Cleveland Cavaliers: 2 goals for Lauri Markkanen in 2021-22

Goal #1 for Markkanen in 2021-22: Lead the Cavs in three-point shooting percentage

For the first goal for Markkanen in 2021-22, I don’t think it’s outside the realm of possibility for him to lead qualified Cavs players in three-point shooting percentage.

I get that his 36.6 percent lifetime clip from three is not screaming sniper per se, however, Markkanen is hardly a big that opponents can rotate/help off of in catch-and-shoot scenarios.

He placed in the 70th percentile in spot-up scenarios in 2018-19, and in the 81st percentile in those last year, per Synergy Sports. In 2020-21, even with some ups and downs, he did knock down 40.2 percent of his 5.8 three-point shot attempts per contest.

And while I wouldn’t expect him to be a regular starter for Cleveland, particularly with Evan Mobley in mind, who could very well have the makings of being a franchise centerpiece, I could still foresee Markkanen meeting this goal.

I would expect the likes of Collin Sexton and Darius Garland to feasibly be in the running, although with a bit less attempts game-to-game, and with them more so being catch-and-shoots, I’d imagine his efficiency could be better.

We’d have to see as far as others, such as Kevin Love, even with seemingly set to have a reduced role, and I wouldn’t anticipate the likes of Dylan Windler, Cedi Osman or potential free agent add Garrison Mathews to realistically qualify. The same goes for the non-guaranteed Dean Wade, of whom could be an odd man out, with others involved, even with me being a fan of his.

Even as potentially a go-to bench piece though, I could see Markkanen setting the mark from three among qualified players in 2021-22. Okay that was a forced pun, but I had to.