The Cleveland Cavaliers are among the winners of the NBA offseason but they still have plenty of work left to do before the 2022-23 NBA season rolls out the red carpet. Among the boxes the Cavs need to check is figuring out who will be the team’s starting small forward.
Via Evan Dammarell:
“Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff indicates to us that Cleveland will likely figure out who is starting at the three by the end of preseason and experiment during. Bickerstaff says Osman, Windler, LeVert, Stevens, Wade and Okoro are in the mix and there is no clear front runner.”
Back in the 2021-22 NBA season, the Cavs mostly went with Lauri Markkanen at the three. The Finnish forward spent 64 percent of his playing time at the small forward position. Cedi Osman was right behind Markkanen with a 64 percent share. With Markkanen no longer around after getting traded to the Utah Jazz in a package that netted the Cavs star shooting guard Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland now has an intriguing mixed bag of potential starting small forwards to choose from. Based on usage, Osman can be viewed as the frontrunner to win the role, but the Cavs could also be on the verge of giving the likes of Lamar Stevens and Dyland Windler bigger roles.
With the preseason coming up, the Cavs will have a convenient platform to test different lineup configurations.
The Cavs open up their 2022-23 NBA season schedule on the road against the Toronto Raptors on Oct. 19.