Pete Nance went undrafted last month, but don't count him out in the NBA.
It's the main message Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman delivered Friday afternoon about Nance , a Revere High School graduate whose family's legacy is intertwined with Cleveland.
Nance had five points on 2-of-4 shooting, two rebounds and a steal in his debut with the Cavs summer league team, a 101-97 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night in Las Vegas.
The Cavs signed Nance to an Exhibit 10 contract earlier this month. His father, Larry Nance Sr. , is a franchise legend. His older brother, Larry Nance Jr. , played for Cleveland (2018-21) and is now a member of the New Orleans Pelicans .
"We've always liked Pete," Altman said on Zoom. "It's really cool because if you've been to our practice facility, we have all our retired jerseys [hanging] up there, and every time I see him run around and making 3s and playing hard in practice, I'm looking up, and I see the [Larry] Nance [Sr.] jersey. It's just pretty cool. But we've seen [Pete] in our gym since he was really, really young working out. Obviously, we tracked him throughout his college career. It's a wonderful, wonderful family.
"Pete has a chance. He's actually opened up some eyes in this minicamp going into summer league about what he can do. So listen, he's going to have every opportunity in the world, right, because of who he is and his namesake. But I think he's going to carve out a little niche for himself here in the league, and I'm not going to rule him out."
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Why is Altman optimistic about the future of the youngest Nance, a 6-foot-11 forward who played college hoops for Northwestern University and the University of North Carolina?
"His height, his versatility, he plays hard, he can spot shoot and he has incredible attitude and work ethic that's going to keep growing," Altman said. "He's going to keep getting better.
"[Pete and his brother] were late bloomers. You remember Larry went to Wyoming and only had like two Division I scholarship offers, and now he's multiple contracts deep and a really important part to the Pelicans. So I think Pete, if he's following that trajectory of a late bloomer like his brother, he's only going to continue to get better."
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Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cavs' Koby Altman: Pete Nance can earn 'little niche' in NBA
