Cavs point guard Matthew Dellavedova is making an impact for his team in more than one way this season. Not only is he serving as a mentor to rookie Collin Sexton, he’s also dishing out an impressive number of assists and playing an important role on the team’s closing unit.
Delly is one of the hardest working players in the NBA. His motor never stops, and his teammates are praising his veteran leadership:
“He’s been just awesome since he’s gotten here,” Larry Nance Jr. told Chris Fedor of cleveland.com, referring to Dellavedova. “Just being a veteran presence and somebody we can all look to as this is how you should play. Night in and night out giving it his all, as unselfish as you can possibly ask for. He’s been the ultimate professional. So hopefully we’ve got Collin, Cedi (Osman), Marquese (Chriss), our young guys are kind of taking note of how he handles himself.”
Dellavedova has been dishing the rock with efficiency in recent games. In fact, he has racked up a whopping 30 assists in Cleveland’s last three games.
At times, Cavs head coach Larry Drew elects to play Dellavedova and Sexton at the same time. The strategy has been effective, and Sexton says he’s learning a lot from the Aussie star:
“When you’re out there, that’s when you start learning, especially certain plays in crunch time that you can go to,” Sexton said. “I feel like with him out there we both feed off each other.”
Crunch time is when Dellavedova shines brightest. He knows all of Cleveland’s plays like the back of his hand, which makes his teammates more comfortable down the stretch of close games. To put his ball security into perspective, he’s averaging just 0.7 turnovers in 6.6 fourth-quarter minutes.