Cleveland Cavaliers: Power ranking the roster so far this season

#3 – Collin Sexton

Through 93 games in his career, it’s become quite clear that Collin Sexton is a score first, and perhaps second, point guard. He has been scoring the basketball very well this season and is currently second on the Cavaliers at 18.4 points per night.

He’s also improved on his very solid rookie season. His shooting percentage is up as he’s knocking in 44.3% of his shots this season. His player efficiency rating has jumped from 12.4 last season to 15.3 this season, and his net rating has jumped from -20 last season to -6 this season.

Obviously, there are still things for him to work on, but it is very encouraging to see Sexton having an improved season this season. He needs to move the ball better at times as he gets in that Clarkson mindset occasionally where scoring is all that’s on his mind. For the season he is only averaging 2.4 assists.

#2 – Tristan Thompson

It has been the start of a career year for Tristan Thompson. He laid an egg against the Miami Heat in their last game when he only had 2 points and 3 rebounds in 23 minutes. However, he had been playing at an All-Star level up until that game.

Thompson has expanded his game and is taking more of an aggressive mindset on the offensive end, which is great to see. Coming into this season he had never made a three-pointer. This season he has knocked down 3-of-6 attempts from downtown, including 2 makes in their game against the Philadelphia 76ers.

Teams still won’t be worried about Thompson taking, or making threes, however, it’s a nice dimension he has added to his game and has helped him in averaging a career-high 15.2 points per game to go along with 10.6 rebounds.

From an analytical standpoint, Thompson also sports an excellent player efficiency rating of 22.1 and a net rating of +15. It’s been a banner year so far for Thompson.

#1 – Kevin Love

This really is a no brainer. Despite his streaky shooting, especially from three-point range, Love has been incredible this season, both on and off of the court. Love is the clear leader of this team and you can truly see the joy he has in playing with the young guys.

The Cavaliers’ offense runs at peak performance when it runs through Love and surprisingly that’s as a facilitator, not a scorer. The Cavs best games have come when Love has found open teammates due to all of the attention he still gets on the low block.

He is also back to his usual self on the boards as he is currently averaging 12.6 rebounds per night this season, which would be a career-high in a Cavaliers’ uniform for him.

Love is also leading the team in scoring at 18.7 points per night despite taking the second most shot attempts on the team. The difference between him and Sexton is nearly 3.5 shot attempts per night.

Surprisingly, Love is also playing some of the best defense of his career as he has an outstanding defensive rating of 103.

In order for the Cavs to remain competitive, the top guys in the power rankings have to continue to build on their strong starts, and guys in the middle and towards the bottom of the rankings need to start pushing to make a move up the rankings.