Donovan Mitchell and Cedi Osman walk off the court against the Washington Wizards. ESPN Cleveland/Rob Lorenzo
Practice Notebook: Getting Mobley going, Osman performing, and injury updates
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The Cleveland Cavaliers are off to a 2-1 start to the season despite not having All-Star point Guard Darius Garland for much of it. Garland exited the season-opening game against the Toronto Raptors with a left eye laceration and has proceeded to miss the teams last two games – on the road in Chicago and at home against Washington – with the injury.
The Cavaliers have relied on fellow All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell to operate as the team’s point guard in his place and have had quite a bit of success on that end of the floor with him running the show. While Garland is getting better, the expectations is that Mitchell will again be the team’s lead ballhandler on Wednesday night against the Orlando Magic.
The start to the season for Mitchell individually has been electric, and it’s hard to think the Cavs could’ve expected more from him. Through three games, he’s averaged 33.3 points per game with seven assists and 5.3 rebounds while shooting 49.3 percent from the field and 42.3 percent from long distance. He’s been able to help carry the Cavs offensively in Garland’s absence.
It shouldn’t be that way much longer, and not even because of Garland. To start this season, second-year big man Evan Mobley has made his presence felt defensively, but he hasn’t been quite the focal point on the offensive end of the floor that some expected him to be. To date, Mobley hasn’t attempted more than nine shots in a single game – doing so against both Toronto and Chicago with just seven attempts against Washington.
Mobley has been efficient, shooting 56 percent from the floor, but the volume needs to be higher as he’s thrust into a more prominent offensive role with Garland sidelined.
“Yeah, we've gotta get him more involved,” Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said on Tuesday. “It’s a mix of time together and where he was in the preseason and then him coming back and then Darius being gone. There are some things that we're still working through. He's so skilled and so talented and we want him involved in our offense in a bunch of different ways. Evan's the type of player that if defenses load to him, he'll pass the ball 100 times in a row. If that makes us win, that's what he's gonna do. There's times, we've seen it, where he's gonna have to score and he's gone and scored. We have to do a better job diversifying his opportunities.”
How Mobley has been used versus how the Cavaliers will look to use him moving forward offensively will be an interesting development to follow.
Cedi off the bench
During the first three games, swingman Cedi Osman has been one of the reasons the Cavaliers have won two of three. He’s been terrific in a catch-and-shoot role and really helped to open things up offensively for others.
“He's a threat, and when the ball is in his hands, eyes are on him. When he's on the floor people don't wanna give him open looks, so they gravitate to him which creates separation and spacing for everybody else,” Bickerstaff said Tuesday. “He does such a great job of moving without the ball instead of just standing in one spot that now the defense is watching a moving target, and whoever has the ball, whatever action we're running, has more opportunity to go to work also.”
Osman through three games has averaged 16 points per game while shooting 57.1 percent from beyond the arc. Of course, that percentage on 3-point attempts isn’t sustainable, but the way Osman has been playing is. He’s been particularly good when he shares the floor with Mitchell, too.
“He likes to play fast, he likes to make his teammates better and I know what he likes to do offensively,” Osman said about playing with Mitchell. “That’s why I feel like our chemistry is getting better every day. I do like playing with him.”
To date, that pairing has spent 68 minutes together on the floor and just obliterated teams. When Osman and Mitchell share the floor, the Cavaliers score 136.2 points per 100 possessions and allow just 106.
It should come as no surprise too that Osman has been part of the best five-man lineup for the Cavs as well. When he’s grouped with Caris LeVert, Jarrett Allen, Mobley, and Mitchell, the Cavs have outscored opponents by 16.1 points per 100 possessions in 30 minutes of on-court time. When Isaac Okoro is put in Osman’s place, that same group, the Cavs have been outscored by 41.9 points per 100 possessions in 21 minutes.
Injury updates
Bickerstaff said on Tuesday that the team isn’t expecting Garland to return to the floor on Wednesday night against the Magic. He was officially ruled out when the injury report was unveiled Tuesday afternoon as well.
“He's getting better, he's doing stuff on the floor now, breaking a sweat,” Bickerstaff said. “Time will tell how far the swelling goes down and how quickly.”
With that said, Garland’s absence shouldn’t be too much longer. He could make his return to the floor as soon as Friday night against Boston.
Garland of course isn’t the only point guard out with an injury as Ricky Rubio has also been sidelined to start the season as he continues to recover from the torn left ACL that ended his year prematurely last December. Rubio isn’t due back to the floor for game action anytime soon, but he has been progressing. Rubio typically spends time after practice on the floor going through a shooting routine that has him running both up and down the floor as well as moving laterally with and without the basketball.
“It's going well. I mean, you guys see him here now. He's starting to do more and more with the team, which is awesome. Like, the guys cheering for him, pulling for him, just to see him to be a part of it,” Bickerstaff said about Rubio. “So, he's, again, progressing and heading in the right direction.”
There’s still no timeline for a return to the floor for Rubio.
