3 key Cleveland Cavaliers players to watch post-All-Star break

3 Cavs players to watch post-All-Star – #2: Lauri Markkanen

The second key Cav to watch the rest of the way is Lauri Markkanen. It’s been an inconsistent campaign for Markkanen, who admittedly had his share of inconsistencies in his first four seasons with the Chicago Bulls.

On the year, Markkanen has had 13.6 points per contest, to go with 5.3 rebounds. It’s been a mixed bag for him from three-point land, where he’s shot 34.2 percent on the season on 5.9 attempts per game.

Objectively, one had to assume that in his first year with a new set of teammates, and with Markkanen regularly playing with two other bigs this year, though, that it’d take him time to find his footing. That’s what played out, and he hasn’t had nearly the three-point shooting clip he had with Chicago last season, where he connected on 40.2 percent of his deep attempts, regardless of a mid-season role change to coming off the bench.

Markkanen has also missed a stretch of games earlier this season in November because of COVID-19 health and safety protocols, and last month, Markkanen suffered a high ankle sprain in a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. He’s missed Cleveland’s past 11 games.

Fortunately, Markkanen is reportedly progressing with his rehab, and it seems that with the extended All-Star break helping, he appears to be close to a return. Bickerstaff’s comments on how Markkanen is beginning to “ramp up” his training/work, via Evan Dammarell of Fear The Sword and Right Down Euclid, is a positive sign on that front, too.

Granted, it’ll still take some games for Markkanen to get back into the flow of things, and we’ll have to see how he gets re-acclimated in the offense, with LeVert involved as well.

Fortunately, before he did sprain his ankle, Markkanen was really getting into a nice rhythm, and seemed to be getting his chemistry down with Mobley, Allen, Garland and others, and was coming out of a shooting slump.

In Markkanen’s last 10 games prior to the injury, he hit 44.6 percent of his deep attempts, got more cutting opportunities both in set offense and in transition it seemed, and he was getting to his spots inside the arc in the mid-post and via pull-ups. In that span, he shot 52.1 percent overall.

Hopefully Cleveland can get Markkanen going once again, and I’d fully expect to see the 7-footer once again in the starting lineup right when he gets back, albeit on perhaps a minutes restriction initially.