Making the Case

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Back in June, the nickname “Young Bull” sounded cool, but nobody exactly knew why he got it. Now we do.

Collin Sexton is relentless. He’s driven and undaunted. And when the ball tips at center court, the kid sees red.

With only a handful of games remaining in his first season as a pro, the former Alabama standout – who made his bones in a game in which his team was literally down two players – has posted a prolific rookie season.

Outnumbered but not outgunned, Sexton nearly beat a ranked Minnesota team by himself, putting himself on every NBA team’s radar – (notably Cleveland’s) – later becoming the No. 8 overall pick, the Cavaliers’ first in the post-LeBron Era.

The Mableton, Georgia native hit the ground running in Vegas Summer League – scoring almost at will and providing arguably the most iconic image of the invitational, knuckling down into an aggressive defensive stance in a semifinal showdown against Josh Hart and the Lakers.

That seems like a long time ago for the Wine & Gold’s most durable player, who deserves a spot on the NBA’s All-Rookie First Team after posting one of the best rookie seasons in franchise history, with numbers comparable to some of the Association’s all-time greats.

Here’s his case …

Because Collin Sexton had a standout Summer League doesn’t mean that everything came easy at the beginning.

The Wine & Gold made a coaching change just six games into his budding career and for the first 10 games of the season, the rookie played understudy to George Hill – coming off the bench to start the season before getting his first start on November 7 against Oklahoma City. At that point, it was still unclear if the then-19-year-old was ready for primetime, especially after tallying nine combined points in the two previous games.

But you don’t get the nickname “Young Bull” by backing down – and in his first start against one of the Western Conference’s true heavyweights, he came through with flying colors, finishing with a team-high 15 points on 7-for-14 shooting.

He’s started every game since – finishing with 20 points in his next outing; 24 two games later.

But even after entering the starting lineup and rattling off 18 straight double-digit performances, he continued to suffer the slings and arrows of a critical punditry, with the infamous “rookie wall” lurking at every turn.

Coach Larry Drew refused to let Sexton stop pushing – and by the time he turned 20 on January 4 it was obvious that this was no ordinary rook. And although he started running low on fuel in January, Sexton found a new gear in February – posting back-to-back 27-point performances against Boston and Washington, setting up a final flurry in March and April that has him ranked near the top of his class in nearly every offensive category.

The good ones don’t bounce off the “rookie wall.” They run through it – and Sexton has come through much stronger on the other side.

This year’s Cavaliers squad has been beset by injuries all season long – beginning with Kevin Love’s toe injury four games into the season and extending to Matthew Dellavedova’s extended absence as the campaign draws to a close.

This year, Larry Drew’s been forced to use 30 different starting lineups after losing a combined 260 player games due to injury or illness.

Jordan Clarkson has missed just a single game so far and Cedi Osman has only been out for six. Only Collin Sexton – who played 33 games in his single season in Tuscaloosa – has suited up for every game this year. He’ll log over 2,600 minutes when the campaign’s all said and done – just another rookie category in which he’ll finish at the top.

It’s not as if Sexton stands out at the three-point arc or avoids contact around the rim. Quite the opposite – the Young Bull loves driving to the rack and initiating contact, almost to fault at times.

For almost the entire season, the Wine & Gold have been outside the Playoff picture, looking in. Sexton could have easily taken a game or two off to get a break from the grind or simply recharge his battery. But Numeral 2 has attacked his first NBA season with the same intensity that guides him into those tall trees without fear.

If we’re looking at this thing chronologically, everything spells out that Collin Sexton has simply gotten better as the season’s worn on.

It’s not like he got off to a slow start. Sexton posted five 20-point games in his first month as a full-time starter – including a career-best 29-point performance in a rousing home win over James Harden and the Rockets (one night after finishing with 23 in a road win over the Sixers).

Sexton scored at least 20 points in three of the first five games of December, but started running a little low on fuel into the holidays and into January – failing to reach the 20-point plateau at any point during that stretch. And over the final three games of the month and first game of February, Sexton looked tired – shooting just 28 percent from the floor over that stretch.

