Cleveland Cavaliers: Collin Sexton must get crunch time minutes

The Cleveland Cavaliers must be playing Collin Sexton in crunch time, because the best teacher is experience.

In the Cleveland Cavaliers win over the Brooklyn Nets last night, rookie Collin Sexton was off the floor for most of the fourth quarter. He only played three fourth-quarter minutes in what was a tight game between two bad NBA teams, and it would have been an ideal scenario for Sexton to be playing. The worst part was that head coach Larry Drew elected to play George Hill instead of Sexton, who, as our own Jackson Flickinger detailed, “finished the fourth quarter with zero points, assists, rebounds, or shots and turned the ball over twice.”

After the game, Drew was asked whether or not sitting the rookie down the stretch would “stunt his growth,” and was “emphatic that it wouldn’t,” per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.

Here was his rationale, per Fedor.

"“No because we got a long way to go. He’s going to be in the situation a lot, lot more,” Drew said. “You can learn just as much sitting over there watching, so you can kind of get a feel and see what other guys are doing, but it’s a long season and we’re going to be in a lot of different situations where he’s going to be allowed to experience some of this stuff. Which he already has. He’s experienced late-game situations.”"

Fedor noted how Sexton has gotten the short end of the stick the last two games, though, the games in which Hill has been back after being out for a month due to a reported right shoulder injury.

"“In the last two games, the team’s most important building block has played three total minutes in the fourth quarter.”"

I understand that Drew is coaching to win games, but frankly, with Hill coming off an injury to his shooting shoulder and with Sexton playing well as a starter in Hill’s absence, I don’t see the point in not playing the rookie.

Sexton may have gotten more experience in other instances in crunch time, but that was mostly with Hill sidelined.

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Drew can’t have this philosophy in coming games, because with a Cleveland Cavaliers team that is only 5-18 and likely having a good opportunity for the 2019 NBA Draft’s number one overall pick, getting two-point wins over the Brooklyn Nets while not playing Sexton in the most important minutes aren’t meaningful.

Sexton is going to make some mistakes, yes, but Hill played 35 minutes, way more than his reported minutes restriction of “around 20” (per Fedor), and Sexton was playing well with 15 points on seven-of-16 shooting, to go with two assists and zero turnovers.

I get that Jordan Clarkson is probably going to be on the floor in crunch time for Drew, as he’s Cleveland’s leading scorer in the games Kevin Love‘s not been active (which is every game but four), but sometimes Clarkson is erratic and can hold the ball even on key possessions; allowing Sexton to run the offense in pressure-packed situations is a good long-term move for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Next. Cleveland Cavaliers: Stock Up, Stock Down for the quarter mark. dark

Sexton is the Cavs’ future, and sitting him in the closing minutes of tight games when you’re one of the worst teams in the NBA doesn’t make much sense.