Cleveland Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton had been off to a relatively slow start from a statistical standpoint to begin the 2021-22 NBA season, through 11 appearances, Sexton carried averages of 16.0 Points, 3.3 Rebounds, and 2.1 Assists while completing 45.0% of his field goals and just 24.4% of his 3PT attempts. His boxscore stats don't truly shed light upon just how impactful his presence on the court has been for this young Cavs team.
Sexton was receiving a hefty portion of the opposition's defensive attention, often being defended by the their best perimeter defenders. With his absence, that defensive attention will likely shift to Cleveland's lead guard, Darius Garland. With that being the case, that leaves the door open for a potentially massive opportunity for whoever may be suiting up opposite Garland at the shooting guard spot. Perhaps the biggest benefactor of this vacancy will likely be Isaac Okoro, who according to Cleveland.com's. Chris Fedor, will be getting the opportunity tonight vs the Washington Wizards after missing the last 7 games with a hamstring issue:
Okoro must take advantage of his added ball-handling duties.
The two biggest questions surrounding Isaac Okoro to begin the season were how he would adjust to coming off the bench for the first time in his short career and how much he had improved as a shot-maker from beyond the arc. The Auburn product hasn't seen a too steep of a decline in his minutes per game, going from 32.4 his rookie year to down to roughly 27.0 so far this season, so that's not an issue. What has been an issue however, is the way he has been utilized and the fact that he is completing just 20.0% of his 3PT attempts.
Part of the issue was unavoidable as the addition of veteran point guard Ricky Rubio has all but taken most of those ball-handling opportunities that Okoro was supposed have been afforded by coming off the bench. That appears to be by design though as Rubio is far and away the teams best facilitator and must be utilized accordingly. The sudden opening within the starting lineup should change that though as the 2nd year man could see a sizable jump in his minutes moving forward. What's not unavoidable though is the amount of threes he's taken per game. His volume in that area is down to just 1.3 a game which is not a good look for a player that will need to increase production in this area to be playable long-term. He must have the confidence to let it fly when he's wide-open. The good news is that we only have a 4 game sample size thus far.
We've seen Okoro operate as a secondary ball-handler before and look surprisingly good doing so. Perhaps the best stretch of his career was in the month of May when he averaged 16.5 Points, 4.3 Rebounds, 3.0 Assists in 9 games. He has the skillset to succeed, he just has to be put in the position to do so. Even if he's used in an off-ball role, as he most likely will be, his ability as a cutter and slasher could and should be deployed as much as possible. If he's able to rekindle some of the magic that he closed the 2020-21 season out with, he could make things interesting even when Sexton returns to full strength.
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