Cavs: Lauri Markkanen has the ultimate green light

It’s apparent as to why the Cleveland Cavaliers acquired Lauri Markkanen via sign-and-trade a couple of weeks back from the Chicago Bulls. Markkanen should aid Cleveland from a spacing/shooting standpoint, and while he’s seemingly set to come off the bench, he should still have a crucial role.

The former restricted free agent was signed via four-year, $67 million deal (but the last season is only guaranteed for $6 million) for his offensive, and clearly, shooting abilities.

Markkanen did have some struggles in the past two seasons with Chicago, of which were because of a combination of nagging injuries, some coaching/organizational change it appeared and a shift mid-season to a reserve post-trade deadline. That didn’t help his close to last season, either.

Nonetheless, a change of scenery could be a boost for Markkanen, who again, shoot help the Cavaliers’ shooting efforts. He’ll likely fill in as a go-to bench scoring presence, and it seems that while Evan Mobley looks set to start at the 4, him, Markkanen and Jarrett Allen could reportedly all play a range of 26-30 minutes per game.

When it comes to Markkanen’s role, as a sixth man it seems, it’s abundantly clear as to what the expectations will be for him, too. That’s in relation to the perimeter shooting element, and this was telling from Markkanen in his introductory presser on what was said to him right when he walked into the practice facility initially, via Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.

"“We’ve got one rule: Shoot the ball.”"

The Cavs are giving Markkanen the ultimate green light, and rightfully so.

Fedor would then touch on how Markkanen was fully on-board with that, although it was the same rule that applied to a few others, but even with Markkanen being able to provide some scoring on-ball, this was encouraging.

The Cavaliers were last in the NBA in three-point shooting percentage, second-last in three-pointers made per game and they were 28th in triple attempts per outing. So as it was no secret anyway, it’s good to know that they’re emphasizing for Markkanen that he has the ultimate green light to fire away when he’s in there.

Based on Fedor’s piece, I’d imagine the same would go for the likes of Darius Garland, Collin Sexton and Kevin Love (when he’s in there/if healthy), and a player such as Dylan Windler, provided he’s healthy.

With Markkanen, even with a number of the attempts from very deep throughout his career with Chicago, he did hit a respectable 36.6 percent from three lifetime on 6.1 attempts per game, and he’s definitely a floor spacer.

Plus, regardless of some inconsistencies, he did still connect on 40.2 percent of his 5.8 triple attempts per contest in 2020-21, and next season, I could very well foresee him leading the Cavs in three-point shooting percentage. Even for a 7-footer, he has a fluid stroke and quick release, and with his release point, he doesn’t seem that phased from shot contests on the perimeter.

Along with the catch-and-shoot/spot-up element, Markkanen is a player that has shown he can hit looks off movement, and I’d imagine him and Garland/Rubio could be a viable pick-and-pop duo for Cleveland.

In addition to the catch-and-shoot game though, while that will be the highest volume of shots for him, Markkanen can create for himself at times via drives, and he’s an effective finisher at the rim in the transition game, in particular. He has shown improvement as an off-ball cutter in settled situations in recent seasons as well, so perhaps that could lead to some free throws/easy looks game-to-game for him.

In a general sense, however, the above comments about the Cavs giving Markkanen the ultimate green light as a shooter, especially from the perimeter it seems, are reassuring about his outlook as a crucial player moving forward.

Even as likely a bench piece, he’ll get a bunch of opportunities to make his imprint night-in and night-out for Cleveland.