Cleveland Cavaliers must live with young guys’ mistakes, it’s that simple

The Cleveland Cavaliers need to play their key young players big minutes and see what happens, considering this season isn’t about winning.

At this point in this awful Cleveland Cavaliers season, you know the deal. It’s about rebuilding, and letting young pieces play big minutes, so those players can keep progressing in their development on both ends of the floor. Obviously, the two key pieces that first come to mind are Cedi Osman and Cleveland rookie Collin Sexton, who have had peaks and valleys, as we’ve hit on throughout this season at KJG.

After the Cavaliers’ last loss to the Houston Rockets, in which Cleveland gave up 141 points and conceded 20 three-pointers, Cavs’ emerging leader Tristan Thompson reportedly called out his teammates for missing defensive assignments.

Here’s what he had to say postgame, per Fox Sports Ohio.

I understand that sort of frustration from Thompson. He’s had a career year overall, and he (along with David Nwaba, who’s injuries have hurt Cleveland’s depth, as our Eli Mooneyham noted) are the only two players (on a near season-long sample size) that have consistently played assignment-sound on defense.

Larry Nance Jr. has been good as a team defender, as he leads qualified players on Cleveland in steals and blocks (per NBA.com) and has contested shots, too, for the record.

According to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, there were a few players that Thompson was likely referring to when it comes to the key defensive breakdowns (and two of them have consistently had problems and lapses on that end all season).

"“Given Thompson’s comments, ones with a level of frustration attached, that would put Cedi Osman, Sexton, and Rodney Hood in the crosshairs.Thompson, of course, didn’t single anyone out after the game. He hasn’t all season. Leaders don’t do that in public. Behind the scenes it’s a little different, a chance for him to pull guys aside and chat with them. But his remarks in his postgame session with reporters made it easy to connect the dots. So, too, did one moment at the start of the game.”"

Thompson reportedly held Osman, who has been one of the worst defenders in the NBA this season based on both individual and team-defensive metrics, accountable in an in-game huddle, per Fedor.

"“In the first quarter, Thompson chastised Osman for failing to pick up [Clint] Capela in transition. It was Thompson’s man, of course, but he was trailing the play so he pointed to Osman and shouted instructions at him, putting trust in one of his teammates to pick up the slack. The break ended in a Capela dunk, which then led to a Cavaliers timeout and a teaching moment. Thompson raised his palms and discussed the breakdown with Osman for most of the timeout.”"

This kind of thing seems to be a common theme with the Cavs this season. There’s been so many defensive breakdowns, and a prime example, as our own Jackson Flickinger recently touched on, is the lack of competence when defending the pick-and-roll. The Cleveland Cavaliers do not seem to have any common practice of how they are defending in those situations, and in today’s NBA, that’s going to be a whole heck of a lot of the time.

Playmakers such as James Harden, Kemba Walker, De’Aaron Fox and many more have been able to get favorable mismatches against Cleveland all season long, and I get that Thompson and probably others are frustrated with how much players such as Osman and Sexton have struggled.

That being said, this season is a learning experience for the key young players getting their feet wet against NBA competition. It’s not as though Cleveland’s other players not named Osman and Sexton have been All-World defenders, either.

With more game experience, Osman and Sexton should get better at defending against opposing guards and wings, respectively, and with veterans such as Matthew Dellavedova and Thompson around to help behind closed doors, that should be the case for those two key young players.

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The Cavs are just at the beginning of a long rebuilding process, and Osman and Sexton are 23 and 20, so I think it’s time to stop grilling them, and just let them eventually learn from their mistakes.

Those two players have had their splashes of moments this season, and their numbers in a tough year full of unfortunate circumstances is a positive.

Osman has posted 11.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game, and Sexton has posted 14.6 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game (both according to Basketball Reference).

Those are not All-Star numbers, no, and both have had a consistent supply of head-scratching defensive miscues.

However, it’s not as though Cleveland has any rim protection around those two, and the Cavs’ team defense has had problems since the 2016-17 season, as Flickinger pointed out.

The Cavs are going nowhere for the next few years at least, so not playing these young players because of them having defensive problems when almost the entire roster has struggled defensively doesn’t help them long-term. Thompson just has to be patient with these young players, because they both can be franchise cornerstones in the near future due to their offensive skill sets.

Thompson was a young player once, too, and just 41 games for Osman (not including last year for Osman, when he only played 11.0 minutes per game, per Basketball Reference) doesn’t equate to a ton of time for him and Sexton (a 43-game sample) to be on top of all of their assignments on a team that is awful around them.

In a few months down the road, they could be more assignment-sound and be better team defenders with a healthier Cavs’ team around them.