Cleveland Cavaliers: Collin Sexton’s Rookie of the Year chances
By Ryan Piers
3. Trae Young
Trae Young blitzed out of the gate, causing every critic of his stature to bite their nails. He’s cooled off since the season’s early weeks, averaging 15.8 points, 7.4 assists and and 2.9 rebounds per game — an impressive stat line for anyone, let alone a rookie. His surprisingly low 23.9 percent 3-point percentage probably makes more sense when you remember the paltry Atlanta Hawks are giving him the green light to shoot with reckless abandon.
Sexton struggled against Young in his third career game, scoring just four points while the Hawks point guard erupted for 35 points. Sexton took his revenge the following matchup, guiding Cleveland its first win with 17 points against young’s Hawks the following week.
He’s shot the ball much better than Young since the turn of November.
When media members fill out their ballots for Rookie of the Year in the summer, Young probably gets bonus points for being flashy. And yes, he is a much better passer than Sexton.
Yet, the Cavs rookie is casually putting up better overall numbers than the guy he will probably be compared to for the next half-decade. Sexton’s effective field goal percentage (46.7 percent) is higher than Young’s (42.6 percent). His -0.1 win shares, albeit not good, are better than Young’s -0.7. We’ve mentioned Sexton is shooting at a higher percentage. The pair’s defensive ratings are comparable.
So right now, it’s somewhere between a toss-up and Sexton being ahead of Young in the Rookie of the Year chase. If the Cavs rookie improves his passing game, there’s little competition between the two.
In that case, Jay Williams starts looking pretty smart for this prediction.