The case is very strong for this Cavs wing right now
By Dan Gilinsky
It’s apparent that the four core players for the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to be the four primary scorers. Those players are Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, and they’re going to be getting the majority of the shots.
That’s nothing new, and in the playoffs, they’re going to be playing heavy minutes.
Nonetheless, while the Cavs bench has had issues getting scoring contributions, and Isaac Okoro is not going to be a high usage player offensively, the Cavaliers do need to have some of an injection of shooting and/or shot-making here. Donovan Mitchell injured his groin again in Cleveland’s loss at the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night, and despite him having an unbelievable effort, and he would finish that game out, he could potentially miss upcoming games.
Whether or not he does, though, the case for a perimeter guy to have more regular chances seems obvious, and that’s Cedi Osman.
Osman’s case for Cavs wing minutes is pretty darn strong right now.
Osman is not a player who has had much consistency in his minutes-share this season, and to a large degree, for the past few seasons. He’s been primarily a bench contributor in that time, and it’s not as if he’s been the beacon of consistency.
Objectively, Osman has his flaws, too. Defensively, he is fairly limited in terms of lateral quickness, he still takes some unnecessary fouls, and he can force things a bit offensively in an on-ball sense.
However, he has demonstrated how he can give the Cavaliers a jolt off the bench as a rotational shooter, and currently, the Cavs could use more of that. Osman has had off games, and he’s streaky, sure, but he’s had his share of big moments for Cleveland this season, and in recent prior seasons, and he can give the bench a spark.
It’s a broken record at this point when it comes to his minutes variance, as many Cavs fans have pointed out. He didn’t play in Cleveland’s recent blowout win over the Toronto Raptors this past Sunday, and only registered five minutes of playing time in a loss at the Boston Celtics, when the Cavaliers really could’ve used rotational shooting for stretches to help out Donovan Mitchell, in particular.
Osman had recently been dealing with a stiff neck, and there’s others that are firmly cemented in the rotation on the wing for defensive purposes in Isaac Okoro and for playmaking/driving capabilities in Caris LeVert.
Even with those aspects in mind, Osman has meshed well in playing off of key offensive threats for Cleveland, and when he has had more regular opportunities, it’s paid dividends for him and the team.
Osman has been second in net rating on the Cavs this season at a mark of plus-7.4. And despite him being streaky with a three-point hit rate of 34.8 percent on the year, he’s demonstrated he can go off in bench chances, and he can help the club in transition and as a situational driver.
Even with the ups and downs, he’s found ways to give the team energy, is an active cutter, and he has been far better with his team defense this season. Furthermore, here’s additional rationale for Cedi having more consistency in his chances, as pointed out by KJG’s Ismail Sy.
"“In the 37 games where he has 20 or more minutes he has scored double digits in 24 of those games. The Cavs have a 26-11 record when Osman plays 20 minutes or more, compared to 12-12 when he doesn’t.”"
Now, Dean Wade is still valuable for Cleveland defensively, and he should still get time at the 4 in lineups with Evan Mobley at the 5, and we should still see that, with Kevin Love no longer around. But for a legit stretch here, when the chances have been there for Wade, he’s seemed hesitant as a deep shooter, and he hasn’t contributed much there in the past few weeks since his return.
So at least in some instances, the Cavs might want to go with Osman for a shooting/scoring lift, and if that plays out in the playoffs, so be it.
With the Cavaliers’ three-point shooting woes regarding the bench right now, it’d behoove J.B. Bickerstaff and company to get Osman in there more, and I’d favor him at the moment over Danny Green, who is still getting acclimated. And who knows if 10-day signing to-be Sam Merrill will get any real chances, honestly, even with how he’s been a knockdown guy with the Cleveland Charge.
Time will tell on the Osman front, anyway.