Cleveland Cavaliers: Lue starting Hill over Sexton won’t last long

Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue did the predictable move today in announcing that veteran George Hill will start at point guard on opening night and rookie Collin Sexton will come off the bench, but that won’t last long.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are not going to be a contender this year. They have a semi-decent chance at making the postseason in the weaker Eastern Conference, given that they have a solid combination of veterans and young pieces that can fill roles adequately. George Hill has had a decent career to this point, and Tyronn Lue knows what he’s getting. Hill starting over the eighth overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft in Collin Sexton won’t last long, though.

That was Lue’s decision that was announced today in relation to the Cavs’ starting point guard spot for opening night at the Toronto Raptors, per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.

It’s a move that is anything but shocking, and I get where Lue’s coming from in this case. Sexton is going to be a score-first lead guard and he is a player that is going to need a much higher usage rate than Hill to be a plus contributor on the floor.

During the first part of the season, with Rodney Hood and Cedi Osman getting high usage starting at the 2 and 3 spots, Lue is going for the low-risk/low-usage point man in Hill to start games.

It’s a move that is understandable, and Hill knows what buttons to press as a veteran point guard, early in the season in particular. That being said, Hill is not a player that puts much pressure on the opposing defense, and his perimeter defense is not as noteworthy as it once was.

Hill has had a number of injuries he’s had to endure in recent years, and he doesn’t have near the top-end speed Sexton has in the open floor. With the Cavaliers looking to push pace much more this season, I wouldn’t think it’s very long before Sexton gets the starting nod from Lue.

Sexton has looked sharp in two of three preseason games with averages of 10.3 points and 3.0 rebounds in 21.6 minutes per game, and has a three-point hit rate of 57.1 percent, per NBA.com.

In a recent interview, he acknowledged how he’s “becoming more of a leader and more calm,” per Cavs Official Twitter.

That’s a positive sign, but it’s still good for Hill to be able to show Sexton the ropes of how to run an offense this year, and with Kevin Love being the primary option offensively, it makes sense initially to have a lower usage point guard starting the game with Love.

Hill is also a career 38.3 percent three-point shooter, and despite Sexton’s stroke looking better as a spot-up man early on, defenses are going to play off him for a while. In Hill’s case, they won’t as much, and that will enable Osman, Love and Hood to have more room to get to their scoring spots.

Initially, playing with veterans such as Kyle Korver, Tristan Thompson and J.R. Smith will help get Sexton get driving lanes, anyhow, but it won’t be long before Lue understands that playing Sexton considerably in the same lineup with Jordan Clarkson isn’t feasible.

Both players are going to have to have significant usage to help Cleveland win games, whereas the Hill-Clarkson or Clarkson-David Nwaba pairing makes more sense. Hill is a low-maintenance player, as we’ve stressed here for a while at KJG, but he doesn’t bring the same pop Sexton could.

After about Thanksgiving, don’t be surprised if Lue gives the keys to the “Young Bull” and lets him start and finish games for trail-and-error purposes. The kid can play, and the Cavs need to develop Clarkson, Nwaba and Hood more.

The Cleveland Cavaliers already know what they have in Hill, and he shouldn’t be playing more than Sexton.