2023-24 Spurs Player Reviews: Cedi Osman
03/05/2024 15:00
Osman brought a veteran presence and outside shooting to a young Spurs team that needed both.
Welcome to Pounding the Rock's 2023-24 player reviews! The series will look at the 15 players who finished the season with the San Antonio Spurs on guaranteed contracts (so no two-way players because we saw so little of them this year, and no Doug McDermott). Enjoy!
Cedi Osman
2023-24 stats: 72 games, 6.8 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 38.9 3FG%
Contract Status: Unrestricted free agent (bird rights)
Age: 29
Even though he found out about it via social media, Cedi Osman was happy to learn he had been traded to the San Antonio Spurs last summer. He arrived as part of a three-team trade that also brought Lamar Stevens (who was later waived), with the only cost to the Spurs being cash considerations a future second round pick. As a well-liked veteran who can shoot from the outside and a new addition to the Foreign Legion 2.0, Osman immediately felt like a perfect fit with the Spurs. It only helped that Cavs fans had nothing but good things to say about him.
Despite being a similar talent to Doug McDermott, he maintained a role throughout the season as an offensive sparkplug off the bench. He hit his threes at a career-high rate for a team that struggled mightily in that area all season, and he was constantly moving off the ball to help create offense for a second unit that could grow stagnant at times. Although his overall numbers were his lowest since his rookie season, that can mostly be chalked up to playing fewer minutes, but he was just as efficient as ever.
He may never be much more than bench scorer and is too limited on defense to start for a postseason contender, but he's the type of professional every team needs on its bench. The Spurs were happy to have him, and he was happy to be here. What more could they ask from him?
Looking forward
"Veteran presence who can shoot" continues to be a type of role player the Spurs need, and that may or may not continue to be Osman going forward. With McDermott already gone and Devonte' Graham a candidate to be waived or traded if the Spurs need a roster spot, they could re-sign Osman for relatively cheap while maintaining a player who is beloved by the young core and knows the system. He likely won't demand a high price, and because the Spurs have his bird rights, they can sign him first for under his cap hold of about $12.6 million to preserve cap space.
They would probably love to have Osman back (at the right price), but the question may come down to if Osman desires a larger role. Somewhat surprisingly, his minutes actually went down after the Spurs traded McDermott when you may have expected them to go up. After averaging a career high 32 minutes per game in the 2018-19 season with Cleveland, that number has trickled down each year since to just 17.6 minutes this season — his lowest since his rookie season. Osman did say that he loved his time with the Cavs but felt it was time to move on, and that could have been related to his ever-shrinking role there. Will he continue accept less minutes here, or will he seek more playing time elsewhere?
The Spurs are probably one of the few teams that can offer him both a rotation spot and a potentially bright future, but the question will be if 15-20 minutes per game is enough for him. It may be harder for him to find minutes on a team that's already winning, so that is something he will have to consider. Odds are the Spurs are ready to work to bring Osman back, and it will just come down to what he really wants.
Top performance
Jan. 29 vs. Wizards: 20 points, 2 assists, 2 steals, 4-6 from three
Final Grade: B+
Up Next: Julian Champagnie
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