Cavs Redraft: Writer has Cavaliers taking Donte DiVincenzo over Collin Sexton

The Cavs should not take Donte DiVincenzo over Collin Sexton.

No one can say that we haven’t had our fair share of out-there ideas. Looking beyond the box is what we’re supposed to do as writers. We’re supposed to challenge pre-conceived perceptions and offer up different ideas to help generate and facilitate conversation. We’re supposed to push the bounds of logic and reason to a breaking point. We’re not supposed to break it, however. That’s what one writer did by having the Cavs take Donte DiVincenzo over Collin Sexton in their re-draft.

To be very clear, if there was an offer on the table for the Cavaliers to get DiVincenzo right now, there should be no one who wouldn’t at least look at the offer. He’s a very good player. He just hasn’t had the same career as Sexton so far.

The idea of taking DiVincenzo over Sexton came from Hoops Habit, who had DiVincenzo coming to Cleveland at No. 8 overall in their 2018 re-draft. The reason? Defense.

"He is a good defender, with fast hands for steals and the ability to leverage his athleticism for closeouts and recovery, let alone for a few highlight blocks every season.…Offensively he has some magic as a creator, just enough to make something happen when the ball swings to him and he attacks from the perimeter. He is a great finisher due to that athleticism and has improved as a shooter every year.…Originally the Cleveland Cavaliers took Collin Sexton here, and that isn’t a terrible pick here and he was in contention for the slot in our redraft. At the end of the day, DiVincenzo’s ability to fit anywhere is why he goes at pick No. 8. The Cavs would likely be better off today with DiVincenzo slotted in at shooting guard instead of Collin Sexton."

We disagree.

The re-draft fails to consider one issue with Donte DiVincenzo vs. Collin Sexton

The writer is right to point out that Donte DiVincenzo probably does fit better in this Cavs team right now, in theory. The problem with that theory is that the Cavs didn’t have the issues they currently have in 2018. They weren’t a defensive-minded team then. While DiVincenzo has absolutely been a great defensive player for the Bucks, the Cavs weren’t interested in that.

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They were very much geared for a fast-paced scoring team. They had Kevin Love, Jordan Clarkson, George Hill, Kyle Korver, Cedi Osman, Alec Burks, Rodney Hood, and J.R. Smith. Sexton was to fit right in with that group. Considering guys like Hill were set to be the team’s point guards, Sexton was free to play make and not worry about passing.

It’s not Sexton’s fault the team was ground up into spare parts and sold off to the lowest bidder after just a dozen-odd games. Had DiVincenzo played on that version of the Cavs, he probably would’ve ridden the bench, hardly played, and played out of position when he did.

If you want to just pick and swap players on this team now, it gets even worse. While in theory, DiVincenzo fits better on a J.B. Bickerstaff squad, the Cavaliers would lose out on their best scorer for him, and that’s not going to help the team get more wins. After all, Isaac Okoro didn’t help sway the outcome of many (if any) games. Why would you think that DiVincenzo would?

It’s a heck of a swing and the logic isn’t bad, it’s just not a fully formed theory that could work with this team, given what we know about each player currently. The Cavs need to score and DiVincenzo has yet to prove he can stay healthy or be a 20 point-per-game guy. Sexton, for his flaws, has proven both.