RADIO
Daniel Lubofsky looks at Cleveland Cavaliers forward Cedi Osman and why he's a fantasy basketball sleeper heading into the 2019-2020 NBA season.
In just two short seasons, Cedi Osman has certainly experienced the highs and lows of NBA basketball. His rookie campaign was spent mostly on the bench as LeBron James dragged the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Finals. Year 2 saw Osman replace James in the starting lineup, affording him ample opportunity to show off his game.
On a team that won just 19 games, Osman was one of the lone bright spots in Cleveland. He took his new role in stride, averaging 13.7 points and 4.7 rebounds per game.
Entering his third season at the pro level, Osman will look to continue his steady progression on a lowly team with plenty of touches to go around.
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Fantasy Sleeper Profile: Cedi Osman
Osman isn't the type of target for fantasy owners trying to address the scarcity of any single category. He's the late-round option who sprinkles in a bit of everything, who at 6'8'' can occupy both forward positions for Cleveland. His aforementioned points and rebounds were complimented with 2.6 assists per game, a figure that could go up with added responsibilities at the offensive end following his sophomore leap. Despite taking almost five three-pointers a game last season -- far exceeding his rookie totals -- Osman also managed to maintain relative efficiency from beyond the arc, shooting 34.8 percent.
Across 75 starts last season, Osman was given 32.2 minutes per game. It was a large jump from just 11.0 nightly minutes as a rookie and it could continue trending upward in 2019-20. Outside of the Turkish baller, Cleveland doesn't have many reliable options to plug in at the small forward position. Brandon Knight and Jordan Clarkson don't have the size to match up against the opposition. At the moment, both Dylan Windler and Kevin Porter Jr. have yet to prove themselves at the NBA level. Even at the power forward spot, Kevin Love hasn't played in 60+ games since 2015-16, leaving Osman and Larry Nance Jr. as the only options who combine the necessary size, talent, and durability.
ESPN ranks Osman as the 146th best fantasy player in H2H category leagues and 153rd in points leagues. Yahoo Sports has him ranked 149th, and yet only 32 other players replicated or exceeded his production from a season ago.
He won't make or break your fantasy squad, but when options are slim in the later rounds, Osman will see plenty of touches that will allow him to continue his growth as one of the NBA's more underrated young talents.
