Goodby Cedi

 With a little over 7 mins remaining in the 2nd quarter last night Okoro swung the ball from the corner to Windler for a lightly contested 28’ 3pt attempt which snapped the bottom of the net.  This 3 was as close to a signifier of the end of a player’s meaningful tenure with a team as you can get in game.  

The entire sequence actually started at the 7:48 mark in the first quarter when the soon to be down 15-7 Cavs broke up their starting lineup and brought three players into the game, Love, Markkanen and Rubio.  The notable portion of this move was that the two bigs and a guard replaced a guard, wing and a big, denoting the beginning of their experimentation with Lauri at the 3 in an intentional lineup.  Now Markkannen played a handful of mins at the 3 last season with the Bulls and it went extremely well in terms of raw plus minus but this is a different team and that was a small sample size. 

Well 2:42 of game time is also a tiny sample size, but it is also the amount of time that the Cavs needed to turn that 8 pt deficit into a 1 pt lead, and by the time Lauri sat the Cavs were down 1 having scored 19 points in 5:24 seconds of game time with a +7 mark in that span.  While that 5 min stretch will be forgotten it could not really have gone better for the Cavs which was already devastating to Cedi’s potential playing time.

Osman’s best shot at consistent mins was as the primary wing backup, coming in with his semi-competent playmaking and shooting for a guard while Okoro moved to the 2.  It honestly could have worked especially with a shooting and defensive big behind him, giving him a shot at a bounce back year.  Heck it actually did work in the first preseason game with the Cavs going on a nice run after he and Love entered the game.  The difference though is that while Cedi was passive and relegated to the corner Lauri was active on both ends, playing much better than his reputation defensively and picking up 4 rebounds, picking up an assist and drilling a 3 pointer.  

This sequence was rough for Cedi’s playing time, but Lauri picking up 5-10 mins of SF play a game would still leave him in the rotation; however the real threat to his livelihood stepped onto the court subbing in for Markkanen on that evening.  

Dylan Windler has been holding the same place in Cavs fans hearts as Cedi did a few years ago.  The promise of a muti-tool wing who could plug a major hole and provide some space for the young guards the Cavs were acquiring.  Missing most of the past two seasons to injury Dylan ‘Theoretical’ Windler stepped onto the court and for at least one stretch of basketball he became ‘Actual’ Windler.  The sequence described above was the 3rd straight 3 that Dylan made, and he finished the game with 12 points on 6 shots, 4 rebounds, an assist and a steal against 1 turnover and no fouls in 22 mins of play.  

And so we enter the Windler zone, for as long as he can stay healthy and available we will be cheering his 3 pt bombs, holding our breath every time he crashes to the floor and occasionally catching glimpses of Cedi cheering his teammates on from the bench.