Cavs: Jeremiah Martin should get some real spurts of meaningful burn

Darius Garland has been killing it for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and has continued to be dialed-in. This month, in a 14-game stretch, he’s had 21.1 points and 7.6 assists per game, and has hit 40.2 percent of his 6.6 three-point attempts per outing.

The growth of Garland game-to-game, both in the scoring and playmaking realm, has been just what the doctor’s ordered for him as his second season’s progressed. And I can’t wait to see what the 21-year-old Cavs lead guard has in store in the near future.

Looking past that, though, while Matthew Dellavedova does a really nice job getting others involved as a rotational primary playmaker, and I’m absolutely not discounting that, Delly currently is dealing with a neck strain.

Clearly, he’s banged up currently, and with the season winding down, and Delly not being a scoring presence anymore/it being uncertain if he’ll be back next season as an older backup 1, Cleveland  should give recent two-way signing Jeremiah Martin some burn. That’s in the next upcoming games in spurts to give Garland a breather, feasibly.

Martin was first available in Cleveland’s Wednesday close loss against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday after seemingly clearing the league’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols, for reference. He did receive four minutes of burn, and wasn’t reportedly involved in team practice stuff yet, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, but I’d like to see him get real opportunities.

The Cavs did have quite the near-comeback effort in the fourth quarter against Orlando, but with things have been going, giving Martin more of a chance to see what he can do in coming games would be a sound move I believe.

Martin should get some spurts of legitimate meaningful run in coming games for the Cavs.

Martin, who went undrafted in 2019 after a four-year collegiate career at Memphis, has not had much run in the NBA at this point. He was a key contributor for the Miami Heat’s G League Affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, in 2019-20, first, and had 18.5 points, 5.1 assists and 1.5 steals in 21 appearances with them.

From there, Martin was signed via two-way deal by the Brooklyn Nets in January of 2020, and had 16.8 points, 4.3 assists and 2.3 steals per contest in 16 appearances in 2019-20 with Brooklyn’s G League Affiliate, the Long Island Nets.

Additionally, in nine appearances, and most notably in the league’s prior Orlando bubble, Martin had 7.1 points and 2.0 assists per outing in 11.0 minutes per appearance with Brooklyn.

Martin would end up being waived before this season by Brooklyn, but make his presence felt once again with Long Island in the G League bubble this season in Orlando with 18.5 points, 5.1 assists and 2.3 steals per game in 15 appearances.

So what might Cleveland be getting from Martin in rotational burn in upcoming games, if he were to have some opportunities in legit spurts, then? We’ll hit on that next, beginning with the offensive end.