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Cavs: Collin Sexton is misplaced in FanSided’s 25-under-25

By Justin Brownlow

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton reacts in-game. (Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images)
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton reacts in-game. (Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images) /
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Collin Sexton, Cavs
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton looks to make a play. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) /

In FanSided’s most recent unveiling of their top 25 NBA players under the age of 25, we saw players 20-16 on Tuesday. On Wednesday, they are set to release players 15-11, then go to 10-6, and so on. Even taking that into account, I think we need to take a step back, and look at their first five players shown in the top 25.

They started out with Cleveland Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton, who’s on the rise, at number 25, courtesy of Micah Wimmer. In front of him were Kevin Huerter, Gary Trent Jr., De’Andre Hunter, Mitchell Robinson III, and Tyrese Haliburton.

Now, I am in no way Collin Sexton’s biggest fan. I essentially lobbied for the team to trade him in the offseason. I don’t like his fit with the Cavs’ other core young players. There are a lot of other reasons I’m not high on the 6-foot-1 guard. Nonetheless, FanSided ranking him below Kevin Huerter, Mitchell Robinson, Deandre Hunter, and Gary Trent Jr. is odd and honestly, just incorrect.

I have a lot of gripes with Collin Sexton’s game, but, actually believing he’s the 25th-best player in the league, under the age of 25, is crazy.

Comparing Sexton to the players above him

As I mentioned above, Huerter is the player that was ranked right above Sexton at 24. I like a lot of things about Huerter. He’s a great shooter, and is capable of scoring in bunches. However, his defense might be worse than Sexton’s, which is fairly disappointing.

The main problem with ranking Huerter above Sexton is that they have completely different roles. Sexton is the go-to guy for the Cavaliers, while Huerter is a role player, albeit a very good role player.

Bryan Harvey, who wrote the take on Huerter, had this to say about the guard from Maryland.

"Kevin Huerter isn’t the guy, and no one’s asked him to play that role. In fact, it’s possible he’s not even the next guy and that he’ll never be asked to fill that role either. But he is one of the guys, which means his job is to always be ready and to heat up quickly.”"

That’s the problem ranking Huerter ahead of Sexton. Sexton is the guy for the Cavs, Huerter is a great role player. I mean we can just take a look at their stats.

Last year Sexton averaged 24 points per game, while shooting 37 percent from three and 48 percent from the field. Huerter, on the other hand averaged 12 points per game while shooting 38 percent from three and 42 percent from the field. Huerter is a very important player on the Atlanta Hawks, but he’s not better than Sexton. In all honesty, there is a reason Sexton was a lottery pick and Huerter wasn’t.