Cleveland Cavaliers: How Osman can be more effective on both ends

Cedi Osman started out really well at the beginning of the year for the Cleveland Cavaliers, but has since hit a rough patch. The rest of this calendar year, or at least until Kevin Love returns from injury, will be crucial for his growth, and he must make some adjustments.

Cleveland Cavaliers’ second-year wing Cedi Osman started the season about as well as anyone could have hoped. Though his shooting percentage wasn’t great at 38.4 percent in the month of October (which was a seven-game sample), Osman was averaging 13.4 points per game and was hitting three-point shots at a 42.4 percent clip in that time. He was also averaging a respectable 3.6 assists per game and had an assist rate of 15.4 percent, per NBA.com. This month, Osman has not the same impact as a playmaker.

In the first four games, Osman was really making things happen, but since Kevin Love went on the shelf for what will still likely be at least a month due to a reported toe injury, Osman has had a much harder time getting room to operate and that has resulted in him turning it over at an even higher rate and he’s had to work much more to score. In November, he’s averaging just 7.4 points and 1.2 assists per game, and has an assist rate of only 7.1 percent, which is less than last year in which he was not much of a playmaker, but still had an assist rate of 8.7 percent, per Basketball Reference.

Osman is playing 5.7 minutes less this month, and did miss two games due to reported back spasms, but his play in trending downward since the outset of the season, and with Love still out for a while, Osman must adjust. While likely playing alongside rookie Collin Sexton, who is making a George Hill trade likely due to his great play as the starting point guard, as co-editor Eli Mooneyham illustrated, Osman might benefit from getting to have less of a burden.