Cavs Player Grades: Lauri Markkanen does fine in new situation
By Dan Gilinsky
Markkanen’s defensive play for the Cavs in 2021-22
No matter what the role for him was going to be, leading into the season, nobody was likely expecting much from Markkanen on the defensive end, in relation to impact, so-to-speak.
I’m not going to suggest that he was great on-ball, either. With him playing his share of time against opposing wings, though, it wasn’t all that bad when their was rim protection behind him.
I’ll preface it by Mobley and Allen’s presence for much of the season helping Markkanen, but objectively, his size did help with contests at times, and off-ball, he did make some very timely plays in games.
Markkanen’s limitations in regards to quickness were apparent, and when Allen was out, or in times when Mobley was sidelined, we did see that hamper him individually, or with him having some issues with closeouts. It’s difficult to dispute that.
Markkanen as a team defender did make his share of plays in passing lanes, on the plus side, and him contesting 8.2 shots per game this season, per NBA.com’s hustle data, with his size, did help to some extent when the team was on the healthier side. His 1.5 deflections per game were the second-most in his career to this point as well, and did help some early offense.
Nevertheless, the limitations with Markkanen defensively did rear their ugly head at times in the season, particularly in the closing stretch. His and Evan Mobley’s defensive rebounding positioning was something that lingered too much this season, too, and that has to be corrected next year.
It was maybe a tad better than expected in terms of Markkanen’s overall defense than it was initially; I have to go with a B-, either way.