Playmaking from Cavs’ youngsters is a positive going into All-Star break

I’m not going to say the Cleveland Cavaliers as a whole are playing well right now, as they’ve lost 12 of their last 13 games. A key positive going into a much-needed All-Star break, though, is the playmaking from their youngsters.

The Cleveland Cavaliers just suffered their biggest home loss in franchise history on Sunday against the LA Clippers, of which our own Corey Casey hit on, and naturally, I feel awful for Andre Drummond, who played in his first game for the Wine and Gold then after being dealt here by the Detroit Pistons near the NBA trade deadline.

The Clips did not have Kawhi Leonard (reported left knee soreness) and Patrick Beverley (groin), either.

The Cavaliers clearly have a long way to go in their rebuild, but in the rest of this 2019-20 season, lets see how pieces such as Darius Garland, Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman and Kevin Love play off of Drummond. The former Piston is currently averaging a career-high with 17.8 points per game, according to Basketball Reference, and he should be able to carve out a bunch of space for them with his rolling, screening and low post presence.

Anyhow, yes, I understand that the Cavs are amid an awful stretch of games, as Cleveland has lost 12 of their last 13 and has lost 12 straight games at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. That being said, in this sort of time in their rebuild, the Cavaliers should be playing their young guns big minutes, and while I understand Darius Garland is struggling shooting the ball, his playmaking has been the constant he’s provided this year.

Garland is currently having a down stretch as a shooter, as in the Cavs’ last 10 games (of which he’s been active nine), he’s had an effective field goal shooting clip of just 40.2 percent and a three-point shooting clip of 32.7 percent, as noted by NBA.com.

Again, though, Garland’s playmaking uptick has been great to see as he leads Cleveland with 4.4 assists per game over his last 10 (and on the season), per NBA.com, as other guards on the Cavs’ roster outside of Matthew Dellavedova, who has been a disaster as a shooter this season, don’t have the vision Garland has.

That should lead to plenty of easy dump-offs to Drummond, along with Larry Nance Jr. in some stretches with reserves and Tristan Thompson.

Thompson, for reference, is a player that contenders are hoping eventually seeks a buyout from the Cavs from the Cavs, according to a report from 92.3 The Fan’s James Rapien, but players represented by Klutch Sports Group don’t historically take buyouts.

At any rate, it’s also been a plus to see Collin Sexton, who was recently named as the injury replacement for the Miami Heat’s Tyler Herro (ankle) in the Rising Stars Game, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, be a more willing passer as of late, and see Cedi Osman be more involved in that realm for head coach John Beilein and company, too.

Of course, the Cleveland Cavaliers and their fan base know that Sexton has flat-out score the basketball; the Young Bull leads the team in scoring with 19.7 points per game this season, as noted by NBA.com.

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In his last 10 games, though, Collin has shown more ability and willingness to give the ball up when it’s the right play more often than he typically was doing, as along with him tearing it up as a scorer with 22.2 points per game, he’s had 4.0 assists per outing in that stretch, with 2.4 turnovers per contest.

Though I get that the Sexton-Garland backcourt pairing is still going to have their growing pains the rest of this season, especially on the defensive end, lets not act as if the personnel around them with Love and the Cavs’ wings are plus defenders, and anyway, it’s been encouraging to see Garland’s willingness to get his teammates involved rub off on Collin more lately.

Post-All-Star break, hopefully this upward playmaking trend continues for Sexton, and perhaps that could lead to more open spot-ups for Garland, who is a more than capable shooter in that regard still and can definitely get hot.

That could ring true for the Garland and Kevin Porter Jr. pairing in their minutes on the floor, too, and KPJ has put up 14.9 points per game, including a 45.2 percent hit rate from three-point land in his last seven games active, to go with 2.0 assists in 25.3 minutes per outing.

Porter I believe is such a key energy bench player and is at his best playing against reserve pieces, and does turn it over a ton, too, but again, he has such promise and could be realistically a starter alongside Garland for Cleveland next season, however, as he has much more defensive capability at the 2 than Sexton, albeit he is still prone to unnecessary fouls that starters capitalize on.

Lastly, it’s also been a positive that the Cleveland Cavaliers are involving Cedi Osman more as a playmaker/driving threat more as of late. In his last 10 outings, Osman’s had 10.8 points per game, and has been getting more attacking/cutting chances, and has had 3.6 assists per contest, which has worked out well for Love, Sexton, Porter and Nance as well.

When Osman gets out in transition and receives outlet passes from Love, and I’m assuming will from Drummond a bunch to close out 2019-20, too, Cedi makes things happen. This no-look oop to Porter was a thing of beauty a few games back in an overtime loss to the New York Knicks.

I’d expect to see Cedi more in pick-and-rolls going forward with Drummond in settled offense, too, considering Osman’s more than capable of hitting rollers with timely feeds.

This kind of lob post-All-Star break should open up perimeter looks for Love and others, and it’s a good way to get the big man going.

Moreover, I’d hope that Sexton keeps trending upward as a playmaker going into next season, and also, that Osman can have more opportunities to make plays in the offense than he’s had much of the 2019-20 season. If that’s the case, I believe it should be to the benefit of Garland as a scorer, along with Porter when he’s in there with Cedi.

I’d also imagine the chemistry should get better between Drummond, who is reportedly likely to opt into his $28.8 million player option for 2020-21, per Sports Illustrated’s Sam Amico, and the Cavs’ other key pieces.

Additionally, I’d think that the All-Star break should give the Cleveland Cavaliers much-needed juice for the rest of the way; Cleveland has one more game before that on Wednesday against the Atlanta Hawks, for reference.