Saturday\u2019s 119-105 win over the Orlando Magic<\/a>. <\/p>\n\u201cHe\u2019s the ultimate glue guy,\u201d Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said of Wade. \u201cThat\u2019s the cliche everyone uses but it\u2019s true.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defense is Wade\u2019s calling card. It has been for years. After his college career at Kansas State ended, Wade and his agents tried to convince teams he could defend multiple positions. He recognized early that defense was his best path to making it in the NBA and he has relished the challenge of guarding the league\u2019s best.<\/p>\n
Despite Cleveland\u2019s slippage at that end of the floor this season, the versatile Wade ranks in the 93rd percentile in Defensive Estimated Plus-Minus and is third on the team in D-LEBRON, behind Mobley and pesky Craig Porter Jr. Wade can \u2014 and sometimes does \u2014 guard five positions, with Atkinson deploying him as a small-ball center. <\/p>\n
In 842 minutes with Wade on the floor, the Cavs have a stingy 110.3 defensive rating. In nearly 1400 minutes with him off, their defensive rating increases to 114.4. It\u2019s the statistical difference between the third-ranked San Antonio Spurs and the bottom-half Atlanta Hawks. <\/p>\n
Saturday night was Cleveland\u2019s eighth-best defensive performance, holding the Magic to 40.7% from the field and 27.5% from 3-point range. Orlando finished with a wretched 105.0 offensive rating. <\/p>\n
Wade was at the center of that, frustrating Magic All-Star Paolo Banchero, switching seamlessly, contesting shots, diving for loose balls, boxing out bigs, grabbing rebounds, blocks, steals, deflections. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe call him the \u2018blanket,\u2019\u201d Mitchell said with a smile. \u201cHe finds ways to help us get stops. And then when the ball is up in the air and I can\u2019t get it, with Evan and J.A. boxing out, he goes climbing to grab it. Those are the little things that win you games and also win you playoff games. It\u2019s great to go through these things, figure it out and get better. He was phenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s two stifling defensive efforts in the last three games \u2014 both uncoincidentally coming with Wade in the starting frontcourt alongside Mobley and Allen. The Cavs have a 100.5 defensive rating and a 71.2 defensive rebounding rate with that trio together. <\/p>\n
Surging Cleveland is now 6-1 in the last seven games with Wade as a starter. The only loss during that stretch: Monday against reigning NBA champion Oklahoma City. <\/p>\n
With Garland sidelined because of a minor toe injury and Merrill still nursing a sprained right hand, Atkinson has been forced to shuffle lineups and rotations. It\u2019s also led to him identifying an intriguing quintet, one that has started each of the last four games. <\/p>\n
Jaylon Tyson. Mitchell. Mobley. Allen. Wade. <\/p>\n
Size. Length. Athleticism. Versatility. Switchability. Defensive tenacity. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get our defense back on track,\u201d Atkinson explained when asked about that lineup. \u201cThat\u2019s our mindset. And with Jaylon Tyson developing, hopefully he is the next Dean Wade. I\u2019m praying that he is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those same five guys closed out Saturday\u2019s game, playing the final 5:21. <\/p>\n
During that stretch, Wade recorded a block, a steal and two rebounds while hitting a dagger 3-pointer. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was just trying to give Don space,\u201d Wade humbly said when asked about his late-game impact. \u201cHe was cooking in the second half and when all else fails, just give the ball to 45 and get out of his way. My guy helped a few times, and he made great passes and great decisions. I have to take that shot. I saw the play developing and I was like, man, I have to shoot this. If I don\u2019t take that shot, I will be sitting down on the bench and Don will be yelling at me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Being low maintenance is part of what makes Wade such a great fit. He doesn\u2019t need touches or shot attempts (he has the lowest usage rate on the team). Plays don\u2019t get run for him. He just blends into the fabric of a team and fills in the gaps. <\/p>\n
When Garland returns, there\u2019s no decision. He will go back into the starting lineup. That means either Tyson or Wade shifts to the bench. <\/p>\n
Nonetheless, these early-season injuries \u2014 even though frustrating and part of the Cavs\u2019 underachievement through the first 47 games \u2014 have led to discovery, including a lineup that Atkinson can keep in his back pocket and unleash at any moment. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a connectivity there,\u201d Mitchell said of the fivesome. \u201cWe fly around. We have guys that can really guard. Then you have the two back there that cover up a lot of our mistakes. Then offensively, we\u2019re pushing the pace, playing through myself, playing through Evan, playing through Jaylon who has been phenomenal. There\u2019s a lot of unpredictably. I think that\u2019s something we have found. Now just continue to build upon it. We\u2019re doing well, but can we be great?\u201d<\/p>\n
Wade continues to downplay his importance. He did again Saturday \u2014 even after scoring 10 points, hitting all four of his shots and making numerous clutch plays down the stretch, with Atkinson saying Wade pitched a \u201cperfect game.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, it\u2019s easy,\u201d Wade said. \u201cI just get out of their way and let them do their thing. I\u2019m out there focusing on defense, trying to bring some energy, bring an edge, fly around and make the extra effort. Evan and J.A. make it stupid easy to be a good defender.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wade\u2019s growth from undrafted two-way player \u2014 who shuttled between the Cavs and the G League\u2019s Canton Charge \u2014 into rotational fixture and sometimes-starter, has made him a necessary piece of the Cleveland puzzle. Others see it too. <\/p>\n
Over the last six months, no fewer than 10 teams have reached out and expressed interest. The calls have picked up ahead of the Feb. 5 deadline. But the Cavs continue to reject offers \u2014 even with him on an expiring contract that could lead to him leaving as an unrestricted free agent this summer. <\/p>\n
They recognize his value and see his nightly impact. It\u2019s becoming tougher to ignore. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou get all the defense stuff and when he makes 3s, we\u2019re a tough team to beat,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cIt\u2019s great having an elite stopper who you can rely on in big moments.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Everyone has a specific persona. Donovan Mitchell is the star \u2014 the burden-carrier, leader and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428967,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-428966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}