Cavs: 2 realistic expectations for Denzel Valentine in 2021-22

#1: Valentine provides some meaningful rotational shooting for the Cavs

Valentine has had injury issues unfortunately throughout his career for Chicago, and left ankle surgery caused him to miss the entire 2018-19 season. He had been dealing with issues with that since his collegiate days at Michigan State.

Additionally, Valentine has dealt with a season when he was in and out of then-head coach Jim Boylen’s rotation in 2019-20 and last season, he again had his share of inconsistencies.

The past two seasons, he hasn’t been nearly able to recapture the deep shooting touch he had in his career-best season of 2017-18, when he hit 38.6 percent from three. Again, coming back from the ankle injury and seemingly the lack of clarity in his role didn’t aid him, but him hitting 33.6 and 33.1 percent from three the past two seasons has been underwhelming.

Even still, Valentine has proven when he’s in-rhythm, that can be a capable catch-and-shoot player, and in seemingly some spurts/stretches at the 2/3 could aid Cleveland’s playmakers in that way.

I wouldn’t anticipate Valentine to have a key offensive role scoring-wise game-to-game, but maybe in a new situation, a fresh start could lead to him hitting more so in the 35-36.0 percent range from three, or so. He hit 35.1 percent from deep as a rookie.

Along with the catch-and-shoot game, even with there being some potential streakiness there one would think, Valentine can create some for himself on-ball.

We could see him at times get to pull-ups to counter hard closeouts, and he has shown some rotational pick-and-roll shot creation viability, which could provide a lift for the Cavs in spurts.

In a general sense, I’d think that if he can stay healthy, of which he reportedly he is heading into camp, Valentine could be an added rotational shooting presence for Cleveland if he can find a role and he can mesh with other guys on his new team. I can’t say that for certain though, but I could foresee him being a rotational upgrade over Dotson, who just couldn’t get things going as a deep shooter nearly enough last year.

Secondly, Valentine could help Cleveland to an extent in his minutes as a ball-mover/secondary playmaker.