2 Cavaliers players to pay close attention to post-All-Star break

No. 2: Sam Merrill

Merrill has been a revelation for the Cavaliers this season, and he was one of the guys who stepped up big-time when Mobley and Garland missed an extended period.

On the season, he's hit 43.4 percent of his three-point attempts, and since December 8, he's knocked in 45.2 percent of his three-point attempts across 28 appearances. Far more often than not, Merrill has made an impact when given chances to make things happen off the bench.

Merrill has given the Cavaliers quite the spark on a number of occasions with his catch-and-shoot prowess, movement shooting and off-ball abilities. When he gets involved, the ball has been hopping around the hardwood. His shooting forces extra defensive attention, giving Merrill the option to make the extra pass on a closeout.

In the last seven games, however, Merrill's looks have dwindled, as Cleveland has given more workload to Garland and Mobley upon their returns. Despite that, with what Merrill has given the Cavaliers as a cheat code/ultimate heat check shooter, it'd behoove Cleveland to keep him in the loop more frequently than they have of late.

From that standpoint, even with some limitations for Merrill, given Caris LeVert's struggles of late, and/or in instances where Mitchell is running things, Merrill should potentially cut some into LeVert's minutes, or a bit into Garland's at times.

There's a number of storylines to keep an eye on for the Cleveland Cavaliers and the roster in general, but how Garland closes out the regular season and whether Merrill has ample looks again are definitely areas to be closely observed in the final games of the season.