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.
Reason No. 2: He’s moves well off-ball and is effective playing off of the Cavs’ stars
Osman is not a player that one wants to be utilized as a key shot creator for extended stretches. He can make some plays as a situational driver countering hard closeouts in gaps, or coming off screens getting downhill on straight-line situations, but those are not a significant portion of his looks.
However, Osman has proven to be one of the Cavs’ best cutters, and he doesn’t need a ton of the ball to be impactful in stretches on the floor.
He can make some shots from relocation as a perimeter shooter if he has the opportunities to establish a rhythm, and his cutting timing is arguably the best on the Cavaliers among their wings. That’s part of why he’s proven to be effective playing off of the Cavs’ stars such as Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell.
Other guys in the wing conversation are capable cutters at times, and Isaac Okoro is markedly improved there. But Osman’s experience, lack of hesitation as a shooter and volume deep shooting capabilities and transition savvy on run-outs should lead to him getting more consistent playing time in upcoming games, and feasibly in the ballpark of 18-plus minutes pretty regularly.
For a bench that could use more offensive pop game-to-game in terms of off-ball play, Osman’s skill set can be very meaningful for stretches and can help maximize Cleveland’s stars.
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.