How Isaiah Taylor can crack the rotation for the Cleveland Cavaliers

It’s unlikely that Isaiah Taylor will crack the Cleveland Cavaliers’ rotation, but it’s possible.

Currently, the Cleveland Cavaliers have two point guards above the non-guaranteed Taylor on the roster. George Hill and Collin Sexton are ahead of Taylor going into training camp (and that doesn’t include Jordan Clarkson, who plays point guard often). Hill is a steady, low-usage point man that will be a good mentor for Sexton, who could end up being the first option on the Cavs in a few years. With all the spotlight on him in Las Vegas Summer League, Sexton posted averages of 19.6 points, and 3.4 assists in an attacking role.

Clarkson is a score first combo guard that will see action at times leading the second unit. These three players will get their share of minutes, at least one would think, for the first few months of the season, ahead of Taylor. If Cleveland ends up deciding to move on from Hill, and trade away his team-friendly non-guaranteed contract (just $1 million guaranteed in 2019-2020), then Taylor could have a chance at logging some minutes.

How a potential Hill trade affects Taylor

Hill has been in the NBA for a while, and has proven himself to be a reliable ball-handler. He can run an offense well enough to get his teammates involved adequately, be a good spot-up shooter, and play above average defense on opposing guards when healthy.

He could be an extension of Cleveland’s coaching staff as a veteran, and will do his part on a nightly basis in getting his teammates in the right position to be successful. That comes from invaluable experience, and that’s something Hill can pass down to Sexton if he eventually takes more of the minutes share from Hill. That will be passed down to the other primary ball-handling guards, such as Clarkson and Taylor, too, though.

A rotational spot will not be a handout, and Taylor has his work cut off for him, whether or not Cleveland decides to push for a playoff birth, nonetheless. Training camp will be crucial.

What Taylor can show in training camp that could translate

Last season with the Atlanta Hawks, Taylor averaged 6.6 points on a 44.4 effective field goal rate and 3.1 assists in 17.4 minutes per game. When he’s at his best, he’s exploding to the basket with sudden quickness on straight-line drives in the halfcourt or from outlet passes in transition. With Cleveland wanting to push the pace more this season, he’ll fit right in with his speed, like Sexton.

Taylor does a great job of getting to the rim, even with defenders hanging back waiting for his drives. With his speed, he’s very difficult to keep out of the paint. He doesn’t settle for contested jump shots, and gets to the free throw line often. Despite not showing a reliable jump shot in NBA action, his decisiveness in getting to the rack with both hands has warranted him having a free throw rate of 36.2 percent, per Basketball Reference.

That’s higher than Russell Westbrook’s 33.6 percent free throw rate, and he led the league in drives per game last season, according to Second Spectrum’s NBA tracking data. Along with his ability to get to the charity stripe, Taylor does an admirable job of creating shots for his teammates.

Among qualified players on the Hawks, he had the second-highest assist percentage, only trailing Dennis Schröder, who was seventh in the NBA in that metric last year, per Basketball Reference. Taylor could be able to blow past switching bigs after Channing Frye, Ante Zizic, or Tristan Thompson pick-and-rolls, and find open shooters such as Kyle Korver, Cedi Osman, and Billy Preston in the corner.

Taylor had good chemistry with Taurean Prince and Mike Muscala on those sort of drive-and-kicks in Atlanta, and could have similar success with Cleveland teammates in spurts.

Thirdly, it would be beneficial for him to show more promise as a floor-spacer in the preseason or with the Canton Charge.

Being a pull-up or deep threat

Taylor has not shown consistency with his jumper at this point in his young NBA career. Other than at the rim, his shooting efficiency hasn’t been much to write home about. According to Basketball Reference, he shot just 25.0 percent from three and 21.4 percent from 10-16 feet last season with the Hawks. Those percentages are far from stellar, but maybe there is a silver lining.

He shot 45.7 percent from three with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in 25 games in the 2016-17 season and 44.4 percent from three with the Erie Bayhawks in four games last year. In addition, Taylor did shoot 45.5 percent on corner threes with Atlanta last year. With secondary ball-handlers potentially setting him up with time to hoist, he could knock some triples down.

With Sexton and Clarkson not realistic three-point threats right now, and with Taylor being less erratic than Clarkson with the ball, that might warrant some minutes while Osman or Hood handle the ball in pick-and-roll and Love is at the mid-post. If Taylor can show some signs of perimeter marksmanship, it will enable him to get more room in the mid-range area. His speed to the basket and decent floater are good staples, but he’ll need to show more to get in the game in meaningful minutes.

Unfortunately for someone with Taylor’s slight build (at 170 pounds), he can be exposed on defense. A defensive box plus-minus of minus-2.5 last year demonstrates that.

He’ll have his chances to prove himself in training camp, but only time will tell if Taylor can be a viable contributor for Cleveland this season.