Cleveland Cavaliers: Evaluating the state of the SF position

Evaluating the state of the SF position: Who is on the roster?

After taking Isaac Okoro fifth overall in last November’s NBA Draft, the Cavaliers immediately inserted him into the starting lineup. With a handful of exceptions when a player was out Okoro started at the 3 all season, although he slid to the 2 in lineups with Collin Sexton or Darius Garland off the floor.

Okoro is just 6’5″, small for a small forward, but he is strong and fights on the perimeter no matter who he is guarding. Entering his second season the former Auburn wing is owed $6.72 million as part of his rookie scale contract.

Cedi Osman was the starter at the 3 for this team before Okoro was drafted, and started 26 games filling in for injured players and otherwise backed Okoro up at the position. Per Cleaning the Glass’s position estimates Osman played 72 percent of his minutes at small forward. The 26 year-old is owed $8.05 million next season in the second year of the four-year extension he signed in October of 2019.

Behind those two players things are less clear. The Cavaliers have at times played some of their power forwards up a position at the 3. Larry Nance Jr. has the defensive versatility to defend small forwards, but offensively he pinches the team’s spacing. Taurean Prince does that even more, but he is simply on the roster because he was matching salary in the trade that brought in Jarrett Allen.

Cedi Osman has been serviceable but not great, and Dylan Windler has been injured nearly his entire two-season career. If the 6’5″ Okoro is the team’s long-term shooting guard, too small to be a ceiling-raising 3, then this team is currently without its small forward of the future.