Cleveland Cavaliers: Collin Sexton’s Rookie of the Year chances
By Ryan Piers
2. Deandre Ayton
After being criticized for a lack of effort, Deandre Ayton was benched for the Phoenix Suns’ loss to the Portland Trail Blazers Thursday night. His team was outscored 34-9 in the first quarter, and though they were also outscored 36-9 the game before with Ayton starting, it’d be surprising to see him come off the pine again.
The 2018 NBA Draft’s top pick is averaging 15.8 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. It’s been more than half-decade since Blake Griffin averaged a double-double, 22.5 points and 12.1 rebounds a night in 2010-11, as the last rookie to do so.
Ayton is in the middle of a stellar rookie season, likely putting him on track to win ROY in almost any other year. He still might get it, leading all rookies with 2.1 win shares.
Ayton and Sexton are not just opposite in position, but style. Not a scout questioned Ayton’s offensive prowess; his ability to dominate the post while devouring rebounds was second to none in college. The guy had better offensive game as a teenager than most NBA postmen. It was his defense that writers felt would stymie his progress.
He’s struggling to prove critics wrong.
On the other hand, pundits billed pre-draft Collin Sexton as a brutally tough defender with an underdeveloped offensive game. So far, he’s silenced critics of his shot by shooting 46.2 percent from the 3-point line. That’s better than Klay Thompson and Bradley Beal… by more than 10 percentage points each.
https://twitter.com/Cavsanada/status/1064929682607431680
So kudos to you, Collin Sexton, as you prove naysayers wrong while Ayton is struggling in all the expected places. Still, Sexton is averaging fewer points, rebounds and (almost fewer) assists than Ayton. The Suns big man is clearly ahead of him the race for ROY.