Tag Archives: Cedi Osman

Is it time for Kevin Porter Jr. to start?

Posted on by
Advertisements

With a presumed shuffling of the roster on the horizon, it may be time for the Cavaliers to start thier young players. This includes Kevin Porter Jr.

There is a distinct difference in how the Cleveland Cavaliers offense looks with Kevin Porter Jr. on the floor with the starters. A perfect example was the 4th quarter against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday. Porter and Darius Garland combined for the first 17 points for the Cavaliers and propelled the team to victory. The Cavaliers offense just looked more fluid with Porter on the floor.

Yes, Kevin Porter Jr. is young. There will be growing pains. There will be times when the team looks out of sync. But, the Cavaliers timeline is not meant for this season. The timeline is about the future. Getting experience and developing their game. Being coached up by John Beilein and buying into the overall plan for the Cavaliers. Kevin Porter Jr. just seems to be a better fit as a starter than off the bench. Conversely, Cedi Osman seems to be a better option off the bench than starter. It just seems that Osman can maximize his skill set in shorter spurts at select times.

The team is going to start trading their veteran players and embrace the youth movement. There will be extra minutes to distribute, Porter could receive them.

Kevin Porter Jr. as a starter seems to be more of a legitimate long term plan than Cedi Osman. Porter is more dynamic and may be a better fit with the likes of Collin Sexton and Darius Garland. Porter’s skill set could bring out the best from Sexton and Garland. Porter looked great with a few starters at the start of the 4th quarter on Monday. The 4th quarter had Porter on the floor with both Sexton and Garland, but not at the same time. Even with the staggering of minutes, Porter looked effective on the court with either guard.

Granted, this performance was against the Hawks. Atlanta is not very good and this could be a product of that. Although, this could be a preview of things to come for the Cavaliers starting rotation.

Cavaliers hold on against Hornets

Posted on by
Advertisements

The Cleveland Cavaliers manage to hold on for two-point win against the Charlotte Hornets at home, coming away with a 100-98 victory.

At one point the Cavaliers led by 24 points. The final was only decided by two. Cleveland barely hangs on for a two-point win on Star Wars Night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. This was only the third win for the Cavaliers in their past 19 games. This was a nice bounce back win after losing to the Raptors by double-digits.

Fittingly, Cedi Osman scored the first points of the game for the Cavaliers. Osman has used the hashtag #TheFirstCedi (a play on The Last Jedi) in the past. Osman even suggested pronouncing his name as Jedi in honor of Star Wars Night, even though he really isn’t a fan. Cedi Osman finished with 18 points on 8-12 shooting. This includes going 1-4 from both the three-point and free throw line.

Cleveland was led by 23 points from Collin Sexton. Sexton continues to be an enigma of sorts. There are games where it appears he cannot be stopped and others where he simply can’t finish. Sexton is still very young and his future is not already determined. All that can be asked is just a little bit more consistency.

Tristan Thompson finished with a double-double, a result that is hardly surprising. Thompson made six of nine shots while corralling 13 boards. This is just a run of the mill performance from Thompson which is under appreciated in the overall landscape of the NBA.

Kevin Love had a decent performance after a slow start. Love only had two points in the first half, but managed to make four three-pointers and two free throws in the second half to boost his total to 16 on the night. Love also finished with a double-double, grabbing 14 rebounds on the defensive end of the floor.

The Cleveland Cavaliers continue their home stand Friday at 7:00 P.M. as they host the Memphis Grizzlies.

Cavaliers: Sexton & Osman struggling from deep

Posted on by
Advertisements

Collin Sexton and Cedi Osman have been struggling mightily over their past 10 games when it comes to their three-point shooting.

There is no getting around it. Collin Sexton and Cedi Osman have not been good from deep over the last 10 games. Their poor performance is not the only reason why the Cavaliers have lost seven of their 10 games, but it certainly has not helped. Sexton and Osman rank third and fourth in three-point attempts among Cavaliers players who have appeared in all 10 games.

Collin Sexton

Collin Sexton is 10-37 from deep over his last 10 games. Sexton’s 27% from deep is 11% lower than his career average of 38.6%. Although, it is more in line with his percentage from deep this season (31.9). Of course this number could be as low as it is because of his recent struggles.

Sexton has attempted more than half of his season total (69) of three-pointers over this recent stretch. Sexton was shooting 37.5% (12-32) prior the last 10 games, so this has not necessarily been a season long issue.

Collin Sexton can easily turn around his three-point shooting performance this season. There are still 65 games to play and his previous track record suggests that his effectiveness from deep will improve.

