1 stud and 1 dud for Cavs in win at shorthanded Jazz

Cavs dud: Cedi Osman

I have to give Cedi Osman his flowers for this play this year. I had been critical of Osman in recent years in plenty of that time, and last year, it was a forgettable one for him. I have to cut him some slack though, as he shifted to mostly a bench role, and his role had inconsistencies, so it wasn’t all on Cedi; the Cavs’ injury woes and lack of legit playmaking depth didn’t help.

And this season, he’s rebounded in a defined bench shooting role often. He’s knocked in a career-best 38.7 percent from three this year, and in 23.2 minutes per outing, has had 11.3 points per contest, which I don’t discount. It was unfortunate for him and the team when he, similarly to a number of others, was placed into health and safety protocols.

However, in this one, objectively, this was more along the lines of Cedi offensively that is, from last season, shooting-wise. He’s my dud for the Cavaliers from this Jazz win, as he was not showing the touch he has in games a bunch off the bench this season, as he was 3-of-12 from the field, and 1-of-7 from three.

Plenty of those looks seemed to be in-rhythm, and I give him his credit for getting to some of those looks from good movement off-ball; the misses were just rough to watch, and this was one of those off shooting nights for him. I do think with this role clarification this season, though, it’s not much to really react too harshly about.

Hopefully Osman can rebound in upcoming games, and the next couple to wrap up this Western road trip at the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder can help in that regard.