Cavs must improve their cutting efficiency in 2020-21, and likely will

Next season, the Cleveland Cavaliers need to improve their cutting finishing efficiency, and that should play out.

In the 2020-21 campaign, the Cleveland Cavaliers should hopefully take strides in terms of their shooting efficiency, and especially from three-point range. Cleveland ranked in the bottom ten in 2019-20 in three-point shooting hit rate, three-pointers made and attempted per game.

That said, the Cavs were showing positive signs in that realm as the season progressed, to a large extent, and next season, the addition of Dylan Windler could bolster Cleveland’s perimeter shooting.

Windler did not play at all in what was supposed to be his rookie season due to complications involving a stress reaction in his left leg, but he is reportedly progressing well in his rehab, and I’d expect to be a key bench piece in 2020-21.

Windler hit 42.9 percent of his 7.1 three-point attempts per game as a senior at Belmont, and hit 40.6 percent from deep in his four-year collegiate career there, and he could provide a knockdown presence on spot-ups and off of movement. Also, he’s a gifted pull-up shooter, and with his ambidextrous finishing ability, he could establish himself as Cleveland’s best cutter next season.

In the overall sense for the Cavs, though, Cleveland was not particularly effective when it came to cutting finishing in 2019-20, and Windler should help in that regard, but I’d imagine growth from young players should, too.

Kevin Porter Jr. made considerable strides as a cutter as a rookie, and Collin Sexton did show real strides there as his second season wore on. Hopefully that carries over.

From the team perspective for 2020-21, though, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ cutting finishing must improve, and it should.

The Cavs’ cutting timing and finishing did show positive signs, especially leading into the novel coronavirus-induced hiatus post-All-Star break after J.B. Bickerstaff took over the head coaching reigns, and the ball/man movement was better.

Albeit for the season as a whole, the Cavaliers only placed in the 31st percentile in cutting finishing in 2019-20, per Synergy Sports.

For next season, I would hope that the presence of Windler for stretches, both in the floor spacing and finishing sense, should help Cleveland be more efficient as cutters, though. Porter likely playing more than 23.2 minutes per game could very well play into that, too, along with continued playmaking growth from Darius Garland in hitting cutters, such as KPJ and Larry Nance Jr.

Plus, if he can cut down on his turnovers, Andre Drummond, who fully intends to pick up his $28.8 million player option for 2020-21, could factor into that a bit in terms of passing to cutters, as he did show signs of playmaking growth previously with the Detroit Pistons. Nylon Calculus’ Ian Levy recently highlighted that from Drummond in terms of prior Pistons days in 2017-18, of which were mostly from the elbows. He had a career-best 3.0 assists per game then.

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While that could lead to some pick-and-pop opportunities for Collin Sexton, Kevin Love and others, maybe the Cavs could tap into Drummond finding cutting threats from time to time, too.

Either way, Cleveland will still have Love in a secondary playmaking realm, along with Nance, as far as bigs, and Cedi Osman, though he’ll seemingly play less next season, is capable of hitting perimeter cutters after drawing attention after curls.

The same goes for Windler, coupled with that, and in some instances, those two could also feed each other in that way, and diddo in Porter’s case, with Windler being that recipient I’d imagine even more so.

In relation to KPJ as a cutter, though, for context, his cutting feel improved as his season progressed, and as a cutting finisher, he placed in the 92nd percentile, per Synergy.

In addition, in terms of another highly capable cutter and/or solid secondary playmaker, Auburn’s Isaac Okoro could very well be a key factor for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

While Okoro only hit 28.6 percent of his three-point attempts in his lone collegiate campaign, he is quite the slasher that drew 4.8 free throws per game, but while the numbers didn’t necessarily illuminate it, he demonstrated good passing feel. That came in regards to hitting cutters and at times kick-outs, and his quickness would help Cleveland in that realm.

Now if the Cavs went a different draft direction, while it wasn’t necessarily proven at USC, Trojans big Onyeka Okongwu, who is a gifted passing big, could aid Cleveland in getting high percentage looks to some extent in stretches, too. He could hit a cutting Sexton, Windler or KPJ operating out of the low-post, most notably.

In any case, the Cavaliers do need to improve their cutting finishing efficiency in 2020-21 to capitalize on hopefully better ball/man movement game-to-game.

I do believe that will end up being the case, though, as Cleveland should have more floor spacing, and hopefully, more secondary playmaking threats, which should lead to better utilization of cutters game-to-game.