Cedi Osman

The performance of Cedi Osman is usually not that integral to the Cavaliers success. Unlike others on the roster, success is not dependent on whether or not Osman performs well. The issue with Osman though is that he is taking and missing a lot of three-pointers.

Nearly half of Cedi Osman’s shots from the past 10 games have come from three-point range (38 of 80 have been of the three-point variety). The fact that Osman is failing to convert these attempts has been an issue. Osman is shooting 26.3% (10-38) from three-point range on the third-most attempts from distance over this span.

Like Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman’s history suggest he is better than what he has shown recently. Although, the difference is not as drastic. Osman is a career 35.3% shooter from deep over his three NBA seasons. It is also worth noting that nearly half of his shots in his career have come from three-point range and he is far from an elite shooter.

A correction is coming and it should lead to better team results

There should be a correction when it comes to the efficiency of Cedi Osman but not nearly as much as the correction for Collin Sexton. A bump for either in this area should help the Cavaliers win a bit more games and get off their current slide, which has seen them drop seven of their last eight games.

Cavaliers extend Cedi Osman

Posted on by
Advertisements

The Cleveland Cavaliers are being proactive when it comes to ensuring they have players they believe in staying in town. Cedi Osman has agreed to a four-year $31 million contract extension. 

Cleveland believes that Cedi Osman can be an important part of their future. The 24-year old small forward still has plenty of room to develop. Osman is still a raw player but can improve in multiple areas. 

At this moment in time, Cedi Osman is sort of jack of all trades type player. Competent in many areas but is not above average in any of them. Cleveland is clearly betting on Osman improving over the next few seasons. 

In regards to his contract, this is a great deal for the Cavaliers. The contract value de-escalates, making it less expensive as time goes on. The fourth year of the deal is non-guaranteed. If things do not work out, Cleveland has an out. 

The Cavaliers clearly believe that Cedi Osman can be an integral part of the team moving forward. It is hard to really find fault in a deal with this type of value. Osman is not highly paid amongst small forwards or NBA players in general.

Osman improved upon his rookie campaign in 2019-20. Increasing his points per game by just over nine and contributing in multiple areas. Cleveland is counting on Osman continue his development over the life of his contract extension.

Cedi Osman now has financial security and the Cavaliers have someone that they can build around. Having players like Osman are important to the framework of building a team. The Cavaliers do not need Osman to be superstar. They need Osman to help in multiple areas, allowing his teammates to excel in others.

Poor shooting buries Cavaliers in Orlando

Posted on by
Advertisements

A poor shooting performance led to the Cleveland Cavaliers dropping thier opening game of the season to the Orlando Magic by a score of 94-85.

It is hard to win in the NBA when a team as a whole struggles to shoot. The Cleveland Cavaliers only converted 33 of 89 field goal attempts (37.1%) in their opening night loss to the Orlando Magic. Making less than 40% of their shots in a game very rarely leads to a win. Wednesday was no exception.

Collin Sexton made five of 15 attempts on the night, totaling 16 points. The story is ineffectiveness from inside the three-point line. Sexton made three of eight three-point attempts. This means that only two of seven two-point attempts went in. This is not a reason to a panic, but it is a disappointing first outing from someone that is expected to take a big step forward.

Jordan Clarkson struggled in the worst way. The Cavaliers sixth man had an abysmal night from the field (2-12 overall 0-5 from three-point range). Clarkson is someone that the Cavaliers will lean on to lead their second unit. Yes, Clarkson struggled but this should not be the norm for him moving forward.

Kevin Porter Jr. did not have a good start to his NBA career. Porter when 0-6 in 17 minutes of play. Like Collin Sexton, there is no reason to panic with Porter. Young players typically take some time to get going, Sexton and Porter are no exception.

Some Cavaliers performed better than others

Tristan Thompson had the best shooting night out of all the Cavaliers starters. Thompson made eight of his 11 field goal attempts, finishing with 16 points. Thompson also grabbed 11 rebounds, two were on the offensive end of the court.

Speaking of good rebounding performances, Kevin Love had a good night on the boards. This sort of made up for only going 4-10 from the field. Love corralled 18 rebounds (17 defensive) and led both teams in rebounds.

Cedi Osman was the only Cavaliers player to finish with a plus in plus/minus (6), Tristan Thompson finished with zero while all others finished with a negative in this category. Osman scored 13 points thanks to making half of his three-point attempts (6).

