Damyean Dotson had more of a role earlier on in the season than we would’ve anticipated for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and that was due to injuries.
Dylan Windler, who missed all of last season because of complications involving a stress reaction in his left leg, fractured the fourth metacarpal in his left hand in Cleveland’s first game of this season, and missed significant time.
Plus, Darius Garland (right shoulder sprain) missed an eight-game stretch, and Collin Sexton (left ankle sprain) was sidelined for five games, and Sexton has had some instances where he’s had tough luck with that ankle issue here and there since, even. He’s questionable on Friday versus the Milwaukee Bucks due to a neck strain, too, albeit he’s as tough as they come, anyhow.
Hopefully, Sexton doesn’t have too extended of an absence, though I wouldn’t think he would, if he were ruled out.
It was a positive that Dotson, especially in the stretch when the Cavaliers were so thin at the guard spot, was able to help the Wine and Gold from a playmaking standpoint, though. Again, the injuries played into it, of course, but he’s had an assist rate of 17.1 percent this season, and has had a turnover rate of only 7.6 percent.
Objectively, though, Dotson, who is a highly capable perimeter shooter, only hitting 29.7 percent of his three-point attempts thus far this season has been less than ideal. That’s obviously been far from stellar.
But on the plus side, Dotson has hit 39.6 percent of his catch-and-shoot three-point attempts, per NBA.com’s shot tracking data. That’s been on a frequency of 35.0 percent, which has been a fairly robust rate. On the flip side, he’s only knocked in 9.1 percent of his pull-up triple attempts, though, hence the 30.0 percent three-point hit rate overall.
Nonetheless, to me, Dotson, who has only played 11.7 minutes per outing in the past eight games, and did not play in two of those, which included Wednesday’s blowout L to the LA Clippers, should get more burn. And Matthew Dellavedova, who has not appeared yet this regular season for Cleveland, unfortunately still having concussion complications related to a serious one suffered in preseason and with his prior concussion history, plays into that somewhat.
Dellavedova is reportedly wanting to get back with the Cavs and wants to be able to play, but due to the concussion complications, he’s not been able to ramp up his workouts. He could eventually have to end up retiring, per The Athletic‘s Kelsey Russo and Joe Vardon (subscription required) on Thursday, although nothing is conclusive and there’s no timetable, so we’ll see. I hope Delly can have a full recovery in the near future.
Even aside from the Dellavedova-related news, though, swinging back, Dotson should be getting in there for the Cavs, from my viewpoint.
Dotson should be back in more for the Cavs, for two reasons, really.
The first has to do with the catch-and-shoot/off movement element.