The Cleveland Cavaliers acquired restricted free agent Lauri Markkanen via sign-and-trade last week from the Chicago Bulls, in what was a deal that included the Portland Trail Blazers as well. The deal did include Cleveland trading Larry Nance Jr. to Portland, to go with a protected second-round pick via the Denver Nuggets, and Portland dealt Derrick Jones Jr. and a protected first-rounder to Chicago.
The Cavaliers signed Markkanen via four-year, $67 million deal, although the last year reportedly is guaranteed for only $6 million of $18 million guaranteed.
It was tough for Cleveland to have shipped out Larry Nance Jr., who was arguably the club’s best defensive piece, particularly in the team sense, and he affects games in a variety of ways.
But Markkanen is 24, whereas is 28, and while Markkanen has had injury issues too, Cleveland being able to acquire a valuable perimeter shooting presence in him via sign-and-trade should aid the club. So I did get what Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman and company were going for here.
Markkanen again has had injury problems with the Bulls, and last year, missed a stretch of games because of a right shoulder sprain last season, and unfortunately was out for seven outings from COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
Last year, he closed out in a bench role as well, with the trade arrival of Nikola Vucevic and then Chicago going with then-trade acquisition Daniel Theis in the starting lineup quickly after that Vucevic deal.
Markkanen did have some inconsistencies and struggles in recent seasons with the Bulls, as he alluded to in an interview with K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago, but he did thank the Bulls and their fan base in the interview and is pumped for this next step with the Cavaliers.
So along those lines, what would a successful next season be for Markkanen from a personal standpoint, then?
We’ll touch on two goals for him for the Cavs here.
We’ll get into those now.
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.
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.