But a new player emerged just before the All-Star Break – averaging 22.8 points per in the five games before the midseason classic – and he’s been on a tear ever since.

In March, he began posting historic numbers – tallying at least 23 points in a seven-game stretch, becoming the first rookie in franchise history to achieve that feat and becoming the first freshman since Tim Duncan in 1998 to do so.

When that particular streak came to an end, he still notched 20 points in his next game against the Clippers – joining Ron Harper as the only Cavs rookie to net at least 20 points in eight straight games as well tying Atlanta’s Trae Young for the longest run by any rookie this year.

Over that 13-game span dating back to March 8, Sexton is averaging an even 24.0 points per – shooting .524 from the floor, .468 from long-range and .902 from the stripe.

The 20-year-old has logged more games and more minutes than any of his teammates or contemporaries – yet he seems to be getting stronger as the season rolls on.

Anyone who’s met or talked with the 20-year-old point guard isn’t surprised that he’s unafraid to take the big shot. He’s got a quiet confidence mixed with an almost oblivious attitude about the pressure that he’s actually under.

The Cavaliers haven’t been on the winning end of many games this season, but Sexton has been instrumental in almost all of them.

He out-dueled two-time All-Star Bradley Beal – netting 29 points to Beal’s 27 in a win over Washington, scoring 20 points and grabbing the game’s biggest rebound in a home victory over the Grizzlies and dropping a game-high 28 points as the Cavaliers stunned Toronto on March 11 at The Q.

But the Young Bull gave Cavalier fans a tantalizing look into the future – and his ability to hit clutch, game-deciding late shots under pressure.

One week after upsetting the Raptors, Sexton was back to work against Detroit – which had clobbered Cleveland by 36 points in the previous meeting – drilling his fourth triple of the night to erase a Pistons lead, finishing with 27 points on 10-for-16 shooting in the victory.

Two nights later against the league’s top squad, Sexton notched eight of his 25 points in the fourth quarter – including a bomb from the corner with 1:42 remaining to extend Cleveland’s lead to two possessions and a driving layup one minute later to again extend the lead to five as the Cavs stunned the Bucks before a sellout crowd in Cleveland.

The Cavaliers aren’t Playoff contenders this season, but they’ll be back in the hunt in the near future. And they know there’s a late-game weapon at the point who’s ready to fire.

OK, here’s the part where we put Sexton’s season into an historic context – and compare him against his impressive rookie classmates.

We discussed his 23-point game streak that placed him in the same sentence as Tim Duncan. Sexton is also just the third rookie – joining Larry Bird and Stephen Curry – to log at least 2,000 points, average at least 16.0 points and shoot at least 40 percent from beyond the arc.

Earlier this season, Sexton – who came out of college with the knock that he couldn’t shoot – broke Kyrie Irving’s franchise rookie record for three-pointers, having now drained 110 triples on the year with the meter still running. He also became just the 26th rookie in NBA history to score over 1,000 points and hit over 100 three-pointers in a season.

In terms of his 2018 Draft Class, Sexton leads the pack in several categories.

He ranks 1st in double-digit scoring games with 68 and in free throw percentage – hitting on an .840 clip. He ranks 2nd in three-point percentage at .407, third in points per game at 16.6 – elevating his average by 2.2ppg since early March. He ranks 3rd with 26 20-point games and 5th in assists at 2.8apg.

This year, he’s led the squad in scoring 24 times, 14 games in assists and 14 more in steals.

The 2018 Draft was a good one – producing future stars like DeAndre Ayton, Trae Young, Luka Doncic, Marvin Bagley III and Sexton. Some rookies barely got a chance to shine, with injuries cutting their seasons short. Wendell Carter Jr., Jaren Jackson Jr., Zhaire Smith and Michael Porter Jr. fall into that category.

Among his classmates, it’s fairly obvious that the Young Bull should be on the All-Rookie squad’s starting five.

He’s put up the numbers. He fought through early adversity. He’s won the admiration of teammates, coaches and opponents. He’s tough and durable. He’s survived and thrived under pressure.

Case closed.