Cavs: 3 takeaways from the third quarter of the season so far

Post-All-Star break has not been pretty for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Injuries have hit this team hard, seeing them run five different starting lineup variations in their last 11 games. Injuries have played a part but do not tell the whole story of the Cavaliers’ woes. The Cavaliers are 3-8 in their last 11 games, putting up stinkers against teams who they should be able to compete against.

Even with this stretch, the Cavs are just five games back of the eighth seed which further shows just how much worse the Eastern Conference is than the Western Conference.

With that said, the direction of the team makes it seem as if the Cavs are banking on adding another top pick this upcoming offseason.

There are a lot of things to take away from this recent stretch of Cavs games but, here, we will look at three specific takeaways from the third quarter of the season.

The first relates to Cedi Osman‘s outlook moving forward, or perhaps, lack thereof with Cleveland.

#1: Osman’s time as a Cavs’ rotational fixture appears to be in jeopardy

This season has been nothing short of a disappointment for Cedi Osman and it seems as if recent coaching decisions can attest to that. Coming off a season where he shot 38.3 percent from three-point range and with the drafting of Isaac Okoro, Osman’s new role seemed great for him, having him be the spark plug off the bench where he could have more offensive freedom.

To start the season, this looked like to be a genius move by Cleveland head coach J.B. Bickerstaff as Osman averaged 15.7 points, shooting 55.2 percent from the field and 52.9 percent from three on 5.7 attempts per game through the team’s first three games. His play from that point on has taken a huge nosedive and there haven’t been many bright spots for him this season.

On the year, Osman is averaging 10.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game, shooting a putrid 35.3 percent from the field and 30.7 percent from three. Advanced stats truly show just how bad his shooting has been this season, as he has the worst true shooting percentage of a player with at least 725 points per 82 team games at 46.8 percent, according to StatMuse.

This play, one would assume, is likely the reason he wasn’t traded at the deadline as well; he was a key Cavs player mentioned in trade rumors, though. This play is also the reason why Cedi Osman has registered back-to-back DNPs via coach’s decision by the Cavaliers.

There are two outcomes that can come out of the coach’s decisions to put Cedi in the “doghouse;” either his play improves or, he continues to play how he has been for most of the season. Whichever happens, it seems as if we have seen the last of Cedi Osman as the writing is on the wall. That’s as a rotational fixture with Cleveland, regardless, it appears.

The Cavaliers chose to draft a wing in last year’s draft and depending on where they are picking, they could look to do the same in this year’s draft as well. Adding in the wings already under contract for next season and you can see how crowded the position is getting.

At the very least, if a trade doesn’t occur by next season’s deadline, it looks as if Osman may have lost his spot in the rotation for the Cavaliers.

Cedi has had many opportunities to show his worth to the team and wasn’t able to do so. Now, it seems as if his future with the team is in jeopardy, as a near-every game player, either way.