Cavs: 3 goals for Cedi Osman for post-All-Star break
By Dan Gilinsky
Post-All-Star break goal #1: Average 3.0 assists per game/have an assist rate over 15.0 percent
Cedi Osman hasn’t had nearly the playmaking influence/on-ball creation responsibility he had last season.
Darius Garland, who is leading the Cleveland Cavaliers with 3.8 assists per game in 2019-20, as noted by NBA.com, was not on the Cavs. Kevin Love, who is a gifted passer, too, was only active in 22 games last season.
Moreover, with Osman being one of Cleveland’s best playmakers last season and one of a small number of players that could create for themselves, he was tasked with on-ball duties more.
This season, Osman has had 2.3 assists per game, which is not much different than in 2018-19, when he put up 2.6 helpers per contest. His assist rate of 11.5 percent in 2019-20 is nearly identical, too, as his of 12.0 percent last year, as indicated by NBA.com.
We’re beginning to see Cedi have more of a playmaking role again, with now being for head coach John Beilein and company, though, which has been encouraging. Osman has very good passing feel (granted it wasn’t on display against the Atlanta Hawks in a win on Wednesday) and can throw a plethora of feeds that usually get shooters, cutters and/or rolling threats the ball on-time and in a desirable scoring/shooting position.
This dish to Drummond is a prime example of that.
In Osman’s past 15 games, he’s averaged 2.8 assists per contest and has had an assist rate of 14.2 percent.
So, while I understand 3.0 assists and an assist rate of 15.0 percent is not extremely lofty as a post-All-Star break goal on the surface, that sort of clip would go a long way for Cleveland. With the Cavs having several other playmakers, such as Garland, Larry Nance Jr., Kevin Porter Jr., and to some extent, Collin Sexton and Drummond, this post-All-Star break goal for Cedi would seem to be a notable one.
Plus, it would demonstrate that Osman is consistently being an active contributor game-to-game as a passer, which is arguably his best attribute, and it would take pressure off of Garland and Sexton.
The second post-All-Star break goal for Osman relates to him continuing to showcase what he’s done all year, but doing it a bit better.