Cavs: Lauri Markkanen starting a bit slow is to be expected

One could understand the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ rationale in acquiring Lauri Markkanen via sign-and-trade from the Chicago Bulls this offseason. Yes, Cleveland most notably having to send out Larry Nance Jr. in the deal to the Portland Trail Blazers did sting a bit, but his representation was reportedly interested in him getting to a more established winning situation, and the Cavs worked him/them to do so.

Nance expressed his gratitude for his time with the Cavaliers, and with his family history with the Wine and Gold, he is forever grateful, as was laid out in the aforementioned report/an interview with Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor (subscription required).

Admittedly though, Nance, who is 28, had his share of injury troubles, and appeared in only 35 games last season.

And while Markkanen has had injury problems himself, when he’s been healthy and gotten opportunities, he has proven to be a quality shooting big, and the spacing/shooting he brings should help open up things for Cleveland. The 24-year-old, even with some inconsistencies the past two seasons, has proven deep range and did connect on 40.2 percent of his 5.8 three-point attempts per outing in 2020-21.

That said, Markkanen is still going to be in a new situation with the Cavaliers, and early on, I’d think it will take some time for him to get it rolling game-to-game.

Markkanen starting a bit slow is to be expected.

Markkanen will seemingly be in mostly a bench role, at least for next season, with Evan Mobley seemingly set to start. Him, Mobley and Jarrett Allen could reportedly receive in the ballpark of 26-30 minutes per contest, anyway, so even still, Markkanen will get his share of chances to make things happen for Cleveland’s offense.

He should provide valuable floor spacing for considerable stretches, which should aid the likes of Darius Garland, Collin Sexton and others, and Markkanen could very well establish himself as a knockdown threat as he gets comfortable.

For the upcoming season overall, with movement shooting abilities and trailing qualities in secondary transition, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Markkanen lead qualified Cavs players in three-point shooting percentage, either.

But we do need to temper our expectations in relation to the early part of this upcoming season, though. Markkanen will take a bit to get himself comfortable with his new teammates, and even while there were inconsistences for him in the past two seasons with the Bulls, well at least to some extent, it did seem that injuries were largely the reason for that at times.

Of course, I do acknowledge that it’s paramount that Markkanen stays healthy with Cleveland, as he is currently and hopefully he can get meaningful work in in training camp. Fellow offseason trade acquisition Ricky Rubio and Markkanen’s former Bulls teammate, Denzel Valentine, who was a recent signing, will hopefully be able to build some chemistry with other Cavs in training camp, too.

In any case, it is reasonable to expect there to be some turbulence/maybe clunkiness involving Markkanen’s play for the Cavaliers early on.

Now, I do think he’ll be plenty fine in general next season, and I’d anticipate he’ll establish himself as a key offensive player for the Cavs, provided he can stay healthy. And he can create some for himself as a driver at times as well, for what it’s worth.

However, when it comes to timing in getting him looks off-ball, trailing opportunities, some cutting chances, and also some pick-and-pop/occasional mid-post looks, I’d imagine that it could take feasibly 8-10 games for Cleveland to fully get him going.

In fairness, I don’t think that’s anything to be that worried about, though. His off-ball abilities should be very impactful after that bit I’d think, too.