Jaylon Tyson Is A Full-Time Starter

Jaylon Tyson Is A Full-Time Starter

So, not only can Jaylen Tyson talk the talk, but this dude can walk the walk. This young man has been everything that the Cavaliers could have hoped for and more to begin this season. And let’s not be quiet. They needed him to break out this year after moving on from Caris Lever, Isaac Aoro, and Ty Jerome within a span of just a few couple of months. They needed him to break out and break out he has through 17 appearances to begin the year. Tyson is averaging 12.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.8 assists while completing 51% of his shots, including a staggering 48.1% from three-point range. He has been an absolute force out there when called upon. And among players who played at least 10 games and averaging at least 10 points per game this season, Tyson has the fourth best three-point percentage. The only players who’ve been better are Tari Een, AJ Green, and IO Dumo. He’s been a flatout sniper. He’s been an extremely valuable outlet for drivers this season as he’s become one of the most efficient catch and shooters in all of basketball so far. I mean it. He has the 22nd most catch and shoot triples. But among players with at least 30 of those, he has the sixth highest percentage. And the crazy thing is every single make he has from Beyond the Ark has been of the catch and shoot variety. Now, don’t get me wrong. I always believe that Jaylen Tyson will become a productive member of the rotation in time, but there is an argument that he’s already been the Cavs third best player this year so far. This due in large part to his general consistency out there from a nightight basis. Now, if there’s one thing that you can count on through the ups and downs of the 202526 campaign, it’s been Jaylen Tyson giving 100% effort and being reliable while doing so. This is true whether or not he starts or comes off the bench. But to be clear, these stats do indeed suggest that he’s been more effective as a starter this year. In 12 games with the starting unit, Tyson is averaging 14.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.1 assist, and 1.2 steals. And he’s also shooting 57.3% from the field, including a staggering 50.8% from deep, and just 27.9 minutes per game. Juxtapose that to the bench numbers, right? In five games as a reserve, he is averaging just 7.2 points, 3.4 boards, 1.2 assist, and 1.4 steals while completing a poultry 30.6% of his shots, including 37.5% of his triples in roughly 23.7 minutes per game. Now, obviously, this represents a pretty stark contrast on the surface, but when you dig a bit deeper, it does become a lot more interesting. When Tyson has started, he has an offensive rating of 136 and a defensive rating of 115. When he’s come off the bench, he has an offensive rating of 107 and a defensive rating of 112. Both sets of numbers coming courtesy of clean the glass. Data baller suggests that the Cavs net rating is actually better with him off the floor than on it. And it comes down to the defensive rating being the swing staff. Now, the defensive rating for some reason has been higher with him off the floor just opposed to on it. And this, my friends, is a pretty clear example of why it’s always important to take these stats with a grain of salt because they can be deceiving as hell. You watch the film and you tell me, does the Cavaliers defense actually look worse with him on the floor? Misses the three. The Cavs have opened this game just one of 14 from behind the line. Giddy all the way rejected by Tyson. He’s gotten a great opportunity with these injuries. He’s taken advantage. He’s certainly gained the confidence. Kenny Atinson. And there he blocks the quickly shot. Mobley and Mitchell start this quarter with Tyson, Wade, and Proctor on the floor. Yiddy has it knocked away by Tyson. I don’t think that’s the case at all. Conversely, the advanced analytics tell us that the rebounding has actually been better with Tyson on the floor. Lineups with Tyson have an offensive rebounding percentage of 33.3%, which is in the 85th percentile. lineups without Tyson have an offensive rebounding percentage of 27.6% which is in the 37th percentile. Individually, Tyson has an offensive rebounding percentage of 6.4% and a defensive rebounding percentage of 12.3%. That’s within the 88th and the 77th percentiles, respectively. He is a force on the glass. We can trust the stats on that. It’s not just the eye test. It’s the combination of both of these things. And so much of this, at least in my opinion, comes back to the one thing that often separates him from the proverbial pack and nearly every other player on this roster. His unyielding effort, his game-breaking willpower, his heart, his hustle out there. This dude just hustles his ass off. And the film is where that becomes most clear. Whether it’s on an offensive putback, a big time defensive stop, or a contested attempt at the rim, his effort is on constant display. and it’s exactly what the Cleveland Cavaliers need right about now. Defensively speaking, he’s been very solid at the point of attack and doesn’t ever truly back down from his matchups. He is in the 86th percentile in terms of defensive positional versatility, which speaks to how comfortable he is defending up a position and is currently within the 87th percentile in matchup difficulty, meaning the Cavaliers have thrown him out there as a stopper against the opposition’s toughest perimeter matchups on almost a night toight basis. He’s limited Peyton Pritchard to 410, Josh Giddy to two of seven, RJ Barrett to a six, and Ben Mathan and Avita Zubach to 104, respectively. Overall, defensively, he’s shown that he can handle the difficult assignments, and that’s a big thing considering the Cavs moved off of their best perimeter defender in Isaac Auroro this past offseason. Now, when it comes to DeAndre Hunter, a player that I am a pretty big fan of as well, it’s less about his overall abilities and effectiveness as a starter because I know he is capable