Cleveland Cavaliers: The Cedi Osman Experience

It’s fair to say that this season has been a disappointment for Cleveland Cavaliers small forward Cedi Osman. Once envisioned as a spark plug off the bench, Osman has been largely inconsistent thus far. For every high IQ play he tantalizes with, there are often lapses of defensive awareness that lead to easy baskets for opponents as well as hot and cold streaks that can be very troubling.

Osman is averaging 9.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and perhaps the most disappointing of all, an atrocious 30.2 percent from three-point range this season. That is simply not going to cut it. At the bare minimum, he needs to start trending towards the league average of 36.6 percent (per Basketball Reference) if he is to remain a part of the rotation.

With all that said, I am still a firm believer in Osman. He is more than capable of shooting at a decent clip as evidenced by his start to the season. During the months of December and January, a span of time consisting of roughly 20 games, Osman shot exactly 36.6 percent from beyond the arc, in other words, exactly league average.

However, in the three months since he has only connected on a combined 24.8 percent of those looks. That is abysmal; there is no other way to put it. It’s this maddeningly inconsistent play from game to game and sometimes even from possession to possession, that can have Osman riding the pine.

That sort of inconsistency for the Cavs is the Cedi Osman Experience, though.

There are stretches in which “The First Cedi” can look like a pseudo point guard and quite honestly I wouldn’t mind him taking over as the backup point guard in a full time capacity over the likes of Matthew Dellavedova to finish out this season. At this point, the Cavs know what they get from “Delly” and that is a mixture of playmaking and defense, when he’s in there; he’s missed the past handful of games due to a neck strain.

Albeit Dellavedova provides little to nothing in regards to scoring, which is where Cedi could help if his confidence is right.

The good news for Osman is that with the mounting injuries to the team, his minutes should only continue to be steady. In its current state, outside of Osman the team lacks a wing that can go out there and secure a bucket when necessary.

Isaac Okoro is coming along in this department and has improved tremendously at cutting, as hit on by KJG’s Dan Gilinsky. Brodric Thomas has latent two-way potential but can’t buy a bucket. Jeremiah Martin’s role has yet to be determined. Lamar Stevens is raw, and is banged up currently, in relation to a concussion. Dylan Windler is oft-injured and Damyean Dotson is just as inconsistent.

The only thing left for the Macedonian to do is to take advantage of the ample opportunities that are about to come his way. If his most recent stint in the rotation is any indication, he is heading in the right direction but still has work to do.

Osman is averaging 14.7 points, 3.5 assists and 3.3 rebounds in his past four outings, all starts, but is still shooting well below the league average from three at 32.0 percent in that span. He has nine games left to make a positive impact whilst also trying to improve upon these metrics.

That is what has left fans feeling so conflicted about him. Nevertheless, he is under contract for the next three seasons and should continue to get every chance to make things work. He was rumored to be on the block right up to the NBA trade deadline and whether or not he figures to be in the Cavs long-term plans is seemingly yet to be determined.

If they wish to continue to gauge his trade value, it would behoove them to allow Osman consistent rotation minutes in an effort to boost his value.

As I stated before, I am still a firm believer in Osman and genuinely hope that he can render himself an indispensable asset to this team, but isn’t that the Cedi Osman Experience? Hoping for the best but expecting the worst. It’s up to him to do the work.