It was a fun season as a Cleveland Cavaliers fan. No, the team didn’t end up making the postseason, as they lost two play-in games to the Brooklyn Nets and Atlanta Hawks, but they did do better than anybody would’ve realistically anticipated.
The Cavaliers stumbled post-All-Star break, which still stings, but injuries throughout their season didn’t help, and in the closing portion of the season, Jarrett Allen was not involved. All in all, it was still a heck of a season, as the Cavaliers won 44 games, the most in a season for them without LeBron James on the roster since 1998, and as we alluded to, that was despite a myriad of injuries.
One of the interesting storylines from the season heading into it was how the team would fit in Lauri Markkanen, who was a key sign-and-trade acquisition last offseason from the Chicago Bulls. The team ended up actually going with Markkanen as its de facto starting 3, where he was often in the season, at least seemingly offensively.
There was an adjustment for Markkanen, clearly, and it, as expected, some time for him to get settled in and acclimated with his new squad after his first four seasons with Chicago. Markkanen started slow, which was understandable, and then a COVID-19 health and safety protocols absence in November occurred.
He did respond well after that, though, and was playing off of others well, including other bigs. Now, admittedly, there were some other inconsistencies for Markkanen in the season, and defensively, I’m not going to say he didn’t struggle at times on-ball against wings a fair amount.
But he stayed the course, and I thought in his first season did decently, all things considered.
With that, we’ll get into how Markkanen graded out in his first season with the Cavs here.
First, we’ll hit on the offensive end.
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.
Markkanen’s 2021-22 offensive grade: B
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.
Markkanen’s 2021-22 defensive grade: B-
Markkanen’s overall play this season
It was a season with some ups and downs for Markkanen, as has again been in-line with his career through five seasons. Some of that has had to do with injuries, however, over the course of his time with the Bulls, especially.
With the Cavaliers, he did close the year strong, but it’s fair to question whether or not the 3-big starting lineup, when the team was healthy, is sustainable another season, if not longer. Markkanen did seem out of place at times, and defensively, there’s still some question marks.
On the plus side, Markkanen in his first season in a new situation did seem to find his footing as the year wore on leading into the ankle sprain, and there were a couple of very promising stretches prior to that from him offensively.
I understand he did have more success sans Allen in the closing stretch of the season, with 16.6 points per game in his last 15 regular season games, and him hitting 38.2 percent of his threes, but there’s reason for optimism for next year for Markkanen’s outlook.
And generally, Lauri having a net rating of 3.9 this season with the Cavs, in a new situation, was noteworthy.
Time will tell if he can be a long term starter for Cleveland, and if he’ll be worth the four-year, $67.5 million deal they signed him to last offseason, albeit with the fourth year guaranteed for only $6 million. But he’s still not quite 25, and this season, I thought he did fine.
Markkanen’s 2021-22 overall grade: B
Hopefully we can see Markkanen further acclimated with Cleveland in 2022-23.