Cavs: 3 hidden stats that hint at what Lauri Markkanen will bring

Cavs: 3 hidden Lauri Markkanen stats – Exclusively shooting off-the-catch

The league’s best shooters may all share something in common, a highly accurate outside shot, but they come to it in various ways. Stephen Curry and Damian Lillard are elite at creating their own pull-up 3-pointers on the perimeter. James Harden is too, with his patented stepback move. Other shooting specialists like JJ Redick or Joe Harris can sprint off of screens and pull off lightning-fast catch-and-shoot moves.

Lauri Markkanen is a great shooter, including hitting 40.2 percent of his 3-pointers last season. How does Markkanen like to shoot to get there? The tall forward is exclusively, and I mean exclusively, a catch-and-shoot player.

Per PBP Stats, 99.16% of his 3-pointers were assisted. Whether it was Zach LaVine driving and kicking, Nikola Vucevic hitting Markkanen from the high post, if he didn’t receive a pass immediately prior to his shot Markkanen wasn’t taking, or hitting, the shot.

A whopping 56.81 percent of his shots last season were 3-pointers, a total of 119 total makes. Of those just one was unassisted; the other 118 all generated an assist for a teammate.

As the Cavs look at deploying Markkanen and writing him into their offensive sets, they have to look to maximize what he is good at and not try to get cute. Markkanen is a catch-and-shoot guy, and they must use him as such.