From Kelsey Russo at The Athletic:
When Markkanen came to Cleveland, he stepped into a new position he hadn’t played much before. He had to learn how to play alongside two other bigs on the floor and learn the nuances of playing at the three consistently. On the offensive end, he’s been faced with different matchups, where he has smaller guards on him. Playing at small forward presents various kinds of players he has to guard on a nightly basis.
“Little different running around after guards, coming off pindowns,” Markkanen said. “The first month or whatever we played, it was exhausting running around with them, and it was a little different than what I was used to doing. That’s one thing. Just being on the ball in pick-and-roll rather than being the big guy and how to take things away on the ball. That’s what I’ve tried to look at it. We will get better.”
He’s studied mostly the Cavs’ games and his own film, watching how he defends smaller guards or plays on the offensive end. Markkanen has tried to learn the tendencies of guys who play at the three that he would be matched up against.
Markannen believes there is still more he can get out of himself. He’s worked on his shot throughout the season, holding onto a belief in his 3-point shot. He likes the looks he consistently gets with his shot; it’s just been a matter of the shots falling this season...
“I think that’s what he means is being able to do different kinds of stuff,” Markkanen said. “Might be the big guy on the ball screen or coming off chasing guards from pindowns or whatever. Just stuff I haven’t really done before, so I’m trying to learn from every practice and every game...
“I think people get so caught up in his offensive game, shot making, shot taking, that they don’t pay attention to all the other things that he does for us,” Bickerstaff said. “We would not be able to play the lineup and the size that we play without him and the things that he does to help us. So, our focus with him is on that and how important that is to us. Us being unique and different is because of him and his ability to do that. So, that’s the focus, and we don’t lose sight of that. We don’t let him lose sight of that. The shot making is going to be the shot making. And we know that’s the cherry on top. But we can’t play the type of basketball that we play without Lauri.”
So the shot making is the "cherry on top" according to JBB. Well, so far in January we have a pretty damn big cherry. Lauri is hitting 50.0% from the field and 41.4% from the 3-point line. Also, 90% of his free throws. The last five games he's 15-for-30 from deep.
The exciting thing is it took him almost half the season to get used to doing all those things he hasn't done much of, plus getting used to new teammates and playing with two other bigs. Now that he's over that hump his game should be better in the second half. We're already seeing that happening.
