Note: the “stock up, stock down” doesn’t necessarily refer to trade stock, but is a way to review how the Cleveland Cavaliers’ players have been performing, as I’ve noted before.
That’s it. The Cleveland Cavaliers’ 2018-19 season is over.
All 82 are in the books, and the Cavs finished with a less-than-stellar 19-63 record (per NBA.com), but even in a tough season, there are plenty of ups and downs.
More from Cavs Analysis
- The Cavaliers may have snagged a hidden gem in Craig Porter Jr.
- This stat is one to keep an eye on for Cavaliers’ Max Strus in years ahead
- Projecting how much Cavs’ 3 two-way signings might play this season
- 4 Cavaliers looking to make a name for themselves in training camp
- Mitchell’s numbers getting trimmed a bit wouldn’t be bad thing for Cavaliers
Stock Up: Collin Sexton
Season Stats: 16.7 ppg / 2.9 rpg / 3.0 apg / 48.0 EFG% / 40.2 3FG%
Collin Sexton got off to a very slow start, settling for lots of long twos in the earlier months of the year far too often, and struggled on the defensive end mightily and wasn’t particular effective at distributing the ball.
The “Young Bull’ came on strong in the de facto second half of the season post-All-Star break, though, and played himself into NBA First Team All-Rookie team consideration.
Perhaps the most impressive statistic is Sexton’s three-point shooting being over 40%. One knock on Sexton coming out of college was his perimeter jumper (he shot just 33.6% from three in college, per Sports Reference).
Thanks to his perimeter shooting, Sexton joined some elite company for his rookie year, according to Cavs Official Notes.
.@CollinSexton02 finished 2018-19 w/ averages of 16.7 PTS, 40.2 3FG%, 83.9 FT%, 2.9 REB & 3.0 AST in 31.8 MIN. He became the 3rd rookie in @NBAHistory to average at least 16.0 PPG while shooting 40.0 3FG% & 80.0 FT% (Larry Bird 1979-80, Stephen Curry 2009-10) #NBAAllRookie1stTeam
— Cavs Notes (@CavsNotes) April 10, 2019
Credit his reported superior work ethic for his improved jumper. Sexton’s stock continues to rise, and you have to be happy with his rookie season thanks to the way he closed, and with him playing in all 82 games.
According to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, Sexton led all NBA rookies in double digit scoring games this year, and per Cavs Official Notes, Sexton was just the second rookie in Cleveland franchise history to average 16.0 points per game and play in all 82 games, joining Ron Harper in that realm.
Stock Steady: Jordan Clarkson
Season stats: 16.8 ppg / 3.3 rpg / 2.4 apg / 50.9 EFG% / 32.4 3FG%
Jordan Clarkson has been a mainstay in this portion of Stock Up, Stock Down. All year he was a consistent scoring burst off the bench.
He has had off nights, as most players do and he isn’t the most efficient player but he played his role and played it well.
Clarkson deserves credit for not only his play, but his attitude.
Coming from the Los Angeles Lakers to Cleveland at the 2018 NBA trade deadline, and then going from playing alongside LeBron James to a youngster like Cedi Osman is a huge downgrade and he never publicly complained and he played his role well.
Stock Steady: Cedi Osman
Season Stats: 13.0 ppg / 4.7 rpg / 2.6 apg / 50.4 EFG% / 34.8 3FG%
Osman had a solid season. Coming in as somewhat of an unknown, Osman got off to a nice start but cooled down as the season progressed.
His three-point shooting and shooting in general can use improvement, but there is high potential. Osman will never be a star, but he’s shown he can be a solid piece.
He needs to continue to cut down on the turnovers and work on shooting off the bounce more (along with a variety of defensive things both on and off the ball), but he had a very solid year overall in a quasi-rookie season.
Stock Down: Marquese Chriss
Season stats (with the Cleveland Cavaliers): 5.6 ppg / 4.1 rpg / 0.6 apg / 43.5 EFG% / 26.3 3FG%
Marquese Chriss has already turned into a journeyman at age 21.
He was traded to the Cavs from the Houston Rockets, and seemingly with hopes of sticking with the Cavs (he’ll be an unrestricted free agent this summer, per Spotrac).
His play did not help his cause, though.
One puzzling aspect of Chriss’ game is his tendency to take three-pointers.
He is very athletic (as shown by his ability to dunk over players) and he’s 6-foot-10, yet 37.7 percent of his field goal attempts are from beyond the arc and he’s a career 29.6% three-point shooter (per Basketball Reference). Chriss did little to earn his spot in the rotation going forward with this sort of thing, and he seemed very confused on the defensive end as well.
Thanks so much for reading Stock Up, Stock Down this year, and we hope to have to you come back next season!