Cedi Osman moves up to No. 8 in Cavs made 3s; can still be energizer

As many Cleveland Cavaliers fans would attest to, Cedi Osman has had its share of ups and downs over his tenure with the team.

Osman was at one point Cleveland’s starting 3 in his second and third season, then was moved to a bench role the previous two years and has again been a bench contributor this year, in Year 6 for him.

He’s at various points been a guy who can go off for a flurry of buckets for the Cavs, but also been a guy who can go ice cold at others. It’s safe to say that over the years, Cavaliers fans have seen both sides of the coin.

There’s been minutes variance for Osman at times in recent seasons, though, so that has played some into the inconsistency. Some DNPs near the end of last season for him was a perplexing thing to see, and some minutes scarcity earlier this season was odd for him.

But, fortunately, he has been regularly involved recently for a considerable share of minutes, and on numerous occasions to begin this season, he has delivered. Granted, as KJG’s Robbie DiPaola did touch on, Osman was largely off in Cleveland’s blowout win over the shorthanded Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday, and has been in his last five games.

That said, when he’s on, Osman has been a sparkplug for the Wine and Gold in recent seasons, and Osman moved into eighth all-time in made threes in team history against the Sixers, too. With the ups and downs he’s gone through in his time with the Cavaliers, I have to give Osman his props.

Osman moving to No. 8 in Cavs history in made threes was cool to see for him, and he can still be an energizer for Cleveland.

Sure, part of the reasoning for Osman moving up the Cleveland ranks in made threes has been the direction of the league becoming far more three-point centric than it was back in Danny Ferry’s time with the Cavaliers. Ferry, who Osman passed up on Wednesday, to his credit, was efficient in his time as a shooter from deep for Cleveland, and he was a meaningful bench presence, for the most part, for 10 seasons for the Cavaliers.

As it pertains to Osman, though, despite his ups and downs, and him being a player seemingly oft-mentioned in trade rumors in prior seasons and offseasons, and including recently, he’s proven that when he’s on, he can be an energizer for Cleveland.

Osman has his limitations, as defensively, he’s susceptible to getting beat on the perimeter because of lateral quickness issues, and he can force things at times on-ball on offense. Cavs fans are well aware of how Osman can have cold spells for stretches, and really, chunks of games.

But, to his credit, he’s always been an exemplary teammate with the Cavaliers, and when he’s on, the whole team has been able to feed off it. His transition buckets, and flurries of stretches where he goes off from three, particularly in the past two seasons, have been big for the Cavs, too, so hopefully, he continues to make his presence felt for the Wine and Gold off the bench.

And though he has been off in this last handful of games, as DiPaola mentioned, and I’ll concede I’ve been critical of Osman over the years at various points, when there’s been role clarity for him as a bench contributor, he’s been able to give the team a lift on plenty of occasions. So far, he’s had decent splits of 9.2 points and 3.0 rebounds in 23.0 minutes per game, and has connected on 35.2 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc.

Hopefully we see the 27-year-old wing get back on track in upcoming games, and with most of those to come at home in December, I definitely believe he can do so. As a side note, Wesley Person (550 made triples with Cleveland) and Daniel Gibson (578) are the guys Osman seems set to pass up next on the list.