3 reasons Cedi Osman should be get considerable playing time for Cavs

Reason No. 1: Role clarity and his track record thus far when given ample PT

Thirdly, Osman has demonstrated that with clarity in his role as a shooter and off-ball contributor, he can be successful when given ample playing time.

Granted, he’s had more time of late, but there’s still puzzling chunks of games when his time is trimmed down significantly. There were a couple of DNPs at odd times for him in December, and there was a nine-game stretch in January when he played 12.3 minutes per contest, leading to him having only 4.2 points per appearance then.

Generally, though, as opposed to times in stretches of games in prior seasons, Osman has had more of a defined role it appears this year, and more so last season. With this season in focus here, that clarity has led to him helping the Cavaliers in his minutes from a winning perspective.

Sure, Osman still can be somewhat hot and cold, and that’s a fair observation.

Despite that, with his cutting feel, off-ball activity, being a transition run-out target and him being a connecting passer, it has aided the Cavaliers in his bench run in the plus-minus department. This season, it’s impressive that Osman is second in the NBA in total plus-minus among bench players at plus-181, per NBA.com.

Now, to reiterate, there’s others involved for the Cavaliers among the wing and 3 man group, as one knows, and Osman has long been a player mentioned as a potential trade candidate in recent seasons, and dating back to the offseason it seems. His deal for next season is non-guaranteed as well, to that point.

However, with how he’s been able to help the team, him being a glue guy for the Cavs in his sixth season with them, and him being viable off-ball for stretches, Osman, who turns 28 in April, should stick around.

If Cleveland were to possible move Caris LeVert, who is oft-mentioned as a trade candidate, and/or non-rotational players recently in Raul Neto or Robin Lopez, or maybe Dylan Windler, so be it.

Osman conversely is a guy that should be retained, and has a compelling argument for a considerable chunk of minutes pretty regularly in the 20-23 minute range on a game-to-game basis, and not have those sub-10-minute outings. That’s especially with how he and Dean Wade can play together, with Wade being a natural 4, and Osman having good chemistry with others.