Cavs Player Grades: Lauri Markkanen does fine in new situation
By Dan Gilinsky
Markkanen’s offensive play for the Cavs in 2021-22
As we alluded to, Markkanen had a role adjustment in his first season with the Cavaliers, with him playing often with two other bigs in Evan Mobley and Allen, with Markkanen at the de facto 3. There were growing pains early on, and he was somewhat inconsistent in other stretches in the season as well, which was something that had to be anticipated.
In November, Markkanen again had the protocols absence, and in January, it was unfortunate that he would miss the last 11 games heading into the All-Star break due to an ankle sprain. That was pretty disheartening, especially after he really turned a corner with the Cavaliers, in my opinion.
From there, Markkanen came back strong after the All-Star festivities, but that was with him more so at the 4 with Jarrett Allen having been sidelined because of a fractured finger for most of March and until Cleveland’s play-in loss versus the Atlanta Hawks.
Regardless of circumstances, Markkanen did find his footing and appeared more comfortable as the season wore on, and I thought from much of January on. He also improved his cutting timing, and demonstrated propensity to find spots for transition plays as a trailer as the year wore on.
Despite a rough start, Markkanen hit 35.8 percent from three on the year, and had 14.8 points per outing. He had less looks closer to the basket than in most of his previous seasons, but his true shooting clip was still 58.2 percent, which was a bit better than his career average (57.0 percent), and a strong close to the year was encouraging.
The 7-footer did have some inconsistencies, still, as has been the narrative in his career to this point, and it’s not clear as to whether the 3-big lineup featuring Markkanen will be the norm long term. But offensively, I thought Lauri did fine overall, and with a full offseason with the team leading into next offseason, there’s reason to be optimistic about his outlook.