Cavs: Cedi Osman was getting back into groove before NBA’s suspension

Up until the NBA’s season suspension due to novel coronavirus precaution, it was good to see Cleveland Cavaliers wing Cedi Osman get back into a better groove and if and/or when the season returns, hopefully we see more of that.

At this juncture, the 2019-20 NBA season is suspended for the Cleveland Cavaliers and other teams due to precautions being taken to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, and as far as players reported to test positive for COVID-19, it was first Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz and then Utah’s Donovan Mitchell tested positive on Thursday, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

On Saturday, it was also reported that Detroit Pistons big Christian Wood tested positive for COVID-19, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and also Stadium, who also said Wood “has shown no symptoms and is doing well.”

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Both Gobert and Mitchell are reportedly coming along in their recovery, and hopefully, all three players get through this and them/their teams continue to exercise proper precaution.

In relation to the Cavs’ case, the team announced that no players/staff have been showing symptoms related to COVID-19, and that given that and how there’s such little availability of tests, that the team wouldn’t be testing their players/staff, h/t Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor on Thursday.

Anyhow, leading up to when the NBA suspended the season, it was nice to see Cleveland Cavaliers wing Cedi Osman get back into a better groove in the five or six previous games than was the case for him for a stretch of games leading up to that point.

In his last six games leading up to the time of the league’s suspension on Wednesday after Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, Osman had been getting going again as a perimeter scoring threat, and was showing more of the consistency he was showing as a cutter and three-point shooter that he had the majority of the year before hitting a slump.

In that span, Osman averaged 13.8 points, and though that was only on 51.1 percent true shooting, it was encouraging to see Osman hit 41.7 percent of his 6.0 three-point attempts per outing, as noted by NBA.com.

Hopefully if and when the NBA is back, of which Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban believes, though it’s just speculation, that the league’s regular season could be shortened to just “7-8” more games and then postseason play would get under way (not for the Cavs, of course), as Cuban said on ESPN’s “Get Up” on Thursday per ESPN’s Rachel Nichols, that Osman can stay in a better groove as a shooter.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, and pieces such as Collin Sexton, Kevin Love and while both were banged up leading up to the league’s suspension, Darius Garland (left groin strain) and Kevin Porter Jr. (concussion protocol), among others, are much better off when Osman is continuously active as a cutter and is knocking down three-point looks.

That’s of the catch-and-shoot variety, especially, and in his last six games, Osman had been helping out Sexton, Love and Larry Nance Jr. by hitting 41.9 percent of his catch-and-shoot triples in that span on a frequency of 40.8 percent, according to NBA.com’s shot tracking data.

https://twitter.com/cavs/status/1236825376124547077?s=20

Clearly, Osman did step up some with KPJ sidelined, along with Matthew Dellavedova (who led Cleveland in assists per game post-All-Star), both of which I highlighted previously in regards to them needing to step up sans KPJ.

Moreover, when Cedi is knocking those shots down, it opens up his slashing opportunities more, and also makes him more of a productive secondary playmaker in terms of utilizing drive-and-kicks leading to deliveries to Love, Sexton and others outside.

Post-All-Star break and leading into the league’s suspension, Osman has averaged 2.5 assists per game, per NBA.com, which even without Garland and Porter in some games, that helped Matthew Dellavedova and Sexton some, and hopefully we continue to see Osman’s secondary playmaking if and/or when the season is back.

What is also something I’d love to see if/when the 2019-20 season returns is Osman getting more leak-outs in transition after terrific outlet passes from Love, Andre Drummond and/or Nance, as Cedi mostly makes the right plays in those instances, which generally come from solid closeouts and/or deflections.

Osman is a player that tends to be streaky and has struggled mightily defensively individually against starting wings and though he seemingly likely won’t be the starting 3 again next season, and a viable starting replacement could be 2020 NBA Draft prospects LaMelo Ball, previously of the NBL’s Illawarra Hawks, Deni Avdija of the I-BSL’s Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv or Auburn’s Isaac Okoro (and not Georgia’s Anthony Edwards), Osman is still a player that can contribute in a number of ways for Cleveland in coming years.

Cedi still should get meaningful burn at the 3.

Also factoring in that, him getting a transition opportunity here and there helps him get more in-rhythm and it gives the Cavs energy, and Cleveland in recent games leading up to the NBA’s season suspension was getting Osman those plays, and not surprisingly, Osman seemed to get or keep it going more from deep following those run-outs.

Again, it was nice to see Cedi get in a better groove in the stretch of contests leading up to the NBA’s season suspension, and hopefully, he’ll close out 2019-20 strong, well if and when the NBA is back.

At any rate, given his defensive limitations in large part due to a lack of lateral quickness, I would not expect Osman to be the Cleveland Cavaliers starting small forward next season, however; he still is a player that moves without the ball productively, is a good passer and seems to be improving on catch-and-shoots, though, so he still should be a meaningful rotation piece.

Lastly, as of Thursday, according to NBA commissioner Adam Silver on an appearance on NBA on TNT, the league’s hiatus is going to last “at least 30 days,” and one could imagine, with COVID-19 being such a huge concern right now, that the league’s suspension could last longer than feasibly the next three-and-a-half weeks. Let’s hope if and/or when the season comes back, though, that Osman can still keep it going and close out strong.