I give him credit for the playmaking help he’s provided for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season, and defensively, he’s done a solid job, from my perspective. But it’s been tough for me to pinpoint exactly why Damyean Dotson has mightily struggled as a perimeter shooter in recent stretches for Cleveland.
Now, the Cavaliers, though injuries have played a key factor in it, and I’m not discouting that, have had three-point shooting and/or off-the-catch shooting issues all season long. And barely having Kevin Love at all thus far due to complications involving a right calf strain/reaggravation previously of that haven’t helped.
Nonetheless, it’s not as if Dotson, who is a highly capable shooter off-the-catch, both via spot-ups and off movement, hasn’t had his share of quality looks still. Earlier on again, and even still up until fairly recently, I gave Dotson his share of slack, and he could perhaps turn things around more so.
He hit a more than respectable 36.2 and 36.8 percent of his 3.4 and 4.7 three-point attempts, respectively, in the past two seasons prior to this current one with the New York Knicks, the club that drafted him in 2017.
All of that said, Dotson has still only hit 27.4 percent of his 3.4 triple attempts so far this season, and the way things are headed, it appears that he looks to be the odd man out among Cleveland’s guard rotation looking onward. That’s at least game-to-game, by and large, it seems.
Dotson seems to be hard-pressed for minutes from here with the Cavs the rest of this season.
As we alluded to, Dotson’s had his share of struggles this season. In more recent games when he’s had meaningful rotational burn though, it’s been puzzling as to why the catch-and-looks, in particular, haven’t gone down. He hasn’t played in the past three games for Cleveland, anyhow.
On the season, Dotson, while starting off pretty well in the first real chunk of it in that realm, has hit an underwhelming 34.7 percent of his catch-and-shoot triple attempts, per NBA.com’s shot tracking data. Perhaps he could change some things and close the campaign better, but it’s difficult to say; albeit has come up with some timely mid-range pull-ups and floaters.
Having a quality passing big in Larry Nance Jr. back in the fold from being sidelined (fractured left hand) could help from deep; we’ll have to see.
In terms of the opportunities, Darius Garland and Collin Sexton will get the lion’s share of 1/2 minutes, of course. From there, though, Isaac Okoro will fill in some at the 2, depending on lineups, but Dylan Windler I’d expect to get his share of burn from here typically.
And even while Windler has had his ups and downs as a shooter from deep, he has been more comfortable lately as he’s settled in. That’s been with him mostly healthy since returning from his fractured left hand which sidelined him for the first portion of the season, and he missed last season, obviously (stress reaction in his lower left leg).
Windler has been productive defensively, as a cutter/finisher and has been a good rebounder, and has still been very hot at times from three even, and he’s had his run at the 2 a fair amount.
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Granted, Cedi Osman and Taurean Prince are both rumored to be trade candidates, so perhaps that could lead to more burn for Windler at the 3, though. In turn, maybe that could mean a bit more Dotson run at the 2?
Potentially, but with what Lamar Stevens has shown, even as an undrafted rookie two-way defensive/energy contributor that can play at the 3 and 4, I’d expect Windler at the 2 again in some spurts with Lamar on.
And lastly, maybe Quinn Cook ends up getting a second 10-day deal with Cleveland, leading to less chance for Dotson backup playmaking run.
Either way, Matthew Dellavedova no longer has a concussion listed by him in the injury report, whereas that’s seemingly recovering from an appendectomy from last month.
Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor pointed that out, for context, and to me, one would think that means Delly could be on track to return fairly soon, and the Cavs could use his backup point guard passing expertise. They haven’t had that yet this season.
In any case, while I again could see Dotson turning things around to some extent, and perhaps he could have good chemistry with Delly, even. The timetable on Dellavedova is still not going to be a set one, though.
Anyway, I wouldn’t have expected nearly these kind of shooting woes with Damyean, who was signed via two-year, $4 million deal before the season.
The way things have been, though, and again considering he’s been inactive in the last three games, and has largely had declining minutes recently, he might very well be the odd man out of Cleveland’s guard rotation looking onward.
It wouldn’t seem as if Dotson’s been a key player mentioned in trade rumors, but him as potentially a bit more salary filler in a possible deadline deal wouldn’t seem extremely far-fetched, either. Albeit I’m not saying that will play out, to be clear.
Moreover, while I was wrong frankly about the Dotson perimeter shooting woes, him not being back next season now wouldn’t appear to be necessarily unlikely.
His contract for next season is non-guaranteed, and if he doesn’t turn things around in the second half, I probably expect him to be back. That’s quite the 180 as opposed to earlier in this campaign.