Cedi Osman to not be a participant in Cavs bubble team run is a surprise

The Cleveland Cavaliers are set to begin their in-market bubble team workouts next week, which will be meaningful for them.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have not been in game action since March 10, in what was a close loss to the Chicago Bulls. Shortly thereafter, the NBA’s season went into a novel coronavirus-induced hiatus, and Cleveland was not a team invited to the league’s Orlando restart.

In turn, the 2019-20 season for the Cavs, formally at least, has been done for some time. It is nice for the Cavaliers, though, that they are set to begin their in-market bubble team workouts on Monday.

The squad has conducted individual workouts through this past week with COVID-19/social distancing protocols, sure, and individual players have worked out seemingly a fair amount lately, but team sessions will be especially meaningful.

That’s considering how this offseason has gone, with the COVID-19 element, and how tough it’s been from a group standpoint, one would think.

Anyhow, in relation to the upcoming team workouts, which will run from Sep. 23-30, per a release from Cavs.com’s Courtney Payton, this should be a positive for young players such as Collin Sexton, Darius Garland and Kevin Porter Jr., in particular. Most notably, youngsters should benefit from some 5-on-5 scrimmaging when that plays out, which can be an hour per session when that applies.

From a team chemistry standpoint, it’s nice to know that Kevin Love will be in attendance, too.

In terms of notable absences, however, it wasn’t surprising that expiring and due-to-be unrestricted free agents Tristan Thompson and Matthew Dellavedova will not be in attendance. And due to a personal matter, Andre Drummond, who is reportedly likely to pick up his $28.8 million player option for next season, won’t be.

But I don’t see that as a big deal, frankly. And it’s nice to know that Drummond has been “pretty engaged” in Cavs offseason Zoom meetings, etc., and Drummond did participate in a pre-bubble sort of thing previously, both per a report from Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.

From there, though, an absence in this upcoming team bubble workouts does jump out more to me, and that’s Cedi Osman.

Osman not set to participate in the Cleveland Cavaliers bubble team run is a surprise, honestly.

According to Payton, Osman will not be attending these upcoming voluntary workouts, and is “still overseas,” per Payton. I’d assume that’s relating to Cedi being in his native Turkey, anyway.

For Osman, this is unfortunate, from my perspective. Osman is a player that, although he hit 38.3 percent of his three-point attempts in 2019-20, he disappeared for stretches too often offensively, and on the defensive end in his near-two seasons as Cleveland’s starting 3, has mightily struggled.

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And for further context, Dylan Windler, who could potentially be a player that could maybe overtake Osman in that starting 3 role at some point next season, is “healthy,” and will be participating in this bubble team run, as Payton emphasized.

Of course, Windler didn’t play at all in 2019-20 due to complications involving a stress reaction in his left leg.

But he’s a player that averaged 21.3 points per contest as a senior at Belmont in 2018-19 that has more on-ball potential, I believe, than Osman. Plus, Windler’s a more polished pull-up/off movement shooter that hit 40.6 percent from deep in a four-year collegiate career at Belmont.

Now, for what it’s worth, I still believe we could see Osman and Windler both on the floor together for stretches next season with Windler at the 2, though. In any case, for Osman, it’s a surprise that he won’t be a participant in this Cleveland Cavaliers in-market bubble team run, and even more so from a 5-on-5 burn standpoint.

Cleveland could feasibly look to draft a wing such as Auburn’s Isaac Okoro or Florida State’s Devin Vassell, also, and both of those players could very well overtake Osman at the starting 3, too, and I could see that being more reasonable than Windler, at least for next season.

Both of those players I foresee as defensive playmakers, too. And meanwhile, Porter, who was Osman’s primary backup during this now-past season, could still get some burn at the 3, although he’s naturally a guard.

Nonetheless, for Osman, who has plenty to prove next season with how he underwhelmed in 2019-20, this is again a surprise that he won’t participating in this Cavs in-market bubble. It’d seemingly only help Cedi work on his game and be around his teammates.

That said, I don’t know the circumstances involving him not set to be in the Wine and Gold’s downtown bubble and these workouts are voluntary, though, and it’s not Cleveland’s formal minicamp, as Payton noted. So, I’m not going to read too much into the Osman absence.

But again, it’s not something I’d have expected, and even more so given how Osman I’d imagine will be hard-pressed to keep his starting 3 role next season.