, he can hold his own. You don’t feel overwhelmed so that’s a real plus.”

Wade’s size, strength, and quickness are underrated. The defensive versatility he provides is incredibly rare among other teams that try to play small.

“He’s 6’9” and a half,” Atkinson said. “There’s some teams, they go small it’s a 6’7” [player].”

For context, two historic small ball centers in Draymond Green and P.J. Tucker measure up as 6’6” and 6’5.” He’s more the height of Bam Adebayo (6’9”) and Anthony Davis (6’10”) than he is a small-ball center.

This, however, is just one of many ways the Cavs can and will likely try to use him defensively. There’s a chance he could play with both Allen and Evan Mobley, as he did last preseason game.

“He’s like in the 93rd percentile of isolation defense,” Atkinson said. “So you can switch with him. He can lock anyone up that’s in front of him and then he can firm up against the big [centers].”

The Cavaliers desperately want this type of defender on the court. The offensive side of the ball has historically been the issue which isn’t what you think of when you go with a small ball center.

“If you look at the stats from the last two years when we did go small, our defense was good, our offense wasn’t,” Atkinson said.

Last season the Cavs were in the first percentile offensively when Wade played the five (100 offensive rating) and the 98th percentile defensively (104.8 defensive rating). It was a more extreme version of the on/off stats that the team has typically seen with Wade. The offensive side of the ball is what needs to change no matter what position he plays.

We’ve seen glimpses of him being a more willing shooter through two preseason games and in training camp. Wade has taken 10 threes in 42 minutes so far. It’s an extremely small sample, but that translates to 9.9 threes per 36 minutes. That would be a drastic improvement from his career-best mark of 6.6 attempts per 36 minutes. Still, that isn’t enough for Atkinson.

“But man, too much pump faking tonight,” Atkinson said after the loss to the Indiana Pacers. “Let that thing ride, let that thing go. I just think he doesn’t know how good a shooter he is.”

He’s heard this. Conceptually he might know this. His 39.1% three-point shooting percentage from last season should confirm it. But deep down he doesn’t seem to fully grasp it.

Even when asked directly about Atkinson’s comments, Wade had to almost talk himself into fully believing that he is that good of a shooter.

“Yeah, I feel like I’m a pretty good shooter as is,” Wade said. “But yeah. No, I think so. I think I know how good a shooter I am.”

Wade has the skills to be one of the most coveted three-and-D players in the league. Few can combine the defensive versatility to comfortably guard the three through five at a high level and be as good of an outside shooter. He just needs to see what everyone else in the organization does.

“I’m sold on Dean Wade,” Allen said. “I think he can do anything when he puts his mind to it.”