Cavs: 5 burning questions for 2021-22 NBA season

Cavs: 5 burning questions – Can Lauri Markkanen bounce back as a top prospect?

Lauri Markkanen entered the league as a truly exciting prospect, a 7-foot player with the shooting touch reminiscent of Dirk Nowitzki. He didn’t have elite numbers at Arizona as a freshman, but he was forgiven because of the team’s historic insistence on two-big lineups. Once he got to the NBA his game was going to blossom.

That didn’t happen, not truly, instead partially unfurling in fits and starts amidst chaos, disorder and generally not a lot of support with the Chicago Bulls. A series of highly-talented draft picks have failed to develop over the past few seasons, with Wendell Carter Jr. now in Orlando, Chandler Hutchison bounced around the league and Coby White replaced this offseason.

Was Markkanen’s failure to launch a product of the situation? He has shown flashes, from runs of sharpshooting to plays where he shakes a defender or comes in for a block. The complete package, however, is not worth what the Cavs paid him. They need him to consolidate those flashes now that he is outside of the Bulls’ context.

It’s not as if Cleveland has earned much benefit of the doubt itself, but it’s a new start for Markkanen. Darius Garland might immediately be the best point guard that Markkanen has ever played with, and Garland is only now coming into his powers as a rising third-year player. The theory of the Cavs’ offseason — signing Markkanen, re-signing Jarrett Allen and drafting Evan Mobley, all bigs — only works if Markkanen is a truly dynamic offensive player.

Can he become the player everyone hoped he was all those years ago?