Cavs: Lauri Markkanen might be finding his rhythm

It’s been well, an adjustment for Lauri Markkanen this season early on with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Through seven games, Markkanen has had 11.7 points per contest on 48.2 percent true shooting, both of which would be career-lows.

I have to give Markkanen some of a pass though, as he’s been playing in three-big lineups for Cleveland often, with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen starting in games with him too.

Offensively, while it’s not formally been the case necessarily, he’s been essentially playing at the 3 spot, which is not something he really played with the Chicago Bulls in his first four seasons. That was prior to him being dealt to Cleveland via sign-and-trade this past offseason.

Overall, on the offensive end it again had been relatively tough sledding for Markkanen, and most notably, he’s connected on just 28.6 percent of his three-point attempts overall; that’s from a tough go early. But he does, on a positive note, seem to be looking more comfortable off-ball as he gains more experience with these Cavs, and he’s been getting some more off movement looks.

I get it was two games, and both were losses, with the past one at the Phoenix Suns being a rough performance, by and large, and the one prior at the Los Angeles Lakers. However, Markkanen has seemed to get more into rhythm, to some extent.

Cavs: Markkanen might be finding his rhythm.

In relation to the offensive production, Markkanen has had solid outings at the Lakers and Suns, with 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting, with him going 3-of-8 from three.

Then in the Phoenix game, while other Cavs starters did not perform well, he did hit some looks with the second unit, for instance, and did at least hit 2-of-4 from downtown. He had 11 points in 25 minutes.

The Cavs did not play well in that Phoenix game as a team, and 19 turnovers were, well, less than ideal. Granted, that having been their third game in four nights likely factored into their demise following good play early on.

That said, a positive takeaway from those past two contests was Markkanen finding his rhythm more, and I’d imagine that he could get himself going more game-to-game as a catch-and-shoot/movement threat.

He’s starting to get more looks playing off of Darius Garland and Ricky Rubio, and though it’s not necessarily led to shots going down off deliveries from there always, or Collin Sexton/Evan Mobley, he is getting more in-rhythm shots in the past few games it seems.

He’s gotten more involved off-ball as a cutter of late, as compared to say, the first two games, as well. And in transition, he’s appeared to look more comfortable as a trailing presence, with some early-clock drives in there, too.

He’s again in a new situation, and with Markkanen having to make that adjustment offensively, with him seemingly playing more on that end as a de facto 3/wing, it’s understandable for him to start somewhat slow, anyhow. Even prior to the season, whether or not he was set to start/play real stretches in three-big lineups, I didn’t think it’d be surprising if he did start a bit slow, also.

Fortunately, while we’ll have to see him utilize his size more to maximize his offensive impact, which we’ve seen flashes of, and hopefully get to the free throw line more regularly regarding some on-ball looks, Markkanen could be finding his shooting rhythm.

Hopefully that trend continues onward in upcoming games for the Wine and Gold, and the 24-year-old Finland native keeps establishing himself as a meaningful floor spacing presence and impact shooter.