Different mindset: Cavaliers guard Caris LeVert strives to become a complete player
CLEVELAND – Caris LeVert hustled to the interview room from a postgame weightlifting session with fellow Cavs guard Darius Garland and had to pause during his first answer.
“Sorry I’m catching my breath right now,” LeVert said.
He didn’t reveal where he’d been after the Cavs’ 113-97 preseason loss to the Philadelphia 76ers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. That came from Garland when discussing LeVert’s rigorous offseason work.
But what transpired in the weight room after LeVert played 25 minutes before sitting out the fourth quarter said much about his intense desire to remain in Cleveland to help the Cavs capture their second championship.
The Columbus native’s secondary goal is to win the starting small forward spot, the only opening in a lineup that features Garland and Donovan Mitchell in the backcourt and Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley in the frontcourt
“He knows all the setbacks he had the past couple years and he knows he can really help us,” Garland said of LeVert. “We all have one goal, he wants to reach that goal. This summer was the first full summer he could have just to work out and just be himself. He put a lot into his body, you can tell.
“He’s a worker. He’s a winner. He’s going to compete and he’s going to do anything just to do that.”
LeVert’s push began long before training camp as he made a determined effort to get himself in better shape. He changed his diet, switching to a keto-based plan even though it meant giving up pasta and the sweets he loves. He ran sprints and played five-on-five in open gyms. He didn’t lose any weight off his 6-foot-6, 205-pound frame, but said he is more cut and has better endurance.
Asked in late September how long it’s been since he felt this good, LeVert said, “It's probably been like three years to be honest with you, three or four years.”
LeVert has recovered from an ankle injury and bone bruise in his foot that bothered him in 2021-22. There was also a nagging injury from his days with the Indiana Pacers that needed rehab.
“I would say probably two or three weeks before I got here I started to feel close to 100%,” he said last month.
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LeVert has been the talk of a physically challenging training camp since he arrived.
“It was easy for him to stand out because he was in such great condition coming in to all the things that we’ve been doing,” Cavs coach J.B Bickerstaff said Monday. “You watch the speed and the force that he plays with and the consistency that he’s doing it, that’s because he is in great shape already.”
Acquired in a Feb. 6 trade from the Indiana Pacers, LeVert voiced his desire to remain part of the Cavs’ long-term plan after a 44-38 season ended with two losses in the play-in tournament.
“This is where I want to be. They know that, the front office knows that, my teammates know that,” LeVert said on April 16. “I don't know what's going to happen with that contract extension, but I know where my heart is.”
LeVert, 28, has one year left on his contract that will pay him nearly $18.8 million this season. The Cavs sent a 2022 first-round pick (top-14 protected) to the Pacers for LeVert, which might indicate how the front office feels about him as it builds a championship contender.
Because of the injuries, LeVert knew he wasn’t himself in the 19 games (10 starts) he played with the Cavs last season. He averaged 13.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists in 29.8 minutes in the regular season, shooting .435 from the field and .313 from long range. In the play-in tournament, LeVert was the Cavs’ fourth-leading scorer with a 14.0 average, along with 5.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.0 steals.
But the key to LeVert’s future in Cleveland and his possible starting role may be proving he can be a defensive stopper. At times Monday night, he guarded the 76ers’ James Harden, a three-time NBA scoring champ and the league MVP in 2018.
“That's going to be needed for myself as well as really everyone else on the team,” LeVert said after Monday’s game. “I try to be reliable on both ends. I think that's where it starts. Just pushing myself to be the best player I can be. Defense is part of the game. I try to be my best with that as well,
“I've always said I'm kind of a complete player. I think it gets overshadowed when you can score the ball because everyone just looks at it as, ‘Oh, he's a scorer.’ But I really pride myself on being a complete player.”
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Bickerstaff said LeVert is a different person from the one who was at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse preparing for a game against the Cavs when the trade with the Pacers went down.
“His mindset this year is different,” Bickerstaff said. “He embraced that over the summer. It wasn't just the trade that triggered something. He knew no matter what he was going to have to be a defensive presence for us.”
Bickerstaff said part of that motivation is that because of the environment created on the team, players “want to fit in and be a part of it.”
“We do take our defense serious. Even guys who have been known to be scorers throughout their career, they come here and they want to fit on that end as well,” Bickerstaff said. “So part of his conditioning and all that stuff was so he could be an elite two-way player.
“We know his capabilities offensively. But it’s hard to do that and then guard the other team’s best player. He was preparing himself for that.”
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cavs guard Caris LeVert's offseason work paying off
