Cavs: Isaac Okoro, Cedi Osman must help with generating more 3s

It’s not a secret that the Cleveland Cavaliers need to attempt more three-point attempts next season, as Cavs general manager Koby Altman stressed in his recent end-of-season media availability. Cleveland was 28th in the NBA in three-point attempts, 29th in makes per game and had the league’s lowest three-point hit rate during this now-past season.

But not having had Kevin Love for most of the season (right calf injury mostly) and even Larry Nance Jr., to some extent, who has made noticeable strides as a catch-and-shoot threat, didn’t help. Dylan Windler, although whether or not he can stay mostly healthy is in question for next season, could help the Cavaliers in that realm in a rotational role too.

He had his ups and downs as a deep shooter last season, as evidenced by a 33.8 percent hit rate, albeit Windler can again help in that way, and there were flashes of his deep range when in-rhythm. So perhaps he can aid the likes of Darius Garland and Collin Sexton in that way in spurts, and/or others.

Granted, even while it wasn’t shocking, Isaac Okoro hit only 29.0 percent of his three-point attempts per outing last season. For a rookie in last season’s circumstances though, it’s hard to grill him for that, and Okoro’s offense came along as the season progressed, and his defensive workload shouldn’t be glossed over.

Nonetheless, he does need to hit more of those looks, and I believe this full offseason should aid him in that way and/or with his chemistry with others.

When it came to Cedi Osman last season, conversely, even with him mostly being in a bench role after starting the past two seasons, Cedi only hitting 30.6 percent from three was disappointing. He had hit 38.3 percent of his deep attempts the season before, and no matter how you slice it, that clip from Osman in Year 4 was underwhelming.

Next season, in his playing time, it’s evident that Cedi needs to shoot better from deep early on to aid his case.

Anyway, in relation to both Okoro and Osman though, it’s apparent to me that they both can and should be helping out with three-point generation from a secondary playmaking perspective.

Okoro and Osman need to help the Cavs generate more threes.

Of course, the likes of Garland and Sexton, to some degree, will be relied upon to playmake. That’s more so with Garland, at least.

And potential free agent targets such as T.J. McConnell and Patty Mills would aid in that way, to go with Frank Ntilikina, and/or possible draft targets such as Jalen Green, Josh Giddey and/or others perhaps could as bench contributors mostly.

Moving past the obvious sort of on-ball/primary playmaking guys that could help generate more of those looks for others, as was noted, I could foresee Okoro and Osman do so more next season.

With Osman, he I could foresee again getting in there for spurts/stretches for his bench playmaking capabilities. And whether or not Garland’s in there with him, with Cleveland needing to free up Garland as a shooter more off-ball, Osman with his vision and ability to hit spray outs, must aid DG and perimeter shooters in that sense when he’s in there.

Now, Osman and Taurean Prince were key players mentioned previously near the 2021 deadline in trade rumors, and they could potentially be traded before next season, one would think. But Prince’s three-point shooting/shot creation I’m a fan of when healthy, and though Osman needs to shoot better early on, his value to me still can be with his viability to hit shooters on the perimeter when in there.

He did have a career-best 17.3 percent assist rate last season, to go with 4.1 assists per-36 minutes, which for a rotational wing was noteworthy.

From there, while Okoro I wouldn’t anticipate would have nearly the playmaking workload when with Garland for example on the floor, in minutes when DG is off, he still with his driving abilities could be a viable secondary playmaker.

There were positive signs from him in that way as his Year 1 wore on, and although injuries to Garland and others did play into it some near the closing stretch of 2020-21, he did help more in that realm then and showed flashes at other points. And I believe next season, Okoro can definitely help generate more threes for other players with his threat in getting downhill and did so at Auburn some.

But improving his handle in the offseason would help him do so more game-to-game, to be clear.

Moreover, while I’m not suggesting it’d be for a ton of the time, Okoro and Osman both could legitimately aid in generating more threes/off-ball opportunities for other guys next season as secondary playmakers at least for spurts/stretches.

We’ll have to see on that, albeit I don’t believe that’s too wishful.