Charge general manager is ‘dying to see’ how season goes for Pete Nance

Nance looks to take a step forward in his second professional season.

Pete Nance will get a second chance in training camp to prove he’s an NBA player. The Cleveland Cavaliers aren’t bringing him back on a two-way contract, but some within the organization believe his future is still bright. General manager Liron Fanan of the Cleveland Charge, the Cavs G League affiliate, is one of those people.

“I’m dying to see how this season goes for him,” Fanan told Fear the Sword. “I think he has [plenty of room to continue to improve]. I know a lot of teams like him too.”

There aren’t many 6’10” centers with as smooth of an outside shot as Nance. He finished his rookie year with the Charge connecting on 35.8% of his three-point looks on 4.9 attempts per contest.

Nance was hesitant to take threes at the beginning of last season. It took time for him to become comfortable operating above the break. He became a much more dangerous offensive threat when he embraced the three-point shot as his path to the league. This is what the organization’s main focus was with him last season.

“That was a goal for us to work with him and to challenge him to take more shots,” Fanan said. That work was evident this past Summer League where he was confidently pulling from beyond the arc.

The defensive side of the floor is the reason Nance is entering training camp without a guaranteed roster spot or a two-way deal. Last season he struggled defending the pick-and-roll. Nance didn’t consistently show the first-step quickness to stay with ball handlers or deter the lob to the rollers at the G League level. That is concerning considering the skill gap between the NBA and G League.

Fanan is aware of those concerns but believes that we haven’t yet seen the best version of Nance.

“This was Pete’s rookie year,” Fanan said. “It wasn’t a straight line. There were ups and downs. I think he’s in a better place with much more confidence. [We saw how] he got so confident in his shot. He progressed and got confident in it so now we have time to work on the other side that we need.”

Whether or not he can improve the rest of his game as he did with his outside shot remains to be seen. His defensive progression will determine if he can stick onto an NBA roster at some point in the future.

“Pete is such a smart guy and a hard worker,” Fanan said. “I think he’s going to get better in all these things that he needs to and eventually get to that point.”