Cleveland Cavaliers: What’s up with Cedi Osman?

Cedi Osman, the Cleveland Cavaliers swingman, has had a roller coaster of a career up to this point. He has experienced what it feels like to be near the top of the mountain alongside GOAT candidate Lebron James, and former All-Star Kevin Love in the NBA Finals. He has also been a part of a Cavs team that went just 19-63 in the season that followed.

That alone is more than many players experience during an entire career let alone just four seasons into one. He has had four different head coaches in that same span of time as well. One could assume that plays a critical role in the development process as Osman has had to adapt to the various coaching styles that have been presented to him.

There has been a seemingly endless supply of roster moves from that 2017-18 season up this point in his still young career which speaks to the level of chemistry both on and off the floor for Cleveland. This cannot be discounted either.

Before we go any further I just want to make something crystal clear. These are not by any means excuses for why he has seemed to fall out of the rotation, to a large extent, but they do perhaps provide some much-needed context into why his growth may have been stunted.

Still just 25 years old, Osman fits the Cavs timeline, but do they intend to keep him around going forward?

That is a question that may now have to wait until the end of the season to be answered. Osman, as KJG’s Dan Gilinsky hit on, was one of a handful of Cavaliers who were key players mentioned in trade rumors/reportedly made available leading up to the NBA trade deadline, but wasn’t moved. Clearly, the Macedonian wing wasn’t ultimately dealt, though.

That could simply be because the Cavs didn’t deem whatever compensation they would’ve received back in a deal worth it or….it could be a clear signal to Osman that the team still believes in him.

On the surface, there is validity in the line of thought that Osman can still be a productive rotation wing. He carries a career stat line of 9.7 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists, and is a career 35.0 percent shooter from three-point land. So what’s the issue?

Well…Osman is completing a career-low 30.7 percent from beyond the arc and to put things further into perspective, he canned just 10 of his 49 attempts during the month of March, which was a span of time consisting of 11 games.

That type of play will buy you a first-class ticket to the bench especially when you factor in Cleveland’s severe need for perimeter shooting (29th in the league) combined with the fact that the team has no shortage of young players just waiting for their chance to prove their worth to the franchise.

The latter has become more evident as of late as Cedi ended up logging two dreaded “DNPs” in favor of Brodric Thomas, Lamar Stevens and others over Cleveland’s last two outings prior to theirs versus the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday, which was a second straight blowout L.

What can Osman do to climb back into the rotation?

His time in Cleveland may be running out and as KJG’s Amadou Sow put it: There are two outcomes that can come out of the coach’s decisions to seemingly put Cedi in the “doghouse;” but it’s still possible for him to earn back his place within the rotation if he is able to achieve three things, in particular.

We’ll begin with #1 and #2.