The [Cleveland Cavaliers](https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/cleveland-cavaliers) have had a wild season so far. They came in as a favorite to make the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, at least, but they fell apart so hard due to injuries and poor play. At that point, many felt that the team would be lucky to make the Play-In Tournament, only for the Cavs to make a wild trade and acquire James Harden in exchange for Darius Garland.
Other moves were made prior, but that was the big one. It was a move that seemingly set Cleveland in the right direction. Harden, being a better playmaker than Garland, was able to start elevating the output of guys like Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. They weren't the only ones to benefit from Harden's arrival or the rest of the locker room shakeups. It appears that Dean Wade has been able to step up as the ultimate catch-all player.
Wade has been a regular presence on the Cavs since the 2019-2020 season and has been a solid player for the squad. He's never averaged more than 6.0 points or 4.2 rebounds a season, but his impact on the team extends far more than just the everyday box score numbers so many fans rely on to tell them about a guy's skillset.
Wade is a glue guy. A guy who fills in the edges of a team and does so quite well. He's not going to lead the team in scoring or rebounding, but he's going to grind out every minute he's on the court. He's the kind of guy who has a good reach, a defensive mindset, a shot that can't be ignored if left open, and six fouls to give a night.
He's the kind of guy who helps elevate talented rosters from good to great. He follows in the footsteps of guys like Bruce Bowen, Bruce Brown, Shane Battier, and others across the league's history who have been the kind of guy you want on your team because of what they can provide. Defense, grit, and a hustle, elements that can't be measured in simple stats.
For Wade, he's continuing on a legacy within the Cavaliers organization of high-energy pieces that help the team succeed in the past, guys like Anderson Varejao, who aided the team with hustle and determination. That's what Wade's role largely is now, one of intense defensive desire. Wade hunts opposing players down and isn't afraid to draw contact with them. His addition to the starting lineup alongside Allen and Mobley has given the Cavs a unique edge on defense that they were lacking this year.
We see it night in and night out, with his ability to put a body on an opposing player, block shots, get steals, and force what could be good offensive sets by the opposing player to break down into a fast break score the Cavs.
Twice in February, he's registered games where he caused three turnovers via a steal. A pretty hard stat to produce in the modern NBA. On one of those nights, he also put up two blocks, three assists, and eight rebounds against the [New York Knicks](https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/new-york-knicks). It's a bloated box score for sure, one that he won't quickly repeat, but it does show you that he can impact a game against a high-level opponent.
He won't be the reason the Cavs make the playoffs, but he may just be the reason the team breaks through its trend of early-playoff exits.