Is one game a reason to have some concern about the Cavaliers season? Absolutely not. There are 81 more games to play. There were times when the Cavaliers looked like a competent team. The times that they didn’t is when they fell behind and could not keep up with the Magic.

The Cavaliers take on the Indiana Pacers Saturday at 8:00 P.M. in their home opener.

Cavaliers Fall to Celtics Despite 27 From Sexton

Posted on by
Advertisements

The Cleveland Cavaliers faced off against the Boston Celtics Tuesday night in Cleveland. Despite Collin Sexton falling 2 short of his career high with 27 points, they take the tough loss by a final score of 103-96.

Stats via ESPN

The Cavaliers put up a surprigingly good game against the 35-19 Celtics, despite them missing Kyrie Irving, leading 30-28 after one. A Terry Rozier buzzer-beating three pointer would put Boston up 59-51 at halftime, but the Cavs weren’t going away, cutting the lead to six, 85-79, entering the fourth. Boston lead most of the way throughout the game and the entire fourth quarter, but Alec Burks was big late and the Cavs were able to make it a 101-96 game with a little over 2:00 to go. Cleveland would not score again, however, and Boston held on for a 103-96 tough road victory. Collin Sexton scored a game-high 27 points, while second-year standout Jayson Tatum lead the way for Boston, scoring 25.

Collin Sexton’s hot start not enough for Cavaliers

Sexton was great right from the start, starting off the game with three aggressive drives to the basket before hitting a three to cap off a 9-point first quarter. He scores 9 more in the second, hitting another three and continuing to play aggressive. More of the same in the third quarter, scoring 9 more points and totaling 27.

Collin, however, did not score in the fourth quarter and was not able to reach his career high of 29 points. He continues to show flashes of being great but, again, proves to be inconsistent. He went 0-5 from the field in the fourth quarter, and finished the night with totals of 27 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists, on 11-24 shooting (3-7 from three).

While Sexton played a big role in keeping the Cavaliers in the game, Alec Burks also had a big night. Burks totaled 21 points and was huge down the stretch offensively, making a couple of clutch plays late and scoring the Cavalier’s last five points. Burks is the most obvious potential trade target on this Cavalier roster, and surely boosted his stock with this great performance.

Larry Nance Jr. chipped in 11 and 7 off the bench. Zizic, Nwaba, and Delly scored 8 apiece, but the Cavalier’s leading scorer Jordan Clarkson had an offnight, putting up only 7 points on 2-13 shooting (1-7 from three)

Cedi Osman Red-Hot, Cavaliers Beat Wizards

Posted on by
Advertisements

Cedi Osman. We all love him for his effort and enthusiasm, but he’s starting to give us the play to back it up.

Cedi Osman is starting to become more than just a mascot. He’s making huge plays for the Cavs during the last four games, and it has resulted in two straight Cavalier wins.

Cedi is averaging 24.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.8 assists over his last four, the streak starting in Boston. Osman broke out of his shooting slump, going 8-11 from the field and 6-7 from three for 25 points. Despite a Cavalier loss, it was good to see Cedi finally find his shot. He kept it up, scoring a career-high 29 against Miami in a 6-point Cavalier loss, this time going for more of an inside game with 8 two-point field goals, 3 threes.

He experienced a slight dropoff in Chicago, scoring 17 on 6-17 shooting, but it was a Cavalier win, snapping a 6 game losing streak.

Cedi got right back on track Tuesday night against the Wizards. He went on a little mini-run at the end of the 2nd quarter and the beginning of the third. Finishing with 26 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists on the night on 10-16 shooting, 4-8 from three. The result appeared to be best-case-scenario, with Cleveland leading 105-80 with 6:52 to go. However, Washington pieced together an incredible comeback and had the ball, down three, with the shot clock turned off. The Cavaliers needed a big play, and Cedi Osman gave them just that, stripping rookie Troy Brown Jr. of the ball with around 3.5 second left and throwing it ahead to Larry Nance Jr. as the clock expired.

What’s changed about Cedi the last four games?

It’s really pretty simple. To me, Cedi simply looks much more confident out there. He’s letting it fly off the dribble with confidence, and he’s caught fire with his jumper. He’s also attacking smaller players and taking advantage of his size, another sign of more confidence. From what I’ve seen, this isn’t just a hot streak. If Osman can keep this mentality, he’ll continue to play at a high level throughout the course of the season.

