Cavs: Cedi Osman makes the most sense to start in 2020-2021

It makes the most sense for Cedi Osman to start for the Cavs to start the 2020 NBA season, mostly due to his skillsets among the rest of the starters.

The Cavs will begin their regular season against the Charlotte Hornets on Dec. 23, 2020, and the big question is who’s starting at small forward moving forward. The Cavs have three options, all of whom will warrant much playing time in 2020-2021. Those three names are Cedi Osman, Dylan Windler, and rookie Isaac Okoro. Considering the rest of the starting lineup will include Darius Garland, Collin Sexton, Kevin Love, and Andre Drummond, the most obvious piece to start alongside that corp is Osman.

Why? Well, he’s the perfect complement to the team. He’s an unselfish player, with good range, can score inside, and passes very well. Considering Garland was the worst player in the NBA during the last season, and Sexton, Love, and Drummond not being known for their big assist stats, having Osman on the court will help facilitate the offense. Okoro has very little in the way of good offensive skills and was seen by every draft expert as a “defensive player”, like Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. So expecting much out of him this early isn’t realistic. Windler on the other hand was drafted specifically for his three-point shooting skills. It’s not very plausible to put a rookie like Windler (who qualifies as such despite being drafted in 2019) out there as a starter when he has a limited skill set (to date) while coming off of a season-ending injury and having spent more time in the G-League than the NBA last year.

It just makes sense to run with Osman, who has the experience and the most developed skill set of the group.

That said, that’s not the team’s best lineup. Ideally, Sexton would paly the point, then you’d have Okoro at the other guard for his defense, Osman, Love, and Drummond. That, or the lineup of Garland, Okoro, Osman, Love, and Drummond, with Sexton playing the Manu Ginobili role as the sixth-man who plays 30+ minutes off the bench.

Regardless of the lineup, the team won’t go anywhere unless the rumors of Garland’s improvement are for real. He was horrendous last year, and if he doesn’t take a massive leap in production this year, then Koby Altman should be held responsible.