Cleveland Cavaliers: Biggest strengths and weaknesses for 2017-18

Strength No. 3: Recent acquisitions carry strong potential

The Cleveland Cavaliers enter the 2017-18 season with a lot of potential after a quiet offseason up until recently.

The signing of 2015 second round pick Cedi Osman stands out. He’s a 6’8″ Turkish wing who had a strong performance in FIBA EuroBasket competition this summer. He’s silently become a stat-sheet stuffer while also silencing critics who have said he’s not an NBA-caliber defender.

He put up 28 points, seven rebounds, seven steals and four assists to lead the Turkish national team against Russia, though they lost 76-73. The Cleveland Cavaliers won’t need Osman to come in and be a great scorer, but what he has shown to be is a great energy guy on both ends.

Cleveland lacked energy with their second unit and Osman can be what they were missing. He was a solid role player for Anadolu Efes last season, averaging 7.1 points and 2.8 rebounds per game while shooting 40.9 percent from the field and 34 percent from 3-point range.

He can play both the shooting guard and small forward position and depending on lineups could even slide to the stretch-4 spot.

Add to the mix the acquisition of Ante Zizic.

Zizic is predicted to be another post presence that the Cavaliers could desperately use. The former 23rd overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft is a 6’11” center that averaged 12.3 points and 6.2 rebounds for Darussafaka Dogus in Turkey last season.

He’s a big that loves to attack the rim in the pick-and-roll when left open, something Cleveland could use in the paint.

He made seven appearances this past July with the Celtics’ Summer League squad in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas as well. Zizic put up 8.7 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in 19.9 minutes per game.

The Cavaliers have added some European talent to go along with LeBron James and company. It will be interesting to see how it develops in 2017-18.