Cleveland Cavaliers: The case for Collin Sexton in 2019-20

Scoring prowess

A description that has been mentioned numerous times already is “inefficient shot-chucker” in describing Collin Sexton, especially during his rookie year. For the 2018-19 season, 25 percent of his shots came from long 2-pointers (which ranked him in the top 5 percent of the league, per Cleaning the Glass), the most criticized shot in basketball.

To make matters worse, he only made 39 percent of those long twos, which ranked him in the bottom half of the league. Sexton’s teammates evidently took issue with those facts:

"“They scream and yell at me for pump-faking and taking the one dribble and shooting a midrange, they’d scream and yell at me.”"

For the 2019-20 season, Sexton listened. He cut his percent of long 2-pointers in half, and then some (only 12 percent of his shots were long twos). As an added bonus, he’s even increased his efficiency from “the worst shot in basketball” as well; he upped his long-2 accuracies up to 45 percent (that ranks him in top 30 percent of all NBA players). Sexton’s shot selection has improved immensely in 2020. He’s using his speed and the quick first step to get to the basket much more often while also getting to the line more (he’s upped his FTA per game from 3.1 to 4.1).

While still not quite the most dominant inside finisher, Sexton is still finding respectable success around the basket. He’s making 57 percent of his shots at the rim (4-feet in), which is very close to the likes of Ja Morant, Trae Young, CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard (per Cleaning the Glass). He’s also right on par with that group from short mid-range buckets (free throw line distance), where he is making 42 percent of his attempts. Many of these shots are floaters/runners, where Sexton can kill defenders. He can stop on a dime and catch defenders with dinky shots with ease.

Per Synergy Sports:

• Sexton ranks in the top 25 percent of the league on runners.

Sexton is anything but just a “dribble-drive” scoring threat, though. He’s a three-level scorer who thrives on taking shots from downtown, which is quite ironic considering his jumper is what got him the most flack when entering the NBA. Sexton was making 38 percent of his 3-point jumpers in 2020 and was making 53 percent of his corner 3 attempts (a miraculous 23 percent jump from the previous season). His ability to hit shots off-the-dribble (per Synergy, he shoots 38.1 percent on off-the-dribble jumpers) and off screens is what makes him a true scoring weapon.

He can attack you from each aspect of basketball on offense, from any part of the floor. His newfound embracement for taking more efficient shots has opened up his offensive repertoire. That is exhibited by the fact that in his 15 most recent games, Sexton was averaging 24.5 points per game. He’s getting these points in a variety of ways too. Per Synergy; 37 percent of his offense is from pick-and-roll situations, 9.1 percent is from isolation offense, and 16.8 percent of his offense is done in transition. There’s a hidden aspect in Sexton’s game that has yet to be fully tapped into though, and that is highlighted by the following statistic:

Per Synergy Sports:

• Sexton ranks in the top 11 percent on catch-and-shoot jumpers.

On a per-possession basis, Sexton scores 1.278 points on catch-and-shoot jump shots. For comparison’s sake, esteemed sniper Joe Harris averages 1.293 points per possession (though at a much higher frequency); Sexton is in elite company in terms of ability. Unfortunately, that potential ability just hasn’t been maximized in Cleveland, yet. He is only taking shots off-the-catch 14.7 percent of the time per Synergy and that is about as much as he can take.

Sexton’s two most-used backcourt partners have been a 29-year-old Mathew Dellavedova and a 20-year-old Darius Garland, who are both at the wrong ends of their respective careers to be handed the keys to Cleveland’s offense (therefore not allowing Sexton to spot up more off-ball).

Sexton is running the Cavaliers’ offense a very large chunk of the time. His role as an off-ball threat and presence is limited – and not being maximized – for that reason. But as Garland continues to grow as a young point guard, Sexton could be utilized without the ball more often (this would likewise up his catch-and-shoot usage numbers, and perhaps make the duo more cohesive overall); which we know is a place where Sexton can theoretically thrive.

So here is what we have arrived at with Sexton: he is a very composed, multi-level scoring threat with some untapped areas to his game. But this discussed premier scoring ability is not necessarily a surprise; unlike his newfound playmaking ability displayed in 2020.