Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 best draft selections of the 2010’s

#3: Collin Sexton

In the 2018 NBA Draft, the Cleveland Cavaliers selected Collin Sexton eighth overall. For a quick recap, this was a pick that Cleveland acquired from the Boston Celtics via the Brooklyn Nets back before the 2017-18 season where Kyrie Irving was traded to Boston following a trade request by him.

Though that deal didn’t work out, it would eventually lead to via another deal with the Los Angeles Lakers near the 2018 deadline of which now Cleveland still has an ever-improving big in Larry Nance Jr., too.

Moreover, the third-best pick for Cleveland of the 2010’s at this point has to be Sexton.

Sexton was up and down in his rookie season, and is clearly not a natural playmaker as a score-first guard, and last season in particular, he mightily struggled defensively.

He did show some growth in terms of his passing willingness in the last few months of last season and it was a positive to see Sexton feel more comfortable in terms of catch-and-shoot three-point shooting volume really post-All-Star break as a rookie.

That played a significant role in Sexton averaging 20.8 points per game post-All-Star on 55.0 percent true shooting, as opposed to just 48.0 percent on the season, noted by NBA.com, and Sexton had 3.2 assists per outing in that stretch.

Looking at this current season, Sexton is stronger than as a rookie, which has helped him as a finisher, and he’s even shown some power as a dunker as well even in settled offense, as evidenced by him having 23 dunks already thus far, per Basketball Reference.

Along with that, though Sexton does still take his share of mid-range looks, those have come more in-rhythm this year, and Sexton has shown the ability to change speeds in the pick-and-roll game, and he’s hit 44.6 percent of his attempts from 10-16 feet. Plus, Sexton has shot 38.0 percent from three-point range, too, and on the season, he leads the Cavaliers in scoring with 20.8 points per game on 51.7 percent effective field goal shooting.

Post-All-Star break leading into the NBA’s season suspension, Sexton was on an unreal tear, too, with 25.5 points per game, and while a groin injury to Garland likely played into it a bit, Sexton did show continued strides as a passer with 4.2 assists per outing in that span.

Plus, this season, Sexton has shown real improvement as an on-ball perimeter defender, and has been gotten through on-ball screens to contest better, and he has had 65 steals thus 65 games played to this point, as compared to having just 44 steals in 82 games in 2018-19.

Looking forward, I see Sexton as Cleveland’s primary option next season and feasibly beyond that, and under the direction of head J.B. Bickerstaff and others, such as assistant coach Lindsay Gottlieb, I’d imagine a tireless worker in Sexton will continue to shine in a huge way for the Cavs.

He’s not the Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Doncic or the Atlanta Hawks’ Trae Young, but Sexton looks to have been a heck of a selection previously at eighth overall in the 2018 NBA Draft by Cleveland.