Cleveland Cavaliers: All aboard the Collin Sexton hype train

Collin Sexton is only getting started for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The recently-turned 22-year-old did miss five games due to a left ankle sprain before returning on Wednesday versus the Brooklyn Nets, but either way, he had been Cleveland’s clear scoring leader with 25.1 points per outing coming into then.

Now, the Cavs have been brutalized by injuries this season, as evidenced by Kevin Love having only been active in one game thus far because of a right calf strain/reaggravation of that. Darius Garland (right shoulder sprain) has missed the past eight games for Cleveland, also, for instance, and Dylan Windler (left hand fracture) has been sidelined since the first game.

Fortunately, it seems as though Windler and Garland could both be back on Friday, which should make a difference for Cleveland’s offense.

In any case, what’s apparent is that Sexton is this club’s #1 option looking onward, and his performance against the Nets on Wednesday in a double-overtime thriller was more evidence of that. Sexton had a career-high 42 points in that W against the NBA’s latest Big Three having been constructed, albeit it was the first game for the Kyrie Irving-James Harden-Kevin Durant trio together.

That said, Sexton having 22 points in the overtime periods, including scoring 20 straight at one point, was otherworldy, as KJG’s Grant Puskar hit on.

That scoring output after the fourth quarter was the second-most in the NBA in the past 20 years, according to Elias Sports Bureau, and was just behind D’Angelo Russell. Russell actually had 24 points in a triple-overtime W for then the Nets over the Cavs in 2019.

On the season after that unreal performance, Sexton is now averaging 27.0 points on a scorching 62.2 percent true shooting, when factoring in he’s a guard, and he’s hit 50.0 percent of his three-point attempts so far in 2020-21. And from here, I’d only expect Sexton to keep lighting it up for the Cavaliers.

Now, the scoring splits will drop some, but I wouldn’t think a ton, and frankly, based on how he closed out last season, this kid is just getting started, in the grand scheme.

All aboard the Sexton hype train, Cavs fans, and anybody else, really.

In Wednesday’s game, which was the first game in which Kyrie returned to play the Cavs in Cleveland, and ironically, was against Collin Sexton, who turned out to be a piece involved in the prior Cavs-Boston Celtics Irving-centric trade, Sexton’s outing was fitting.

That added another layer to the outburst from Sexton, really, and it’s evident that Irving was happy was for Collin, even though it was a close loss for his Nets. These comments from him, honestly, were refreshing, and it was cool that showed Sexton love postgame, via Evan Dammarell of Forbes and Fear The Sword.

Kevin Durant gave Sexton props, too, via Dammarell, which was noteworthy.

In terms of a few key bits of praise for Sexton tweeted out, these from Larry Nance Jr. and Donovan Mitchell jumped out to me as well, and they just seemed to add more pub for what Sexton has been able to do for the Cavs thus far this season.

Moreover, it’s clear that with Collin, he’s one of the league’s most promising, and productive, young scorers.

Last season, Sexton closed out what would end up being his last 25 games leading into the novel coronavirus-induced hiatus/end of 2019-20, from the Cavs standpoint, with a scoring clip of 24.2 points per outing on 50.3 percent shooting. He hit 45.2 percent of his deep ball attempts in that stretch, too.

While I know when Cleveland gets healthier, and gets Garland, and then Love, back, Sexton’s scoring will dip a bit, it’s apparent that Sexton’s not going to sneak up on anybody anymore. He hasn’t seemingly had a plethora of national pub dating back to last season, albeit has appeared to a bit more this season, and that’s been nice to see.

Jonathan Tjarks of The Ringer gave Sexton his props on Thursday after his monster performance on Wednesday. Although he did stress how the Cavs are having Sexton just get buckets and that his playmaking has been minimal, in comparison to other elite scorers this season, who’ve countered their bucket-getting more that way.

Tjarks then alluded to how the Cavs success moving forward will relate to Garland seemingly keeping his quality production this year going, and with the Cavs looking onward being able to surround Sexton and/or Garland with key defenders. And Cleveland head coach J.B. Bickerstaff has done that, and I’d imagine Larry Nance Jr., Jarrett Allen, Isaac Okoro and Damyean Dotson, among others, will continue to factor into that.

Sexton has made strides on-ball defensively, too, though, I believe, and in a secondary playmaking realm, to me.

Anyhow, considering that Collin is a tireless worker, seems to be so humble and has continually proved to be a big-time bucket-getter, the Sexton hype train is building up steam.

For those perhaps not as familiar with what the Young Bull’s been doing but are starting to take notice, you’ll be sold quickly. And to those peeps, I say, “All aboard.”

The hype involving the Young Bull is only going to pick up more and more from here, too.