Cavs: 2 areas of Lauri Markkanen’s game that will be crucial

#2: The transition game

Secondly, Markkanen is a player that could give Cleveland a different element in the transition game.

With the 24-year-old’s deep range, I’d expect him to be a heck of a trailing threat, where he was previously a great target in that realm for the likes of Coby White, Zach LaVine and Tomas Satoransky with Chicago.

Granted, Love is a notable player in that way when he’s healthy for the Cavs and Garland/Sexton, but these days and after last season, that’s a question mark.

And while Markkanen has had his own share of injuries in recent seasons, I wouldn’t anticipate that to be nearly Love-esque from here.

Plus, the 24-year-old, when healthy, should be an outstanding stretch big to go to for early clock secondary transition trailing looks. So that comes to mind, for one.

Along with that, Markkanen has demonstrated the ability to put the ball on the deck in transition to counter closeouts, and on run-outs. With his length and a bit underappreciated handle in secondary break opportunities, that should lead to money looks for him and the squad.

I’d expect that as Markkanen becomes more comfortable alongside Rubio, Sexton and say, Evan Mobley, who is an awesome passing big, he should be able to time up his cuts going toward the rim to counter his transition deep looks, too.

And in the open floor, even with him being more so a stretch big, he has shown he can finish through contact with dunks after straight-line drives and/or when running at times rim-to-rim, which should give Cleveland energy. So I’d look for that after defensive rebounds/deflections as well.

He seemed to be more comfortable in recent seasons in the transition game, and I’d imagine we should see more of his growth there in coming years, as he settles in with the Cavs.