Sam Merrill’s shooting slump may not be just a cold stretch.
The Cavaliers guard is dealing with an elbow issue that appears to be worsening, and that physical problem is colliding with a changing offensive environment in Cleveland that may not be built for his game right now.
Cleveland.com Cavaliers beat reporter Chris Fedor said on the Wine and Gold Talk podcast that what he saw after the Cavs’ 124-116 loss to Oklahoma City raised concerns.
“Sam Merrill is not right. Sam Merrill is not healthy right now,” Fedor said. “Saw him in the locker room and he looked like a starting pitcher that just threw 130 pitches with how much rapping and ice he had on his elbow.”
According to Fedor, the elbow started bothering Merrill near the end of the preseason. At first, it seemed manageable. That no longer sounds like the case.
“The sense that I have gotten, from what I’ve heard, is that it is not healing and it’s getting worse,” Fedor said.
For a player whose value is built around his shooting, that’s a major concern. Fedor pointed to Merrill’s previous wrist injury and the way pain can mess with a shooter’s confidence and mechanics.
“When it’s your elbow and there’s pain there and it’s recurring pain, there’s just not a lot of confidence that you can have about how the ball is going to come off your fingertips and what kind of release you’re going to have and how much arc you can get your shot.”
But the injury isn’t the whole picture.
Host Ethan Sands said Cleveland’s offense, especially since acquiring James Harden, may be making things harder on Merrill as well. Merrill has made his name as a motion shooter, the kind of player who gets free by moving constantly, running off screens and catching the ball on the move.
“Sam Merrill is known for his shooting, but he’s known for motion shooting, not standstill, open look jumpers.”
Sands argued that the current setup has turned Merrill into a more stationary player, waiting for Harden to create before he can react. That’s a different world from the offense Cleveland ran even a year ago.
“The bigger thing for me is how the Cleveland Cavaliers offense is changing, how these guys are forcing themselves to play, whether that’s with pace, whether that’s off-ball movement, off-ball cutting,” Sands said.
Fedor agreed that the fit question is real, saying it’s fair to wonder whether “the style that they want to play ultimately matches the personnel” on this roster.
So Merrill’s slump has two layers: the elbow that may be getting worse, and an offense that may not be setting him up to do what he does best. Even if the injury improves, he still needs a more movement-heavy system to get back to being the kind of floor-spacer and second-unit piece the Cavaliers are counting on.
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