Cavaliers: How Cedi Osman and Kevin Porter Jr. can help each other

The Cleveland Cavaliers have hired a new head coach, John Beilein, to lead a mostly young crop of players out of their rebuild. Two of those young players are Cedi Osman and Kevin Porter Jr. These two should be able to help each other on and off the floor this season.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are not expected to be competitive this season. Their expectations are so low that FiveThirtyEight.com projects the Cavaliers to have the lowest chance at making the playoffs.

With the low expectations this season, head coach John Beilein should look to play his young players as much as possible. The Cavs have quite a few young players that they can play as they used three first-round draft picks in the 2019 NBA Draft this summer.

The Cavs selected Vanderbilt point guard Darius Garland with the fifth pick, Belmont wing Dylan Windler with the 26th pick, and USC wing Kevin Porter Jr. with the 30th pick.

At USC, Porter Jr, a highly-touted prospect according to the 247 Sports Composite Rankings, battled through a bit of turmoil. Porter Jr. didn’t see eye-to-eye with USC head coach Andy Endfield and eventually was suspended for two games. He also dealt with nagging injuries all year.

Despite the turmoil, Porter Jr. still had a solid freshman season. Per Sports Reference, Porter Jr. had per-game averages of 9.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, and carried an effective field goal percentage of 56.1%.

Porter Jr. can learn from Cavs’ third-year wing Cedi Osman this season. Both on and off the court. However, Osman will be able to take some aspects of Porter Jr.’s game and apply those aspects to his game.

One thing Osman really needs to improve is more consistency from deep. Porter Jr. showed in his lone season at USC that he can knock it down at a high clip. He hit 41.2% from deep according to Sports Reference.

Osman, on the other hand, only nailed 34.8% of his three-point attempts last season according to Basketball-Reference. Some friendly competition in practice could benefit Osman as Porter Jr. is the superior shooter at this point.

Becoming a more reliable three-point shooter is the next step in the evolution of Osman. He made strides last season in other aspects, such as overall scoring, secondary playmaking, and just being more comfortable on the floor. Another jump this season would help Osman make the case of being deserving of an extension.

Osman and Porter Jr. will also be able to provide each other with a switchability on the defensive end.

Porter Jr. has the potential to be a fantastic defender. He is long and athletic and has a penchant for getting into passing lanes.

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Osman, oftentimes last season had to defend the opposing teams’ best offensive wing player. He struggled mightily at times, and other times he was locked in on the defensive end. According to Basketball-Reference, Osman had a defensive rating of 118. That’s simply not going to cut it as the team’s primary wing defender.

Osman may lack a little bit of lateral quickness, but he knows where to position himself on the floor. He can teach Porter Jr. the proper defensive positioning at the NBA level.

If Porter Jr. can be in the proper spots, he can use his outstanding length and athleticism to be one of the team’s best defensive wing players which would allow Osman to defend the other wing player for opposing teams.

One other way these two can help each other next season is due to the fact that both will be secondary ball-handlers when they are on the floor.

They will be able to cut off of each other for easy buckets at the rim or set ball-screens for one and other with the screener having the option to either pop or due to both having excellent size, roll to the rim and either post up or get a layup.

Osman and Porter Jr. will have a chance to develop excellent chemistry on and off the floor throughout training camp and during the pre-season. Osman will need to take Porter Jr. under his wing and show him how to be a professional because he is the consummate pro.

Osman had the opportunity to learn from LeBron James for a season and took on a bit of leadership role last season in only his second NBA season. Porter Jr. has the talent, but he will need to learn, maybe from Osman, how to handle himself at the professional level to realize his potential.