NEW YORK -- As the season progressed and rookie Collin Sexton began showing up on the scouting report more frequently, the Cleveland Cavaliers noticed opponents targeting Sexton.

The Cavs were making it easier, often asking Sexton to initiate offense with the ball in his hands, so they made a slight tweak from time to time, moving him off the ball.

“He is so used to having the ball in his hands and I think him playing off the ball can really enhance his game even more because when teams do go through scouting reports and prepare against us, I’m sure they prepare with him being on the ball a lot,” Cavs head coach Larry Drew said. "We can move him off the ball, but get the ball to him. Allow him to be himself.”

There are still plenty of moments throughout when Sexton is the conductor on offense. He has the third-highest usage rate on the team behind Jordan Clarkson and Kevin Love.

But Drew has slowly started to change that, having Sexton play alongside veteran Matthew Dellavedova.

“Having Delly in there helps Collin a lot,” Drew said. “We’ve gone through the situations where we’ve had Delly and Collin in there together where we’ve let Delly handle the ball the majority of the time, then we’ve done it where we’ve let Collin handle it a majority of the time. He’s learning. The thing about Collin, he’s a sponge. He kinda soaks everything in. He’s always looking to get better.”

Sometimes, Cleveland even deploys a three-guard lineup, tossing in Brandon Knight or Clarkson with Dellavedova and Sexton. Love’s return has been a boost as well, giving Cleveland its offensive focal point. Love, a versatile player with deft passing skills, allows the offense to flow a different way and Love has formed good chemistry with Sexton. This recent change in personnel has given Drew options. It’s made the Cavs’ offense less predictable while not having to run through Sexton as much.

“He was not playing off the ball at the beginning of the season,” Drew said of Sexton. “When he and George Hill were playing the backcourt together, kind of mixed it up a bit, but I think right now with him and Brandon back there, I would love to see him off the ball even more."

Drew made a similar adjustment with Knight in his Milwaukee days. As Knight said shortly after his arrival, Drew doesn’t put “players in a box.” Drew used Knight on and off the ball, bouncing between the two, and giving Knight the confidence that he could do thrives in each situation.

Earlier this season, the Cavs were trying to ease Sexton into the treacherous NBA waters slowly. He came off the bench for the first 10 games. But when Hill went down with an injury in November, Sexton moved into the starting point guard role. That gave him more responsibility. With Love also sidelined, the offense typically ran through Sexton. The results were mixed, with plenty of growing pains.

This season has been, in large part, about experimenting. The Cavs need questions answered heading into the offseason. The only way to get them is by tossing players into different situations and seeing what happens. Some lineup combinations will work and others won’t. Some players will flourish in new roles and others will flounder. It’s all part of learning. Hesitant at times to use the Dellavedova-Sexton tandem, it’s become a fine pairing. The two play well off each other, the Cavs play with an increased pace (109.0), the assist rate skyrockets to 63.9 percent and, most importantly, it gives Sexton a shot to showcase different aspects of his game.

According to Drew, Sexton has a way to go, but is getting much more comfortable in the off-the-ball role.

“I think he will appreciate it even more once he gets a true feel for it,” Drew said. “I don’t think he has a true feel for it right now, but I think as he’s put in that position a lot more the more comfortable he will get and I think he will see the true value of it.”

It’s added value for the Cavs as well. While they evaluate prospects for this upcoming draft, where they will have two first-round picks, Cleveland won’t have to dismiss a prospect simply because of positional concerns. Can Ja Morant of Murray State play alongside Sexton? Should Duke sensation RJ Barrett be discounted because he’s a ball-dominant guard? What if the Cavs tumble out of the top 5 and need to consider Vanderbilt point guard Darius Garland? Should all those players be overlooked because Sexton is already here?

These questions are much easier to answer, especially with Sexton diversifying his game.