Cleveland Cavaliers: Predicting the top three cutters in 2019-20

#1: Cedi Osman

The Cleveland Cavaliers are likely not going to be very good record-wise in the 2019-20 season, as was noted.

The team is likely still near or at the start of a rebuild and as such, they will look to the development of the younger players on this team as the key to the season above all.

Third-year wing Cedi Osman is a prime example of such, and likely will be one of the Cavaliers’ strongest cutters this upcoming season. Nance Jr. has a stronger cut frequency (per Synergy Sports), but Cedi’s role on this team will be expected to be larger as he enters his third year, and Beilein’s motion offense should have Osman be constantly active as a cutter, and I’d think he should have many more scoring opportunities in that regard.

Cedi’s usage percentage increased from 15.1% to 18.2% this past season (per NBA.com) and will likely jump a bit even more this upcoming season, at least early on into the season. The team continues to have high expectations for him and he will very likely be looked to as one of the first few options on offense because of it.

This, along with playing with a group of really natural passers in Matthew Dellavedova and Garland, will allow Osman a number of varied looks at every spot on the floor, particularly cutting inside and getting a bunch of opportunities from off-ball screens and then shooting outside.

He will also benefit very much from playing alongside a healthy group of Love, Tristan Thompson, and Nance Jr.

If and assuming Cedi looks to expand and improve upon a season that saw him named to the NBA Rising Star Challenge, improving his overall efficiency inside and out will be key; he only had an effective field goal clip of 50.4% (per Basketball Reference). As he continues that development, he pushes to become more of an all-around forward.

He looks to continue to improve upon his scoring as a whole, but it is fair to say for the 6-foot-8 forward from Turkey, that his most reliable weapons on offense this season are going to be his ability to cut to the basket, attack the rim, and utilize his unique blend of fundamental size and speed to score and create for himself and others.

If he is able to take another jump like he did from his rookie (3.9 points per game) to his sophomore season, where he had 13.0 points per game (per Basketball Reference) in his first year playing significant minutes, there is definitely reason to believe he will be one of the Cavaliers’ premier cutters in the 2019-20 season.