Cleveland Cavaliers: Stock Up, Stock Down – Part Six
Note: the “stock up, stock down” doesn’t necessarily refer to trade stock, but is a way to review how the Cleveland Cavaliers’ players have been performing.
About eight weeks into the season and the Cleveland Cavaliers are playing a little bit better as a team. With Kevin Love reportedly out until early 2019, lets take a look at who has been doing well and who hasn’t.
Stock Up: Collin Sexton
The rookie guard had a tough go of it against the Milwaukee Bucks, but aside from that hiccup, he’s been playing good basketball. Before Friday’s loss, Collin Sexton had a nice five-game stretch putting up 21.4 points a night, 2.6 boards and dishing out 3.0 assists per game, per NBA.com. Sexton still needs to improve on his passing, though, as he is still averaging just 2.5 assists per game on the year.
Stock Up: Matthew Dellavedova
More from Cavs Analysis
- The Cavaliers may have snagged a hidden gem in Craig Porter Jr.
- This stat is one to keep an eye on for Cavaliers’ Max Strus in years ahead
- Projecting how much Cavs’ 3 two-way signings might play this season
- 4 Cavaliers looking to make a name for themselves in training camp
- Mitchell’s numbers getting trimmed a bit wouldn’t be bad thing for Cavaliers
Matthew Dellavedova is sort of a cult hero in Cleveland, or as Love put it, a “folk hero,” (per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor). Delly was here when the Cleveland Cavaliers transitioned from a scrub team to a championship team (thanks to LeBron James‘ return). The Cavs received Delly in a reported trade for most notably George Hill and since his return, Dellavedova has looked good.
The Australian native is averaging 12.3 points per game and shooting the three-pointer at 52.9 percent since the trade. The biggest benefit of Dellavdova will be the leadership and tenacity he’ll bring on the defensive end and helping the backcourt in valuable practice time.
Stock Steady: Jordan Clarkson
At this point of the season, we know what Jordan Clarkson is. He’s going to come off the bench and score between 15-20 points a night, and not necessarily in the most efficient manner. Clarkson is the anchor of a second unit that is seventh in the NBA in bench scoring, per NBA.com.
Clarkson rebounded nicely from a tough game in Milwaukee to lead the Cavs with 28 points on 12-21 shooting in a win last week over the New York Knicks. Clarkson has emerged as a “closer” for a young Cavs team with no true go-to scorer.
Stock Down: Cedi Osman
Cedi Osman got off to a really solid start this season, but his play has declined ever since. In the last 10 games, Osman is averaging 10.2 points per game on just 34.0 percent shooting, including a dismal 25.0 percent from three, per NBA.com. Osman is doing a better job of taking care of the ball, but that is in large part due to the emergence of Sexton as a primary ball-handler.
Next. Cleveland Cavaliers: Cavs have a 'big' problem that's getting trickier. dark
Head coach Larry Drew recently mentioned that he sees Osman as a “slasher,” (per Ohio.com’s Marla Ridenour) and it may help Osman to get looks closer to the basket rather than spotting up from three, where he’s only shooting 30.8 percent on the year.