Cavs: Damyean Dotson should be rotational fixture looking onward

Damyean Dotson should firmly be in the rotation for the Cleveland Cavaliers moving forward.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have been dealing with the injury bug already a bunch this season, and they have been really thin at guard as of late.

Most notably, Darius Garland (right shoulder sprain) and Collin Sexton (left ankle sprain) have missed the Cavs’ last seven and five games.

Matthew Dellavedova (concussion) has not appeared for Cleveland yet this season, and even before he was traded to the Houston Rockets, Dante Exum could be seemingly sidelined for the rest of the first half of the season. That was due to a high grade right calf strain.

It’s a plus that Garland and Sexton “were involved in contact portions of practice” on Monday, though, and for Dylan Windler, who has not been active since Cleveland’s first game (fractured left hand) “went through all of practice,” along with that. That’s via Evan Dammarell of Forbes and Fear The Sword.

That said, according to a report from The Athletic’s Joe Vardon, Jason Lloyd and Kelsey Russo, to go with Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, Kevin Porter Jr. had an outburst in the Cavs locker room on Friday, and is expected to be traded or released by Cleveland.

Porter, per that report, was combative toward Cavs general manager Koby Altman because of the club moving his locker and giving that to recent trade acquisition Taurean Prince and his locker was moved toward young, end-of-bench-type players. Porter’s locker was reportedly moved, though, per a report from Basketballnews.com’s Spencer Davies, based on “NBA seniority and spacing to adhere to COVID-19 protocols.”

Porter hadn’t yet played for the Cavaliers because of personal reasons and seemingly won’t be on the club moving forward, and in terms of further reported details/context involving him, you can view that here.

Anyhow, it stings that the Cavs won’t have Porter with them in the near future, who had 10.0 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game last season as a rookie bench contributor.

But continual immaturity concerns seemed to be the key issue, as was noted based on other reports hit on in the aforementioned link. And per a report from Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, Cleveland looking to move on from Porter was “a culmination of many things, including disrespecting staff members and teammates, sources say.”

On a positive note, even with the Cavaliers having dealt with the injury bug already, a silver lining has been that Damyean Dotson has helped his case for consistent minutes-share game-to-game when Cleveland does get healthier. That’d appear to be soon/this week, too.

Dotson should be a rotational fixture for the Cavs looking onward.

I understand that Dotson has had a higher minutes-share than one would’ve thought he would to this point coming into the season/in early season because of injuries, but objectively, he looks to be a player that should stick in a notable game-to-game role.

That seems reasonable to say. Dotson who was signed via unrestricted free agency before the season via two-year, $4 million deal (of which the second year is non-guaranteed) hasn’t shot the ball from three-point range particularly well.

That’s only been at 25.9 percent on the year, which hasn’t been ideal, but in a bigger on-ball role than I would’ve expected and with him actually having to play de facto point guard in recent games, I give him some slack.

Dotson, who hit 36.8 and 36.2 percent from three-point range in his last two seasons with the New York Knicks, should be able to get it going more when Garland/Sexton are back in the fold more, in that realm, too. I’d expect Dotson to hit better in coming weeks than 35.1 percent on catch-and-shoot triple attempts, per NBA.com’s shot tracking data, as Cleveland gets healthier as well.

Anyway, on the plus side, Dotson, who has had 9.0 points per game, has had some nice drives/pull-ups inside the arc, and he’s hit 57.1 percent of his two-point shot attempts. I’d expect him, albeit in less of a minutes-share, projecting forward, than 26.5 minutes per outing, to help Cleveland on-ball some, still, too.

Additionally, Dotson’s passing, though, of which he’s done a commendable job in a key playmaking role with the Cavs banged up, has been a key positive to me.

He’s had 3.0 assists per outing, including 5.0 in his past six games, to only 1.1 turnovers overall and 1.3 in those past six, and I firmly believe he’ll continue to aid the Cavaliers in the passing realm looking onward.

His assist rate of 17.7 percent has been notable, and I’d think some in pick-and-roll, he should mesh well with recent Cavs trade acquisition Jarrett Allen. And Dotson’s feel as a ball-mover will continue to aid Cedi Osman, Larry Nance Jr., Isaac Okoro, Sexton and others. I’d expect Prince to be in that realm, too.

Lastly, Dotson’s defense, both individually and in the team sense, has only helped his case to be a rotational fixture more, looking at the rest of the season/into next season.

Moreover, regarding the Porter likely exit, whether it’s via trade or him being released, that further shows why Dotson should continue to be a real factor in the rotation for Cleveland looking onward. Damyean has clearly been a bargain, to say the least, even with the perimeter shooting woes.

We’ll ultimately have to see what plays out when the Cavaliers get healthier, in relation to the 26-year-old Dotson’s role.