Cedi Osman is expected to join the Cleveland Cavaliers after EuroBasket 2017.
According to Daily Sabah, a Turkish media outlet, Cedi Osman is expected to join the Cleveland Cavaliers after September’s European Basketball Championship (EuroBasket 2017). The NBA’s preseason starts in the beginning of October.
Osman will presumably play for Turkey’s national team; according to cleveland.com’s Joe Vardon, Osman’s previous commitment to the Turkish national team prevented him from participating in the Las Vegas Summer League circuit with the Cavs. He’s been on the national team since 2014 and in 2015, Osman averaged 12.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steal per game in EuroBasket competition.
It was after that competition, and after being acquired by the Cleveland Cavaliers in a draft night trade in 2015, when Osman began to improve his three-point shooting ability. He had yet to shoot above 33.1 percent from three-point range before the 2015-2016 season with Anadolu Efes. However, in that season, Osman shot 39.6 percent from three-point range. Last season, he shot 36.5 percent from deep. Thus, his projection as a three-and-D player was born.
Offensively, Osman was more of a slasher prior to developing his long-ball. He’ll still be capable of attacking the rim after closeouts or in the pick-and-roll.
On the other end, Osman’s on-ball defense and energy was already on display at that point.
In fact, Osman mentioned his defense in an interview with NTVSpor (h/t the Daily Sabah) and says the Cleveland Cavaliers expect him to have a big impact on that end:
"“I am excited to play on the same team as LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. They expect me to contribute greatly to defense. I cannot wait to pass the ball to the star players, it is a dream come true,” he said"
Osman also mentions how the Cavs expect his youth and energy “to fire up the team to motivate them”. While there is a bit of youth on the Cleveland Cavaliers roster with Kyrie Irving (25-years-old), Edy Tavares (25-years-old) and Kay Felder (22-years-old), Osman is a player who former general manager David Griffin compared to fan favorite Tristan Thompson in an exclusive interview with SB Nation’s Fear the Sword.
"“Really excited about Cedi. He’s about all the right things. He’s a Tristan Thompson of a swingman mold.”"
What Griffin means by that is that Thompson, who is relentless in hunting for offensive rebounds and always plays with a high level of passion and enthusiasm, is a player who fires the team up with how hard he plays.
Osman will be expected to also bring passion, enthusiasm and hustle but from the wings. In that sense, Osman is the only wing the Cleveland Cavaliers have (outside of 27-year-old Iman Shumpert), who will be able to bring that level of hustle and tenacity to the court on both ends.
He’ll be expected to dive for loose balls, fight for rebounds and make impact plays as a scorer and defender.
It’ll be interesting to see what Osman, who may get the chance to crack the Cleveland Cavaliers rotation, can do in the league.
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*All stats gathered from basketball.realgm.com