Cavs: Bench playmaking is the seller for Cedi Osman for next season

At this point, it’s safe to say Cedi Osman has had his struggles as a shooter this season for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Whether it’s catch-and-shoots or at times as a shooter on pull-ups/step backs, it hasn’t been a year to remember for him in that way.

Osman’s hit by far a career-worst 30.6 percent of his three-point attempts, of which has been 5.5 per outing this season. Along those lines from an overall standpoint, his effective field goal shooting clip has been only 45.6 percent, which is not coincidentally, a career-low too, as one would imagine.

The inconsistencies for him as a catch-and-shoot threat, in particular, have been disappointing. Although he’s been mostly a bench player this season, which is how it should be typically, Osman hit his career-best in three-point hit rate last season at 38.3 percent.

There have still been flashes from Osman, who has been starting recently, and in this recent batch of games with Darius Garland sidelined with an ankle sprain, for one.

And Osman, who had fallen out of the Cavs rotation and even had five straight DNPs at one point, has been having some more run with both Taurean Prince (ankle) and Dylan Windler (knee) having undergone surgery recently and done for the season.

For Cedi though, he has made some things happen in recent games, even while his shot has still often been off, but as has been the case when he’s consistent burn a bunch, his passing feel/abilities have been a key positive. That’s the big seller for him for minutes next season/looking onward perhaps, too, more so off the bench.

Bench playmaking for the Cavs is the key selling point for Osman for next season.

Earlier on in the season, Osman and the likes of Damyean Dotson did a commendable job as de facto primary playmakers for stretches for the Cavaliers with both Darius Garland and even Collin Sexton injured. Plus, we’ve seen Osman throughout the year display his passing abilities.

On the season, he’s had a career-best in terms of assist rate at 17.1 percent, and the same has gone for his assist clip per-36 minutes of 4.1. And for a rotational wing, both of those splits have been solid, too.

Osman has had more of a playmaking workload in this recent batch of games as well, as Garland has missed the last five games, and Matthew Dellavedova is set to be sidelined the rest of the season (neck strain). Granted, Osman was not active in Cleveland’s last game, a blowout L to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday, due to right ankle soreness.

Albeit I do give Cedi his credit for having 16.2 points and 5.2 assists per outing in his last five games active, and we’ll see for him in Cleveland’s ending slate to come this week.

As a passer, in his recent games active prior to that, he’s done a nice job of hitting spray-outs to shooters, and has gotten some very nice feeds to the likes of Jarrett Allen and Mfiondu Kabengele, for instance, as rollers. Osman’s ability to hit skip feeds and also looks over-the-top to beat rotators have been seen throughout the season when he’s been in there for considerable burn, too, and that’s a plus.

More from King James Gospel

• 3 possible starting lineups for Cleveland Cavaliers in 2023-24
• The Cavaliers may have snagged a hidden gem in Craig Porter Jr.
• 4 players the Cavaliers should pursue in 2024 free agency
• 6 players Cavaliers might replace Jarrett Allen with by the trade deadline
• This stat is one to keep an eye on for Cavaliers’ Max Strus in years ahead

In any case, factoring in Isaac Okoro to a large extent, and some with Taurean Prince and Dylan Windler/Lamar Stevens perhaps, and with Osman being limited defensively, it’s tough to foresee him being a regular starter next season.

This season, that hasn’t been the case for the vast majority of the time, other than for injury reasons, and with the shooting woes throughout the year largely for him, it seems apparent that Osman looks to be mostly a bench contributor next season/looking onward.

Furthemore, he, along with Prince were both key players mentioned in trade rumors leading up to the March 25 deadline, so it wouldn’t necessarily be unrealistic that he could potentially be moved before next season.

That’s especially if the Cavs were to draft a wing/combo forward in the upcoming draft, along with the others involved.

Again, however, while I wouldn’t be expecting Cedi to regularly play over an average of 18-19 minutes, nor should he, from my perspective typically next season, the key selling point for minutes for him will be his playmaking capabilities.

In a bench crucial playmaker/bench point forward role, it’s becoming more and more clear that his passing feel/timing has been the thing the Cavs have been able to rely on most from Osman.

And looking onward, if he does stick around, that will be the seller for him to get burn game-to-game for maybe considerable chunks of games, as in the 22-24 minute variety at times if he’s proving to be mostly effective in that burn.

The thing I always go back to with Cedi though, are the defensive/athleticism deficiencies on-ball, and if he’s continually clanking shots for the most part, that marginalizes his potential impact.

If Osman can be more competent shooting-wise next year for the Cavs, that’d be meaningful for his case more, but either way, it’s evident that the constant with him has been the playmaking abilities.

And next season, that looks to again be the biggest selling point for him for now, although we’ll see regarding the 2021 NBA Draft and/or free agency.