The Cleveland Cavaliers don’t have Kyrie Irving anymore, and rookie Collin Sexton isn’t going to be him, either. Tristan Thompson was dead-on when he recently clarified that to the media.
The Cleveland Cavaliers had Kyrie Irving, and now he’s on the Boston Celtics (as we know). Naturally, though, because they drafted Collin Sexton (a point guard) with the eighth overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, there’s going to be comparisons to Irving. Tristan Thompson did his part as the team’s primary leader after the Cavs’ loss to the C’s last night in squashing the Sexton-Irving comparison (per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor), and he’s right.
#Cavs Tristan Thompson doesn’t like the Collin Sexton-Kyrie Irving comparisons. Tells @clevelanddotcom that people need to let Collin write his own book. “It’s not fair if he lives in someone else’s shadow” https://t.co/aoDOy4Wfpu
— Chris Fedor (@ChrisFedor) December 1, 2018
Thompson has had a resurgent season this year and has stepped up both on and off the floor, as our own Josh Friedman displayed recently, and this kind of thing in defending a rookie (who will always have huge expectations) features Thompson getting another feather in his cap from me. Sexton had a rough game against the league’s second-best defense as KJG’s Jackson Flickinger noted, as he went just six-of-18 shooting, had issues finishing at the rim over length and had a very tough defensive matchup against Irving where he had problems.
What Thompson said, though, just reiterates that the Cleveland Cavaliers (and their fan base) have to let Sexton carve his own path. That means letting go of the obvious Irving comparisons; Sexton is probably never going to be the scoring juggernaut Irving is, and if people have the expectations that a player has to be a top-five player at their respective position, that’s nearly impossible to live up to.
As our own Robbie DiPaola demonstrated, though, Sexton has been exceeding expectations as a starter in his 11 games with as a starter; I’ll take 18.5 points per game on 46.0 percent shooting for a rookie starting. Plus, like our own Eli Mooneyham hit on, I’m done with the Irving-Cavs stuff; it’s in the past and everybody has to just move on. That being said, Irving’s endorsement of Sexton was a pretty big deal (per the aforementioned Fedor), though.
"“I’ve been a fan of his since he was in high school. I watch all these young guys that come into the league, drafted high. Obviously I’ve been doing a little studying as well and just waiting for that moment to play against a young guy like that. He’s very talented.”"
Sexton is young and he’s got enormous potential as the Cavs’ future franchise point guard.
Let’s just cool it with the Irving-Sexton stuff; it’s lazy and they are different players, as Sexton has a long way to go as a finisher at the rim and as a volume three-point shooter (though he has been effective when he’s taken them so far), but Sexton projects as an above-average defender against opposing point guards, unlike Irving, and he is more athletic.
Thompson was right, and I hope the Sexton-Irving narrative is dead and gone.