The Cleveland Cavaliers have been playing great basketball for a number of weeks here, and currently, the Wine and Gold is third in the Eastern Conference. In their past 10 games, the Cavaliers are 8-2, and they’re second in net rating in the NBA in that stretch.
It’s been good to see how this team’s been defending so well, and in that span of games, the Cavaliers have been third in assist rate, too, led by the likes of Darius Garland and Ricky Rubio.
Now, the competition has not exactly been a set of world beaters in Cleveland’s six-game win streak here, somewhat because of opponent injuries and/or COVID-19 health and safety protocols absences, but the group has put teams away. For still a relatively young group, that’s been good to see.
That said, given how so many players around the league have been entering COVID-19 protocols recently, and Isaac Okoro and Evan Mobley having done so on Thursday and Saturday, it was concerning that the Cavs could potentially have a virus issue among their group in the days to come. And unfortunately, the Cavaliers reportedly had five players test positive for COVID-19 on Sunday, those being Jarrett Allen, Lamar Stevens, Dylan Windler, Denzel Valentine and two-way player RJ Nembhard.
Cleveland would then have their originally scheduled game at the Atlanta Hawks set for Sunday night postponed, and many potential hardship exception options not being available logistically for that one likely played a key role in that postponement, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks suggested.
As far as potential hardship exception signings, per a report from Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, which I would imagine would be granted, the Cavaliers are apparently targeting big Luke Kornet and wing Justin Anderson.
Nonetheless, while it’s unclear currently if Cleveland’s game at the Boston Celtics will be on still, just looking onward, with how guys will need to gradually work their way back and at least four guys need to miss at least two weeks, Cleveland needs others to step up. Guys such as Lauri Markkanen, Cedi Osman and Kevin Love must help carry the load, and perhaps even more so from deep.
Granted, could the league pause its season, with the boatload of players/team staff recently heading into protocols? We shall see, but for now, circling back to the last point, whether it’s him in an interim starting role at the 2 in this sense, or with more workload off the bench, the Cavs need Osman to really be letting it go in upcoming games.
If upcoming games play out for the Cavs, they’ll need Osman to keep firing away plenty from deep.
It would’ve been far better, from my perspective, if Cleveland were to be playing Osman off the bench, with a clearly defined role as a shooting presence, primarily off-the-catch. With Okoro and Stevens, who started last game alongside Garland as a defensive player, I’d think we could see Osman starting temporarily there.
But whether or not that plays out, with Cleveland being down so many crucial players, one would assume Osman will be getting a bunch of catch-and-shoot looks from three, and while I know that means streakiness, it’ll be needed with the team so depleted.
To be clear, I’m often critical of Osman for when he’s seemingly pressing, and there’s been inconsistencies throughout his past few seasons. Last year, in fairness, his role was hardly consistent, and he had a shift to a bench role, and this season, he’s fared much better, with him settling into that bench role.
Additionally, although there again is going to be some up-and-down play from Osman, the Cavs do admittedly need guys like him and Kevin Love, in particular, to likely have some of an uptick, when they’re in that is, in perimeter looks. That’s to help out Darius Garland and to some degree, Ricky Rubio, I’d think.
On the plus side, as KJG contributors have often expressed, Osman has rebounded well this season as a deep shooter off the bench, as he’s had a decent 11.4 points per outing and he’s hit 41.0 percent overall from three. In his last five games, he’s connected on 39.3 percent of his deep attempts, also.
It’s again uncertain for now if Cedi will end up being a temporary starter here in upcoming games, but rest assured, they’ll need him to be really firing away in this stretch of come, given all the guys out for the Wine and Gold.
Hopefully the group in time can get healthy.