of doing so, but it’s more so about how to make best use of his skill set. Hunter has always been a player who thrives with the ball in his hands and that’s kind of what he’s been asked to do as of late with the season beginning the way it has because of all these injury woes that the Cavaliers have dealt with. It’s led to him having the highest utilization rate of his entire career at 22.3% which is in the 88th percentile among wings. And don’t get it twisted, he’s been a contributing factor most nights as he’s averaging 17.1 points per game and 4.6 6 rebounds and a career best 2.7 assist. That said, his increased usage is essentially a direct result of barely having both Darius Garland and Jared Allen available at the same time. When those two are healthy, the onball reps decline as he goes from high volume third option to underutilized fourth option. He has started every game he has appeared in this year and is averaging 48.8 touches per game, which is the fifth most on the team. Now, last year he averaged 32.7 in the 27 games post trade. This staggering elevation is purely the result of who is not available in my opinion. And it’s going to change again once the team returns to full strength or at the very least the starting lineup is healthy once more. And without Tai on the roster, there remains a pretty glaring need for on ball shot creation off the bench. I think that much is certain, that much is clear. And there’s perhaps no one else on this roster that is better suited to fill that void than that of DeAndre Hunter, who is basically the third best on ball creator on the roster behind that of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland. Evan isn’t quite there yet, but his increased touches do mean that the Cavaliers really see him that way and that he’s on his way. And that means that whoever starts at the three needs to be comfortable with playing more offball than on it. And it’s this that makes the conversation regarding who should star most compelling. Tyson has proven that he can be a reliable offball threat as he’s averaging 12.4 points while having a lowly 14.6% usage rate, which is within the 34th percentile among wings. He doesn’t need to have the ball in his hands offensively to be effective. He has shown that he makes the most of every shot attempt he gets with 85 of his 153 total field goal attempts being of the catch and shoot variety. 81 three-point attempts and even four two-point attempts coming that way. That’s over 55.5% of his field goal attempts. He has been assisted on 82% of his makes and 100% of his three-point makes. There is so much evidence to suggest he’s been at worst the Cavaliers second most effective offball threat this year. It’s between Sam Merrill, who is currently sidelined, and Tyson, which is crazy because I don’t think anybody predicted that to begin this season. Now, I don’t doubt that Hunter is capable of much the same. help. We got a good amount of film from just last year that suggests that he is a offball threat. As last year in the 27 games that he appeared in Cleveland during the regular season, he was able to knock down 43.1% of his catch and shoot attempts with the Cavs on good volume at over 109 total attempts. He was also extremely effective as a pull-up shooter from deep at 38.7%. he can reliably create for himself. And that is a very intriguing skill set to have coming off your bench. And from a defensive standpoint, Hunter has not fared as well as he did last year. Let’s just be honest. And I think some of this is because of how ineffective he’s been while defending at the four. In lineups in which he’s being asked to play the four, he has a defensive rating of 124.9, which is in the 9th percentile. Now, when he’s played at the three, it’s been much better at 113, which is in the 66th percentile. We saw the same pattern play out kind of last year. If you take a look, he’s allowed fors to shoot 62.9% so far, and he’s allowed guards to shoot 47.6%. I don’t think he’d be asked to play out of position as much if he’s coming off the mid. And it should be noted that the size that Hunter offers does matter. He does have a noticeable advantage in that area. Hunter at 67 has a 7 foot2 wingspan compared to Tyson who stands at roughly 66 or so who has a 68 wingspan. That type of stuff definitely can matter depending upon the matchup. Now having that additional balancing might matter in some matchups come the playoffs which is fair considering the lack of size in the back court. But my question to you all is does that actually matter if Tyson is making up for this size discrepancy with his highle effort and energy out there? because I’m not so sure it does. Tyson plays bigger than his listed size. He’s somebody that is never truly going to give up and you don’t have to worry about his general effectiveness if he doesn’t have the ball in his hands. Man’s absolutely money on the rebounds, especially the offensive glass. There’s little out there that I that h that I don’t have confidence in Tyson being able to bring to the table, especially within the comfort and confines of the starting unit where the pressure of onball creation is not going to be placed on his shoulders as you have Darius, Donovan, Evan, and you also have Jared out there who’s going to get his opportunities as well. So that fifth option, that fifth starter out there is, in my opinion, at this point in time, it makes a lot of sense to start Jaylen Tyson. Now, I say all this to say that there are valid arguments for both players, but as of right now, I do think that Jaylen Tyson should be the starting small forward for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Now, you guys may agree, you may disagree. Let me know why or why not in the comments section below. And as always, go Cavs.

Cleveland Cavaliers Wing Jaylon Tyson has truly made the most of his opportunities this season. I think he’s earned a full time starting role even when the team returns to full strength.

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