I would like to reiterate my astonishment that Larry Nance Jr., who isn’t even that bad of an offensive player, only has a career-high of 23 points. It just doesn’t seem possible that this dude, who can score in a bunch of different ways and has been in the league for half a decade now, has never managed to score more than 23. I used almost these exact words in the opening paragraph for the description of his then-career-high 22-point performance a few weeks ago, because it’s just so mind-boggling for me.
Why doesn’t he score more? It’s clear that he CAN score more, so why doesn’t he? It’s one thing to be a good teammate, to not monopolize shots for yourself that your teammates could be taking. But this is the Cavaliers we’re talking about. It’s not like you really want any of these dudes taking any more shots, and for most of them you probably want them taking fewer.
His offseason plan should have one goal: to get more aggressive. He could also work on his basketball skills a bit, but those look pretty good at this point (his jumper looks really smooth, especially, was it always this smooth?????), but the main focus should be channeling his natural testosterone-fueled male aggression into getting buckets. Steroids are great for building muscle, but in his case, he needs them to get into the coveted state of “roid rage”. A roid-raged Nance would surely wreak havoc on the league.
He could also try and figure out how to get fouled more often. His free-throw attempts are low for a guy who bangs (well, not “bangs” exactly because apparently he’s afraid of contact) around the rim a lot. Look at Giannis Antetokounmpo for an example on how to just plow your way in there and welcome the slappity-slaps that defenders are forced to weakly apply to your chiseled frame.