Cavs need to get Collin Sexton some more off-ball scoring looks

Collin Sexton has been tearing it up, but the Cleveland Cavaliers need to get him some more off-ball looks.

I probably am sounding like a broken record here, but it’s still been something else to have seen Collin Sexton continue to show his all-around scoring polish. Even when factoring in the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ injuries, we know that Sexton is this club’s primary option.

That’s nothing new, as he led Cleveland in scoring with 20.8 points per outing, even with a mostly healthy Kevin Love.

Sexton, who had 24.2 points per outing on 50.3 percent shooting in his last 25 games active of Year 2, has killed it in that bucket-getting realm to begin his third season, too.

Sexton is currently, as one would assume, leading Cleveland with 25.1 points per contest to begin 2020-21 on 53.1 percent shooting. That’s included him hitting 51.6 percent of his three-point attempts, and Dwyane Wade recently gave Sexton a major shoutout for his efforts, as KJG’s Billy Beebe hit on.

Nonetheless, while I’m not saying Sexton won’t get the majority of his looks on-ball, the Cavaliers need to find ways to generate more off-ball/catch-and-shoot opportunities for Sexton. Sexton got hobbled some near the half at the Orlando Magic on Wednesday, though he would play in the second half, even not quite himself.

Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff noted that Sexton hurt his hurt his left ankle and they’ll “keep an eye on it” with Cleveland heading into the second leg of a back-to-back at the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday, via Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor. Sexton would then say it “impacted” him on-ball in the second half, albeit we know the he’s as tough as it gets.

The Cavs need to get Sexton some more off-ball scoring looks.

The Cavs are again thin right now in a general sense, and even more so from a guard perspective, as Dante Exum is expected to be out for six-to-eight weeks with a right calf strain, per a Cavs team announcement on Wednesday.

And Darius Garland, also per the Cavs, could miss up to a week, as of Wednesday, with a right shoulder sprain. Plus, Damyean Dotson got hurt in Cleveland’s loss on Wednesday as well, as he would play a bit after initially being hobbled near the half, and then went off in the third quarter, and would not return.

So Collin will have to help in a playmaking sense, sure, albeit Cleveland will need him to get his buckets in settled offense in order to have success throughout games in this upcoming span of contests. That’s with the Wine and Gold doing their best to patch things together with their team defense, of course, though.

Anyhow, for Collin, and looking onward, even, the Cavs do need to try to generate some more off-ball opportunities for him. Hopefully, Sexton can receive ample treatment for his ankle, to be clear, but generating some easy ones for him wouldn’t hurt.

I know that Sexton, who is so durable still, will continue to get his share of looks via the pick-and-roll, where he’s been able to get to his pull-ups in the mid-range/deep paint, in transition, and feasibly via drives after just his on-ball creation. And Sexton has placed in the 68th percentile in PnR scoring thus far, per Synergy Sports, on a frequency of 39.1 percent.

I know that Sexton will get his share of looks, regardless, on-ball. We all do, and given the injury situation, that’s evident, and I’d still think Collin will be plenty fine soon enough.

Albeit with how Sexton has continually proven to further develop as a catch-and-shoot player, we need to see more spot-up/off-ball looks for Sexton.

Again, I know that Garland is banged-up, and Cleveland has not had Matthew Dellavedova yet thus far due to a concussion/his prior history of them.

But Sexton has placed in the 95th percentile to begin 2020-21, per Synergy, on spot-ups.

So again, some of it will be on Collin himself to help get a few more opportunities in-game for those looks, however, I still believe some more extra passes, or dishes out of double teams could be there for Sexton to hit via those.

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Sexton, to go with others, though, has been open for spot-ups in games a number of times, but Andre Drummond, when doubled, or at times with even three guys around him, has failed to dish it to Sexton, or perhaps Garland/Cedi Osman.

Drummond needs to understand that those opportunities are easier offense for Cleveland, and a few of those opportunities, seemingly, should be there in games.

And frankly, though I wouldn’t expect it a ton of the time, Sexton could get a few looks in games off of movement from three-point land or in the mid-range to shoot from Larry Nance Jr./Isaac Okoro/Osman deliveries? That’s for a few games from more so those guys, even.

The volume wasn’t a bunch of the time, again, but on 50 possessions last season, Sexton did place in the 64th percentile in off-screen scoring and had a respectable effective field goal percentage of 55.7 percent, per Synergy.

And maybe as a counter to that if a few of those looks were to go down, Nance, Okoro or Osman could look for a cutter off of that/a weak side shooter if a few defenders start to anticipate that from Sexton? That’s seemingly something to consider at least.

Lastly, while again the opportunities won’t be a bunch of the time, Sexton has improved his feel/timing as a cutter dating back to last season, and I’d think more chances here and there in that realm could begin to come. That’s if defenses overplay handoffs/extra passes to Sexton at times.

Moreover, from my viewpoint, just looking onward, and to sort of help out Collin a bit throughout games/as the season progresses, the Cavaliers need to get him some more off-ball scoring opportunities. That could feasibly preserve him, too, to an extent.

And if those extra pass deliveries, if you will, begin to come for him more, defenses might begin to overreact/anticipate those over time, and could lead to drives as a result for Okoro, Nance or Osman. That’s if those are warranted.

We’ll have to see if this sort of thing plays out for Sexton, though.