Cavs: Lauri Markkanen’s team defense has been biggest positive early

Nobody could say that they’ve been satisfied with Lauri Markkanen‘s performance thus far offensively for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Markkanen has had 10.8 points per game on only 41.7 percent true shooting, both of which would be career-lows by a considerable margin.

But I’m not going to completely grill the guy here; he’s in a new situation, having the spent the first four seasons of his career with the Chicago Bulls, who dealt him to Cleveland via sign-and-trade this offseason.

Plus, Markkanen essentially playing as a supersized 3 on the offensive end has been an adjustment for him, and I’m going to stay patient; fans shouldn’t too concerned about him. While his minutes have mostly been formally at the 4, in general, playing with two other bigs in Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen for significant stretches of games is inherently going to take Markkanen, a key stretch big, some time to get used to.

He has started to find ways to get better looks, though, and has begun to get quality shots off productive movement at times, and he’s started to use his size to generate free throws in the past two games.

Granted, he needs to get it going here shooting-wise, as we know, and I acknowledge that.

The key positive to me from Markkanen’s play thus far, however, has been the hustle/grit he’s displayed in these past three games, all being wins, and in particular, his team defense has helped Cleveland getting going the other way, and just getting key stops.

Cavs: Markkanen’s team defensive efforts shouldn’t be overlooked.

Markkanen, who has had to matchup against opposing 3s a fair amount in possessions it seems, is not a player that’s going to stick with more natural wings like some others, such as Isaac Okoro or Lamar Stevens. Those players are better suited athletically, and from a lateral quickness standpoint.

Cleveland has utilized Mobley in that realm a decent amount too, though, and that’s helped, also, as he’s already proven to be a heck of a defensive chess piece. He’s made it difficult for opposing shooters to get looks off, and/or held up still on the interior even better than one would’ve imagined early on.

Even with Markkanen not being a great individual defender, clearly, while of course Mobley and Allen, and others it seems, have aided him, his team defense in recent games has been a key positive takeaway.

It’s just five games into the season for Cleveland, but he’s found ways to use his length off-ball that have led to takeaways, and as we alluded to, more transition opportunities, which are crucial in games.

On that front, Markkanen has had 1.4 steals per outing and 1.6 steals per-36 minutes, which would, far and away, be career-highs for him if that were to hold throughout the season.

I can’t say whether those splits will hold firm, but it has been nice to see Markkanen very active off the ball. His chemistry defensively in the team sense has seemingly gotten better game-to-game with Mobley, Allen, and Collin Sexton/Ricky Rubio, and others, too.

Here and there, seemingly to maximize length and limit potential foul trouble, the Cavaliers have used a 3-2 zone look as well, and while having Mobley even out top, which is something else in itself, has helped others, Markkanen has been effective in those instances additionally.

In a general sense, though, his stunting at times as a strong side helper has aided guys trying to cut off driving angles, and at times, Markkanen has made a difference with his size as an another rotator at the rim making shots more difficult.

Now, nonetheless, we all know that Markkanen on the other end needs to get it going for the Cavs, and I get that, the team needs his deep balls fall more, especially when he has air space.

But for now, I do have to give him some credit too for his team defensive efforts, which have been a pleasant surprise and the biggest positive so far for him, even with him not definitely being the best guy individually. The hustle and anticipation off-ball from him has aided the Cavaliers.