Cavs: It’s cool that Dan Gilbert is a huge Collin Sexton supporter

The Cleveland Cavaliers have gotten a pretty solid year out of rookie point guard Collin Sexton, and it’s cool to see Cavs owner Dan Gilbert in Sexton’s corner.

I get it. Collin Sexton hasn’t had a perfect rookie season for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he’s not going to be the Rookie of the Year, as that’s likely going to be Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks.

Nonetheless, after all that’s transpired in Sexton’s rookie season, and the oft-mentioned ups and downs he’s had, he’s come on very, very strong in the second half of the year, and it’s cool to see the Cavs owner, Dan Gilbert, give his first-year point guard a pat on the back.

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Many have seemed to have criticized Sexton over the course of his first NBA season, and I understand why.

His on and off-ball defense still needs a lot of improvement, but it’s pretty rare that 20-year-old point guards know how to immediately be plus defenders in the NBA, especially nowadays with all the pick-and-roll switching mismatches, and all different kinds of players being able to hit three-point shots from seemingly out of the arena.

Sexton has only averaged 3.4 assists per 36 minutes (per Basketball Reference) this year, and yes, that does need to improve if he’s going to feasibly be the point guard of the future for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

As we’ve described on and on here at KJG over the last month, though, and especially since Kevin Love has been back playing considerable minutes, Sexton’s passing vision and decision-making has improved.

Back to what I was referring to before, Gilbert had this to say in regards to Sexton’s growth over the span of 2018-19 (when quote tweeting the Cavs and h/t Amico Hoops’ Colton Jones), and it was encouraging to see that the Cleveland owner has unwavering support for Sexton.

Gilbert’s reportedly been a Sexton guy from the jump, and I love that.

Sexton recently became the Cleveland Cavaliers’ record-holder for made three-pointers for a rookie (h/t Fox Sports Ohio), which is obviously a subjective sort of thing now, as players shoot more threes than they used to, but coming into the season, I would imagine few would have predicted that.

In one year of college at Alabama, Sexton shot just 33.6 percent from deep, per Sports Reference.

On the season, Sexton is putting up 15.6 points on 50.0 percent true shooting, and is shooting 40.0 percent from three, per NBA.com.

Jones noted how the “Young Bull” has especially picked it up over his last 15 games, as Sexton is “averaging 20.1 points and 3.3 dimes, while shooting 44.4 percent from the floor and 43 percent from long distance.”

With Sexton’s reported work ethic, as we’ve previously highlighted, it makes sense that he’s become a better deep-ball shooter (in particular, off the catch, where he’s shot 43.8 percent on threes this year, per NBA.com).

Gilbert knows first hand just how hard Sexton works, and he seems to be all-in on the kid becoming one of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ cornerstone players for the future. Good on you, Dan, and keep doing what you’re doing, Bull.