The Cleveland Cavaliers bench should make a difference as playmakers.
It seems as if the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to give Darius Garland ample time to prove himself this next season as the starting lead guard again. Him and Collin Sexton, and Garland, in particular, is not a stellar defensive pairing for long stretches.
Granted, with the Cavaliers being in a great position to land a high level defender in the upcoming draft, such as Auburn’s Isaac Okoro or Florida State’s Devin Vassell on the wing, that could aid Garland-Sexton.
In any case, while he started slow, and Garland was affected by his prior meniscus tear reportedly throughout this now-past season, he did show his share of flashes on-ball, and his playmaking feel was a positive as the year progressed. In Garland’s last 26 games active, he had a better 5.1 assists per outing, compared to his still-season clip of 2.6 turnovers per contest.
To me, that was a bright spot for Garland. Albeit he needs to shoot better than 40.1 percent from the field next season, in the scoring sense.
On a positive note, though, Garland looked shiftier at the Cavs recent in-market bubble team workouts, as KJG’s Grant Puskar hit on. And him looking fully ready to roll and benefiting from an extended offseason should pay dividends.
That will only aid him as a playmaker, too, and Collin Sexton, while he’s not a natural passer, showed signs of growth in year 2, and even more so leading into the novel coronavirus-induced hiatus and what would ultimately be the end of 2019-20 for Cleveland.
Kevin Love, who had 3.2 assists per contest, should also provide a playmaking boost for the Cavs, and he’s a highly capable playmaking big. Cedi Osman, although I clearly don’t see him as a long-term starting 3 for Cleveland, when he is on the floor, can aid Cleveland in the passing realm, too, to some degree.
So how about from there, though? From my perspective, Cleveland’s bench should provide plenty of playmaking help, with that seemingly mostly relating to Kevin Porter Jr., Larry Nance Jr. and Dylan Windler.
Potentially a draft target such as USC big Onyeka Okongwu, or perhaps Okoro, if he’s a bench piece for much of the year, along with Deni Avdija of the I-BSL’s Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv, could be in that realm, too.
Bench pieces should definitely aid the Cavs overall playmaking efforts.
Previously, J.B. Bickerstaff noted how he wanted to see if KPJ could play the 1 at times, in what was supposed to be more a closing stretch of 2019-20, that of course, didn’t end up playing out.
But Porter, who had a respectable 14.7 percent assist rate in year 1, demonstrated good passing feel, and hit his share of dump-offs to the likes of Nance and others. Porter, with his ability to change speeds in the pick-and-roll, and with the finisher he is, should be able to initiate his share of drive-and-kicks/productive ball-swings next season.
Porter, who had a 17.1 percent assist rate in his last 12 games active, also seemingly got some key playmaking work in the Cavs in-market bubble team run. That’s factoring in the below reply tweet, per Bickerstaff and via Forbes‘ Evan Dammarell.
“We did a lot of stuff where we out the ball in his hands where he’s a playmaker and an initiator.” #Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff on Kevin Porter Jr.
— Evan Dammarell (@AmNotEvan) September 29, 2020
That from Porter, albeit he’ll still be a score-first player, could really aid the Cavs offensively, and be a nice wrinkle for them.
I’d think that could have a bigger impact game-to-game, frankly, than Dante Exum in a key playmaking role off the bench, whose not close to the scoring threat KPJ is. Exum is oft-injured, along with that, and is set to be expiring after next season, even, so a significant playmaking role for him seems unrealistic.
From there, Nance should be featured plenty as an initiator, too, and his improved shooting and ball handling ability should only make him more capable as a playmaker for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Nance, who had an assist rate of 14.8 percent in his last 15 games active of 2019-20, is clearly similar to Love in terms of being able to provide playmaking punch from the perimeter/high-post and/or at the elbows. And in his minutes-share, that should really aid Garland, Sexton and Love/others, and from my perspective, I could very well foresee Nance being a catalyst for Cleveland’s potential relocation threats.
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Moving along, as he gets acclimated coming off how he wasn’t active in 2019-20 with the Cavs at all due to injury, I’d imagine Windler could also help Cleveland’s overall group in the playmaking department of the secondary variety.
Dylan Windler, who seemingly made a splash at Cleveland’s in-market bubble team workouts, is firstly, a guy that projects as a big-time shooter off the bench for Cleveland in his minutes-share.
He hit 40.6 percent of his 534 career three-point attempts in a four-year collegiate tenure at Belmont, but Windler is a willing and able passer to lob threats/shooters and some to cutters in his own right.
I’d firmly expect him to aid the Cavs offense, and pieces such as Sexton, Garland, KPJ, Love and others in that way when he’s out there, too.
As Windler gets more time with his teammates, with him having a nice handle, I could foresee Cleveland seeking him out as a stabilizer/security blanket at times as well, provided he’s mostly healthy, which he reportedly is currently.
I could see the same at times, if he were to be more of a bench piece, from the aforementioned Okoro, although I’d expect him to be more of a starter over Osman.
Okongwu, who has drawn comparisons to Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo for his playing style defensively but also as a big passer, could very well aid Cleveland’s playmaking efforts in mostly a bench role, too, assuming Andre Drummond eventually is back.
Lastly, if the expiring Matthew Dellavedova is back, while I wouldn’t expect him to play much and be more of a locker room/mentorship piece, he could aid Cleveland’s playmaking efforts in a spot/reserve role still.
Moreover, for a young guard in Garland, and to aid Sexton/Love, the Cleveland Cavaliers bench unit should provide plenty of playmaking help for the squad as a whole next season.