Cutting activity could help Cavs’ Ochai Agbaji immensely as rookie

It’s evident that in his first season, when the opportunities arise, Ochai Agbaji could be a knockdown catch-and-shoot presence for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

In Agbaji’s junior and season seasons with the Kansas Jayhawks, he connected on 37.7 and then 40.7 percent of his three-point attempts, on clips of 6.9 and 6.5 per game. It’s not guaranteed that the deep shooting off-the-catch will translate, but his very quick and high release, and movement capabilities would make it appear likely he can help in that area.

Agbaji did demonstrate growth over time at Kansas in that aspect of his game, and one can understand Cleveland’s reasoning for selecting him at #14 in the 2022 NBA Draft. Agbaji could make a difference for the Cavaliers in that area, in a rotational sense I’d figure, from the outset.

There’s others involved on the perimeter, so we’ll have to see what shakes out in that regard, but that skill set from Agbaji should prove meaningful.

Now, Agbaji has a ways to go still as a player when it comes to self creation as a shooter. That’s not an area where I’d imagine he could help Cleveland much next season, and looking onward, time will tell as far as the development there, and the same applies in the playmaking sense.

But on the plus side, Agbaji is a player that is a productive mover without the ball, and one shouldn’t discount that, in how he could mesh with guys such as Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and to some extent, Collin Sexton, provided he’s back.

Agbaji is a player that knocked down shots for Kansas in recent seasons off movement, which could be a boost for Cleveland off the bench, and he is an effective cutter. The cutting expertise from him could really help him in his first year when his chances come, too.

Cutting activity from Agbaji could help him immensely in his rookie season with the Cavs.

Make no mistake, in order to have an impact in coming years on a game-to-game basis, Agbaji has to establish a shooting rhythm. Going forward, I’d imagine Cleveland hopes that he can fill in the Dylan Windler role that the team envisioned for Windler when they drafted him in 2019.

Unfortunately for Windler, he hasn’t been to stay healthy enough to have a rhythm, and seemingly gain confidence in recent seasons.

There’s been flashes from Windler, and he’s made a difference in rotational stretches on defense. The issue is, the catch-and-shoot play hasn’t translated, and he looks to be on borrowed time, either as a potential trade candidate or a guy that’s not involved looking onward.

When it comes to the Agbaji element here, while as we noted, the shot hopefully can be there in the catch-and-shoot and ideally is, movement sense, in rotational minutes, which I believe it will, cutting as a counter can help. Agbaji has a very quick and high release point as a shooter, which should lead to optimism, but he’s a vertical athlete on top of that off-ball and in transition, which could make a difference as well for Cleveland.

Agbaji has the requisite feel to counteract guys overplaying him, and can be a quality cutter from the perimeter going to the basket for lobs, dishes on the strong or weak side baseline, or via diagonal cuts occasionally.

And while connecting on some shots will help unlock those, generally, with his bounce, combined with the shooting viability and his fluidity, we could see him as an alternative lob target for Darius Garland and others, too. Regarding the finishing aspect, he did place in the 94th percentile for shooting around the rim in the halfcourt as well, per Synergy Sports.

Though Agbaji is not much of an on-ball threat currently, his catch-and-shoot prowess, combined with his athletic finishing at the rim when the looks are there, could make him an impact contributor pretty early on for stretches.

Hopefully we can see that play out next season.