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

Goal #2: Markkanen leads the Cavs bench in scoring in 2021-22 efficiently, and provides lift for young backcourt

Secondly, I’d expect Markkanen to clearly lead Cleveland’s bench in scoring next season, with his shooting abilities in mind, and with him being able to create his own offense on-ball as well. Him doing so with a similar effective field goal shooting clip of 59.4 percent, which he had last season, would be great too.

Now, I can’t say I’d expect that to necessarily play out nearly at that clip, but it’s not completely far-fetched.

I could see Ricky Rubio, particularly in instances with Darius Garland taking a breather, generating his share of quality looks for Markkanen, and at times, Lauri could get some pocket passes from him as a roller. Plus, I’d imagine those two could connect some in games via pick-and-pop scenarios with Markkanen’s clean stroke and high release point which enables the 7-footer to get off perimeter looks at ease.

Along with the catch-and-shoot stuff, while it can look a bit gawky at times, with Markkanen being able to create for himself on-ball as a driver some, that, with the deep shooting, should ease the burden on Sexton and Garland.

We know what those two will need to provide as crucial scorers/shooting threats for Cleveland, and even with Mobley, Allen and perhaps Kevin Love helping out a solid bit, Markkanen with his size and polish could really give quite the shooting lift.

I again wouldn’t expect him to start, and Mobley probably at this juncture should, but those two could very well play together a considerable amount anyway. And in spurts, maybe them even and Allen could here and there, with Mobley’s defensive abilities.

In any case, it’s apparent that Markkanen will likely play over half of games, and him having roughly 15 points per outing efficiently could be crucial for the Cavs in 2021-22. Hopefully he can remain healthy, though.