The Cavs have a Dean Wade problem

The Cleveland Cavaliers played their best and worst basketball with Dean Wade on the court in the playoffs.

Offensively, the field has seemed too cramped, as defenders can bamboozle Wade, making it difficult for Cleveland’s backcourt to find driving lanes. Defensively, Wade was their best player. It’s made it difficult for Brandon Ingram, Scottie Barnes and now Cade Cunningham to get to their spots on the field. Limit their offensive impact and that of the team as a whole.

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On the one hand, the Cavs can’t live without Wade. On the other hand, they cannot live with him.

Wade is limited offensively. He’s a good rebounder and a useful outside shooter, but those are the only skills he possesses on that end.

Things can fall apart when the outside shot doesn’t fall. Once he loses confidence, he becomes too hesitant to take the three. This allows his defender to completely fool him, disrupting spacing on an already tight court when playing alongside two centers like Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. This is one of the factors that has led to the high volume of turnovers we have seen.

Below is a good example of this. Tobias Harris, his defender, is in the box, even though Wade is on the wing. This blocks Donovan Mitchell’s running lane and forces Evan Mobley into a three. Shots like that are wins for the defense any day of the week.

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The problem isn’t necessarily that Wade isn’t a capable shooter. He’s a 36.7% outside shooter, which is good, even if he had a cold spell in the postseason. The problem is the lack of trying.

Wade takes just 5.3 shots per playoff game in 25 minutes of play. That translates to a usage rate of 9.5, the lowest for anyone in the playoffs at his position. If you are not a threat to beat the opponent with any aspect of your offensive game, there is no point in actually covering yourself.

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Lack of shooting was an issue in the first-round series. That prompted manager Kenny Atkinson to start Max Strus — who is more than willing to take the outside shot — in Wade’s place. This move helped the offense, as the Cavs scored 6.2 more points per 100 offensive possessions in the playoffs with Strus on the court. However, it was still a net negative due to the defensive ramifications.

Wade is the only Cavalier who has the size, strength and speed to hang with the league’s top wings, which is important considering most contenders have elite wings. He does this remarkably well, which makes him the perfect player to guard Cunningham with.

Here is a great example of what Wade brings as an individual defender. Here he stays with Cunningham through a screen, stays connected on the drive and uses his active hands to force a turnover.

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You can’t stop a player as skilled as Cunningham with one defender. It takes a team effort, but it’s easier to pull off when you’re strong at the point of attack.

Cleveland made it difficult for Cunningham to get the ball in Game 1, and once he did, they funneled him to the bigs.

Wade executed the game plan well, as seen here. He makes Cunningham work for the ball, moves it away momentarily, which disrupts the timing enough for Mobley to mount a clean contest on the drive.

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Plays like these are why the Cavs are so much better defensively with Wade on the floor. However, how much better they are points to a much larger question.

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The Cavs needed Wade to be on the court in the postseason to be passable. Through eight games, they have posted a terrible defensive rating of 116.2 when he is on the bench (22nd percentile).

Playing alongside Mobley and Allen doesn’t help these numbers; it actually makes things worse. The Cavs have a defensive rating of 134.1 (0th percentile) when Mobley and Allen play without Wade in 84 possessions. There is no situation where you can win when the defense is this bad.

The eye test confirms this. When there isn’t someone who can easily stay in front of the opponent’s best wings, the entire defense can get caught in the rotation, leading to too many openings to attack the basket and hit open threes.

Ultimately, the Cavs are left at the mercy of whether Wade is hitting or even willing to take his outside shots.

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The Cavaliers built the most expensive roster in the league, but they did so while allocating surprisingly little capital on the wing. They are overly reliant on a flawed role player who has somewhat limited offensive skills. And have even more imperfect options to replace him if he can’t make his outside shot work.

This is not how it should be.