Cavs: Cedi Osman had nice preseason, but should be on short leash

Heading into the 2021-22 season, it’s tough to forecast the outlook for Cedi Osman‘s role with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

It wasn’t all on him necessarily, but Osman had a less than stellar 2020-21 campaign, painting it in a positive light. He had 10.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per outing in mostly a bench role, which was fine.

The issue was, with him primarily in a catch-and-shoot role that could aid spacing, to some degree, he only hit 30.6 percent of his three-point attempts. That was unfortunate, as the season prior, he connected on 38.3 percent from three.

I again don’t put it all on him for the disparity, though. Osman was mostly in a bench role last season with Isaac Okoro in the fold, and in some instances because of injuries, Osman was in more of a de facto primary playmaking role, even.

Nonetheless, it was still somewhat disappointing to have seen Osman have the wheels fall off, for some considerable stretches last season. At one point, he had five straight DNPs, which was not great in Year 4.

Now, regardless of injuries playing some into it near the end of last season, he did have some bright moments/games still, and at times, he can create his own offense. I don’t discount Osman’s secondary playmaking instincts, either, and he had a career-best assist rate of 17.3 percent last season.

That said, with his defensive limitations still, the shooting ups and downs, and with how he was essentially absent for extended stretches offensively in games in 2019-20, I wouldn’t expect him to an every-night contributor this season. At the outset of this season, he should, at the very least in a rotational sense, be on a short leash, even with a nice preseason.

Cavs: Osman had a nice preseason, but he should clearly be on a short leash.

Osman had 8.8 points per game on 53.8 percent shooting, and shot 46.7 percent from three in 17.8 minutes per contest in four preseason games. It was nice to see him have some success, and him getting some easy looks in the open floor in transition and a bit as a cutter off-ball in set offense was a positive.

But it was preseason, so one has to take it with a grain of salt. And with Isaac Okoro, Dylan Windler, if he can stay healthy mostly, and Lauri Markkanen even as a supersized 3 option will feasibly all be options to look for throughout games, and with Osman’s glaring inconsistencies, he should definitely have a reduced role.

Last year, he had 25.6 minutes per game, and simply put, Osman shouldn’t be getting nearly that, well, regularly that is. Windler needs to stay healthy, which has not been the case in his first two seasons, however, his performance in a few preseason games was encouraging.

Hopefully he is all squared away, though, as he did reportedly have a “little bit of minor hip pain” from diving on the floor for loose balls in practice as of Friday, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. It was nothing serious, on the plus side, per the team.

If Windler can be mostly available for stretches of contests, with minutes at the 2 and 3 in mind, he could provide a boost off movement with his range, cutting/finishing and team defense. Windler hit a fairly underwhelming 33.8 percent from three last season, but he did hit 40.6 percent from three in four collegiate seasons at Belmont, and he could very well be an impact contributor.

From there, while I wouldn’t anticipate as much early on, perhaps Lamar Stevens could factor in as a situational defender, and Markkanen looks to be Cleveland’s go-to bench guy for now. That does still mean, even with him not feasibly being a starter in that spot, that with him multi-positional, he could potentially cut some into Osman’s minutes-share also.

The gyst is, one shouldn’t be taken too much away from preseason for Osman, as at times, the 26-year-old can have games when he is on as a shooter, but it’s tough to know what to expect from him game-to-game. That, and with his defensive limitations and lack of lateral quickness, he still should clearly be on a short leash, from a rotational standpoint, from here.

Osman was previously a player mentioned in trade rumors, and perhaps he could end up being part of a potential package by the 2022 deadline, as an aside. Even if he does still stick around, though, it’s difficult to know what to expect from a minutes perspective for him as the Cavs season, which begins on Wednesday at the Memphis Grizzlies, progresses.