We know Cedi has a lot of talent. We’ve seen flashes of it, we saw him dominate the summer league. He has just lacked confidence, and he has that now. I don’t think he’ll necessarily average 24 points for the remainder of the year, but I can see him putting up much improved numbers over the 12.4 points he’s averaging right now. Then again, maybe this is an overreaction and it is just a little hot streak. Hard to say, but I think we all hope the former is true.

In other news…

The same Tuesday night as the Cavalier’s win over the Wizards, it was announced that Cedi will play on the “World” team in the Rising Stars game on All-Star Weekend. He’ll play against teammate Collin Sexton, who will represent the U.S..

Best from Osman not enough for Cavaliers

Posted on by
Advertisements

Cedi Osman’s career-high 29 points was not enough as the Cleveland Cavliers fell to the Miami Heat at home by a score of 100-94

Even with a player achieving a career-high in points scored the Cleveland Cavaliers are unable to come away with a win. Cedi Osman went 11-20 from the floor in the loss to Miami Friday night. Osman made three of eight attempts from deep and four of five from the free throw line. In addition to his career-best scoring effort, Osman was able to add four assists, four rebounds and two steals.

Four other Cavaliers scored in double-digits Friday. Ante Zizic, Collin Sexton, Rodney Hood and Alec Burks all scored 10 points or more in the contest. While Zizic started quick in the first half, the Cleveland center was limited to just one point in the second half. Miami tightened up defensively and essentially erased Zizic from the game when it mattered most.

Sexton endured another rough shooting night. The rookie went 4-13 from the field, including 3-6 from deep. The fact Sexton only converted one of seven two-point attempts is quite concerning. Speaking of rough shooting nights, Jordan Clarkson also struggled coming off the bench. Clarkson was only able to convert three of 11 attempts, this includes missing all three attempts from three-point range. Clarkson has been Cleveland’s leading bench scorer this season. If Clarkson struggles, typically the whole bench unit struggles as well.

A predictable 3rd quarter collapse did the Cavaliers in yet again. Cleveland led 53-48 at halftime but was outscored 32-17 in the 3rd quarter. While Cleveland was able to close the gap just a bit in the 4th, the disastrous 3rd quarter was the difference in the game. The Cavaliers need to figure out a way to avoid the bad second half. This is a trend that has been going on all season and figures to continue for the duration of the season.

Cavaliers win preseason opener vs Celtics

Posted on by
Advertisements

In the grand scheme of things NBA preseason games do not mean much of anything. That being said, it is good to see a team play well in preseason opener. That is just what the Cleveland Cavaliers did on Tuesday, defeating the Boston Celtics 102-95.

Positives

Kevin Love appears to be ready to be the main man in Cleveland. With a team-high 17 points on 5-10 from the field, including 2-3 from deep. Love also went 5-7 from the charity stripe. The Cavaliers big man also grabbed four rebounds in his 17 minutes of playing time.

Cedi Osman drew the start and did not disappoint, scoring 11 points on 5-10 shooting and making both free throw attempts in 19 minutes. In addition to his scoring output, Osman had seven rebounds and four assists.

Rodney Hood put together a nice performance, chipping in 10 points on 3-6 from the field including making his lone three-point attempt. Hood also had one assist, steal and block in the contest.

Jordan Clarkson made five of his eight attempts from the field for 12 points off the bench. Clarkson made the only three-pointer he attempted and went 1-2 from the free throw line. Clarkson also had two rebounds and three assists.

Rookie point guard Collin Sexton scored 15 points on 5-11 shooting with four rebounds and one assist. Sexton attempted three shots from deep making two and made all three attempts from the free throw line.

Newcomer David Nwaba had an impressive scoring performance, going 4-5 on the night for 12 points.

The Cavaliers starters only played during the first half Tuesday. When on the court Cleveland did outscore Boston 59-40.

Negatives

To put it lightly George Hill was abysmal from the field. Hill missed all five shot attempts and did not assist on any of his teammates baskets. As the starting point guard this is a problem. Hill will need to improve his shooting and start setting up his teammates to score. If not Sexton could overtake him sooner rather than later.

The aforementioned Nwaba managed a -7 in plus/minus on the evening, the second-worst of any of the Cavaliers on the night. The only Cleveland player with a worse mark was Kobi Simmons with -8.

Speaking of Simmons, he went 1-6 from the field in 13 minutes. This is not necessarily a good performance, but to be fair he will probably not make the roster.

Kyle Korver went 0-3 from the field, missing his only three-point attempt. Korver will need to make his three-point attempts if he is going to be beneficial to the Cavaliers or any other team this season.

In the second half Cleveland was outscored 55-43 but were still able to pull away with the victory.