This season has been an adjustment for Lauri Markkanen, who was acquired by the Cleveland Cavaliers via sign-and-trade from the Chicago Bulls. In his minutes on the floor, Markkanen has had a considerable chunk with fellow bigs Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, and on the offensive end at least, Markkanen has played his share of minutes as a de facto 3.
He wasn’t playing much of the time with two other bigs on the floor with him with the Bulls in his first four seasons, so one had to assume for him, and others, it’d take time to get chemistry down.
Markkanen did show positive signs in three games leading into him missing nearly three weeks because of COVID-19 health and safety protocols, but that absence was unfortunate, clearly. Prior to that, Markkanen had had 16.3 points per outing, and hit 35.0 percent from three, so he was started to gain some momentum.
It was again tough for Markkanen, and also Kevin Love, to have that extended protocols/COVID-19-related absence from there. On the plus side, Love has been back for a batch of games since, and Markkanen has done a solid job in his first four games back in his return.
In his first two contests since then, he shot 3-of-9 (33.3 percent) and 2-of-7 (28.6 percent) from three versus the Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns in close losses to tough opponents, which wasn’t great.
In those, he did some make plays off-ball and in the transition game to generate offense, though, and had a then-season-high 22 points against Brooklyn, knocking in all of his five free throw attempts, and had a decent 14 points against Phoenix. He shot 5-of-13 in that one, however, he did have 11 rebounds, and following that game, in a win over the Orlando Magic, he had 20 points and hit 4-of-8 from three.
Markkanen was really feeling it from downtown in Cleveland’s blowout win at the Dallas Mavericks on Monday as well, as he had a season-best 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting, and hit 5-of-9 from deep. And while Luka Doncic did register a triple-double, and did benefit from switchouts at times, I thought Markkanen at least was respectable in making work in getting his production when he was on him, which was a considerable amount of the time.
Anyway, generally, even with him needing to take advantage more game-to-game as a catch-and-shoot player and movement shooter, it’s been good to see Markkanen’s confidence be there, and he’s been finding other ways to get quality looks. That’s stood out to me of late.
Markkanen’s settling in with the Cavs, and they need him to keep letting it fly.
Markkanen is still a dude that’s finding his footing with the Wine and Gold, and with a new set of teammates, combined with the extended absence he had, that’s understandable to me. Prior to the season, Markkanen potentially getting off to a bit of a slow start was to be expected, too, in my opinion.
We obviously need to see Markkanen keep this positive momentum going from here, given Cleveland now being without Collin Sexton for the rest of the season, and guys such as Darius Garland and Ricky Rubio needing help on the perimeter. This Cavs team needs Markkanen’s shooting to ease some burden on those two, and him doing so throughout games aids the Mobley-Allen duo.
This recent batch of games in Markkanen’s return, and him getting to the line, and at times creating for himself with quick pull-ups or mid-post looks has been encouraging, though. And regardless, it’s nice to see the confidence as a catch-and-shoot threat is there from Markkanen, who the Cavaliers need to continue to let it fly early and often in games.
Granted, to reiterate, it’s not as if Markkanen has been completely tearing it up necessarily, as on the season, he’s had 15.3 points per outing, which is a tad bit less than his career average of 15.5.
His three-point shooting clip is currently starting out at a career-low 33.7 percent, also. That said, Markkanen has only appeared in 12 games thus far with Cleveland, so one shouldn’t be too concerned, especially with how he’s been finding ways to score throughout contests in his return.
His off-ball abilities have shown in that time, and as he was starting to in those few games prior to him being out, he’s starting to play off Mobley and Allen as interior threats, and he’s starting to find opportunities via relocation. The transition feel from him at times off live-ball turnovers generated from the Cavs has helped himself and the team get going, too, for what it’s worth.
Hopefully, the 24-year-old 7-footer keeps letting it fly often, given his shooting capabilities, and I’d expect Markkanen to only get more comfortable with more time with the other guys. Recent games have been promising.