The Utah Jazz lost on Saturday to the Sacramento Kings for one key reason; the Kings shot better from three-point than the Jazz did. Namely, Keegan Murray did. Murray went 12-15 from three, hitting 36 of 47 points from beyond the line. His super-efficient night was nearly unheard of, and it allowed the Kings to pull out a relatively easy win.
And the game highlighted one of the most important, yet rarely talked about issues that come with starting someone like Collin Sexton in the starting lineup. Sexton is a highly efficient scorer. He knows where his shots are going to fall and that's where he likes to shoot from. He's the kind of guy you want as a sixth man on your team, and the reason why you don't want him starting under normal circumstances.
No, it's not his defense; but instead his shot selection. Sexton hits his shots, unlike other guards on the team, but he only hits them from inside the three-point line. Sexton shoots 50% of his shots from inside 10 feet from the basket. He hits about 60+% from that range too, giving more context to why he opts to shoot from so close.
And again, that's great if you're a sixth-man, who's taking the third most shots on your team. But when you're the top attempt's guy, you have got to shoot more often from three-point land, otherwise, you fall into the same trap that the Jazz did on Saturday. You simply get outpaced by guys who can shoot from outside all day long.
That's Sexton's biggest issue as a player. Not his lack of passing or his defense, but simply the fact that for him to be efficient at scoring, he has to essentially stop shooting from outside of 10 feet. He becomes very normal and at times inefficient when he's shooting from that deep, and if Sexton is going to take 18+ shots per game, he has got to shoot and make more shots from three. Otherwise, he'll never be able to lead a team to victory.