Cleveland Cavaliers: Collin Sexton’s Rookie of the Year chances

1. Luka Doncic

If Sports Illustrated broke news that Luka Doncic secretly played professional basketball in Europe as a toddler, nobody would be surprised. The 19-year-old is physically, mentally and stylistically beyond his years. It’s the byproduct of playing professionally since his mid-teens, as well as being really, really ridiculously good.

Take a look (or seven) at this step-back jumper.

This was like when Michael Jackson moon-walked for the first time. Everyone wondered how he moved backwards more gracefully than most people move forwards.  Yeah, players have been shooting step-back jumpers for years. But Doncic glides back. It looks impossibly majestic, like the laws of nature momentarily don’t apply to him.

Doncic is clearly better than Sexton, but that’s okay. There are things Sexton can do to narrow the talent gap between the two impressive rookies.

For starters, maybe take more 3-pointers. Sexton is essentially hitting half of his deep balls, yet hoisting up only 1.6 per game in this 3-happy league. Doncic is more efficient, shooting mostly close range shots coupled with his strikingly high six 3-pointers a game. Sexton often becomes too comfortable with mid-range jumpers. Still, he’s actually pretty good at those.

If Sexton shoots a Doncic amount of 3-pointers, while maintaining his same outside consistency (I know, that’s tough) he would average about three made 3-pointers per game. Replace a couple 2-pointers with those deep balls and Sexton is averaging 16.5 points per game instead of 14.5.

Second, Sexton must improve as a shot creator. Not only is he averaging just 2.5 assists per contest, but he’s only being cheated out of about three assists per game, according to NBA.com. Doncic is being cheated out of five assists per game by his misfiring teammates. He could be averaging 9.3 a night, but is at just 4.3 instead.

At most, Sexton would would be averaging 5.4 per game. These numbers indicate Doncic isn’t necessarily surrounded by better shooters. He simply puts his teammates in positions to score more often than Sexton.

Sexton’s overall offensive game lags compared to Doncic’s. He can breach that gap by becoming a better shot creator.