Cavs going away from Cedi Osman lately is weird, based on his season

Throughout most of this season, Cedi Osman has played far better for the Cleveland Cavaliers than he did much of last season. Last year was seemingly a low point for Osman, who connected on only 30.6 percent from three, and while a shift to a bench role and some role inconsistency didn’t help him, that was an underwhelming year.

This year, Osman has had more of a defined role, for much of the season, really, as a bench spark plug, where he’s often made his presence felt as a capable catch-and-shoot threat that can help spur on big runs for the Wine and Gold. Osman and Kevin Love, who has shifted to a bench role this season, have given the Cavaliers plenty of production for their bench, and in Osman’s case, he’s had 11.0 points in 23.0 minutes per game.

Now, admittedly, Osman is in a slump recently, as he’s hit 33.3 percent from three in his last eight games, and his plus-minus has been minus-7.3 in that stretch. He has still had 11.1 points per game in that span, in a similar minutes-share, but Osman has had some rough outings, particularly compared to a number of others he had in a previous stretch fairly recently prior to that.

Granted, Osman has always been a guy that’s had his ups and downs, and I’ve been critical of him in the past, and also even earlier this season. I have to get that out there first.

But it has been odd in this last handful of games that Cedi has not gotten nearly the same opportunities, as he registered a DNP in Cleveland’s close loss on Wednesday versus the Philadelphia 76ers, and played just eight minutes in Cleveland’s overtime win against the LA Clippers on Monday. He also appeared in only nearly 12 minutes in a win at the Indiana Pacers and then 16 minutes in a loss at the Miami Heat after that one.

The lack of trust in Osman lately is weird to me, given what he’s provided the Cavs for much of this season.

Osman is amid a tough stretch recently for Cleveland, which has led to the minutes reduction in some games of late, of which we alluded to. And as we hit on, he’s historically had streakiness in his time with the Cavs from his second season onward.

However, Osman has had a resurgent season for the Cavaliers this season, and while his three-point clip has dipped to 35.5 percent, somewhat due to a recent slide, Osman getting his opportunities trimmed lately, particularly with Darius Garland‘s workload, was weird.

Caris LeVert has been active and came back from a nine-game absence due to a foot sprain, and he’s played pretty well, and can help Cleveland as a shot creator and playmaking presence off the bench, for example. LeVert had seven assists, in that realm, in Cleveland’s L to Philly on Wednesday, and hopefully that continues.

Still, Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff having Dylan Windler, at this point in the season, realistically in in favor of Osman of late has been odd, to say the least. That’s also with Dean Wade sidelined the past two games with knee soreness.

Now, I would’ve been fine with that earlier in the season, and if Windler were able to stay mostly healthy with the Cavaliers, I’d have thought he could potentially be a replacement down the road for Osman, and when he’s been regularly involved, I’ve liked what Windler has done. He just has not been able to live up to his shooting hype, largely because of injury issues over the course of his Cavs tenure, whether that’s harsh or not.

Anyhow, while again Osman has been off of late, he’s often given this Cavaliers team a spark this season, similarly to Kevin Love, so with the team trying to secure a postseason berth, this is a weird time for Bickerstaff and company to be going away from Cedi.

After all, he’s proven to come through for the Wine and Gold a bunch this season, and now, of all times, is an odd one to limit his chances, and even more so with LeVert just getting back from injury and Garland still needing help.