Cedi Osman has long been a Cleveland Cavaliers player that’s had his great moments and also some have not been too fantastic. Over the years, he’s been fairly streaky, objectively.
That’s been shown this season as well. On the year, he’s connected on 36.3 percent of his three-point shot attempts, and has had 9.3 points per game in 21.4 minutes.
A key factor for Osman’s level of success over the years, though, has been his opportunities, and understandably so for a player of his ilk. This season, and at least similarly to recent prior years, he’s had some strange minutes variance, and that’s often played into whether he’s been able to establish a rhythm.
But when the chances are there, he’s shown he can give the Cavaliers a lift. There’s some rough moments and stretches for Osman, and there’s others involved for Cleveland on the wing, so some variance for him can occur, admittedly.
All of that being said, with what Osman can provide as an off-ball and energy player for the Cavaliers, he should be receiving more time than he has often has as the season has worn on.
Here, we’ll emphasize three reasons why Osman deserves a considerable amount of playing time for the Cavs, which has definitely not always played out.
With that, the third reason, not necessarily in a particular order, for that has to do with the energy he can give the team.
Reason No. 3: Energy minutes
Osman has some weaknesses, similarly to others in Cleveland’s wing rotation. In his case, he has limitations on-ball defensively, but he competes on that end and has been far better in the team sense there in the past two seasons.
He’s a player that can give the lift the Cavaliers a lift offensively, though, if he’s given a steady dose of minutes. Osman again has given Cleveland’s bench a jolt in recent seasons on plenty of occasions, and in two of Cleveland’s last three games, he’s done just that.
He had 21 points in Cleveland’s 128-113 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night on seven-of-11 shooting, and he tied a career-high with 29 points in a win over the LA Clippers on Sunday night. LA was severely shorthanded, but it doesn’t diminish how he had that production in 22 minutes, and went seven-of-seven from three, and against Memphis, he was four-of-eight from beyond the arc.
Osman also gave the Cavaliers quality minutes in their win over the Milwaukee Bucks nearly two weeks back (albeit without Giannis Antetokounmpo). Then, he had 13 points on four-of-seven shooting, to go with three assists and was a plus-five.