Tyrese Proctor spent his offseason answering a message Kenny Atkinson had made crystal clear.
Last year, the Cavaliers coach didn’t sugarcoat where Proctor stood. The body wasn’t ready, the work in the weight room wasn’t where it needed to be, and until that changed, real NBA minutes were not going to follow.
Now, as Cleveland gets set for its first preseason game, Proctor has turned himself into one of the more interesting names in camp.
The biggest reason is physical. On a recent episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast, Cavaliers beat reporter Chris Fedor and host Ethan Sands dug into how Proctor’s added strength could swing a three-man fight for backup guard minutes that also includes Craig Porter Jr. and rookie Meleek Thomas.
“The whole thing with last year, Kenny Atkinson shouted from the rooftops, his body’s not ready for NBA basketball,” Fedor said. “He needs to get stronger, he needs to get bigger.
He needs to make more of a commitment to the weight room. And Tyrese Proctor’s done that.
And kudos to him for recognizing that and hearing Kenny Atkinson’s message and making the adjustment that he needed to make.”
That matters because the Cavaliers do not need this spot to be a mini offense engine. James Harden and Donovan Mitchell handle the heavy lifting there. The backup guard job is about fitting cleanly into what Cleveland wants: defense, shooting, and pressure at the point of attack.
Proctor’s size helps in that conversation. At somewhere in the 6-foot-3 to 6-foot-4 range, he brings more length than a slightly undersized Porter Jr. or Thomas, which gives him a better chance against bigger guards.
Sands was direct about where he stands in the race.
“I would have to bet on Tyrese Proctor in this conversation only because Meleek Thomas is 20 years old and Kenny Atkinson has not been accustomed to giving rookies a whole lot of workload in their first year in the NBA.”
There’s also a development angle here that doesn’t show up in the box score. Proctor has spent real time around Donovan Mitchell and James Harden, soaking up what he can from two of the league’s most advanced offensive players.
“Tyrese Proctor has been under the wing of Donovan Mitchell and James Harden a lot,” Sands noted. “You talk about players that went to Louisville with Donovan Mitchell to go watch basketball games. That was Tyrese Proctor trying to learn, try to pick the brain of his big brother, in a sense.”
That kind of access can speed things up in a way normal reps can’t.
Sands also pointed to what Proctor offers offensively compared with Porter Jr.: “Tyrese Proctor also brings a different offensive structure that Craig Porter Jr. simply does not.”
Still, nothing is settled. Fedor noted that none of the three guards is known as a true stopper, and Atkinson has made it clear he wants someone closer to the Andrew Nembhard mold in that role.
But if this battle comes down to which player did the most to address the staff’s concerns before camp, Proctor has clearly made his case.
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