NBA Finals Player Preview: Matthew Dellavedova

Matthew Dellavedova has a game that isn’t always pretty but it is incredibly important to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Is Matthew Dellavedova good? That question was hotly debated around this time last year when Delly made a name for himself in the public eye, mostly by happening to be in the same place as the limbs of various other players as they were being, ah, injured. From then on, folks began to pay more attention to the scruffy-haired Aussie with the fidgety jumper and scattershot floaters. Was he gritty or dirty? Decent or trash?

This season should have put at least the latter question to rest. For the second season in a row, Dellavedova has eclipsed 40 percent from three while increasing his total attempts. Fidgety jumper or not, it’s consistently going in. His floater has improved, and similarly, so has his lob pass. When Delly turns the corner on the pick-and-roll and lofts something up there, there’s a split second where you can’t tell if it’s a shot or a pass to a rolling Tristan Thompson. Though not oustanding in any one way or another, Delly just fits, whether he’s running the two-man game, playing off-guard to Kyrie Irving, or spacing the floor as part of the Cavs’ wildly successful LeBron-and-bench lineup (also including Iman Shumpert, Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye).

That speaks to his defensive acumen, which, as cringingly conducive to injury as it seems sometimes, is also just plainly good for a reserve guard. Let’s throw ‘gritty’ out the window, but Dellavedova does keep the pressure on against ball-handlers and it serves him well. He put in a solid performance against Steph Curry in the Finals last season, which the Cavs will need again. Delly can’t tango with high-level dribblers as well as noted Curry defenders like Avery Bradley can, but for as long as he sticks with someone within the bounds of his athleticism, he leaves them as little room to shoot as possible. That works, and defending Curry will never be a one-man job anyway.

Against the Warriors, with their shooters and their “Death Lineup” and their everything, LeBron will rely heavily on support from his team’s cabal of two-way perimeter players, including all at once for some stretches. Dellavedova will play a lot, play a significant role, and in all likelihood, play well. Forget the optics — watch out for the man with the fidgety jumper and scattershot floaters.

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