Cleveland Cavaliers: The case for Collin Sexton in 2019-20

Collin Sexton has been proving critics wrong since he was first discovered way back in high school. He stuck to that trend for the Cleveland Cavaliers during the 2019-20 season. But unsurprisingly, there are still doubters. So to potentially churn those doubters in the other direction, here is the case for Sexton.

Collin Sexton is no stranger to doubters and naysayers; he also is no stranger to adversity. He went from unranked high school point guard to elite, highly-coveted recruit in just one summer back in 2016.

He went on to drag a rather underwhelming Alabama Basketball team to a March Madness victory the following year; thereby forcing his name into top-10 draft conversations. Sexton wore the “underdog” persona to the podium when he ended up getting drafted 8th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2018.

That persona would never leave him though; neither would the criticism around his game. Heck, to start his rookie year that criticism came in the form of his own teammates when they said he “doesn’t know how to play.”

The flack from fans was soon to follow. Entering the draft they slammed his seemingly poor shooting ability (he shot 34 percent from 3 in college); he then shot 40 percent from 3 as a rookie. They soon referenced his rather historically poor BPM ranking (Box Plus/Minus) as a prime example. Fans chalked him up as an inefficient shot-chucker who had poor vision and some of the worst defense in the league. (in 2018-19, only Trae Young and Devin Booker ranked below him in D-PIPM; which stands for Defensive Player Impact Plus-Minus, for those curious).

Despite Sexton improving in nearly every statistical category (most notably upping his scoring output to over 20 points per game) and him being the driving force behind Cleveland’s offense, those “advanced-stats” driven narratives – unfortunately – stuck with him like glue. And perhaps, that is for a fair reason. Sexton still ranks in the bottom 35 (bottom 10 percent in the league) in PIPM (again, Player Impact Plus-Minus); he also ranks 233/250 according to FiveThirtyEight’s RAPTOR rankings (another advanced “impact” statistic).

Then there are those fans like me; the ones who show potentially irrational favoritism towards a player who goes against the consensus grain (as well as the analytical grain, as seen above). I have been an avid Sexton supporter ever since he came onto the scene back in 2016. I believe Sexton is a great basketball player, one who is destined for success in the NBA. I’ve taken part in countless arguments over that belief; I’ve been berated with the aforementioned advanced stats and slammed with the “inefficient shot-chucker who can’t pass or defend” moniker on countless occasions.

Yet still, I remain grounded in my belief: Collin Sexton is a good player. But why?

That is the premise of this piece. Perhaps this is more a “passion piece” of mine; attempting to explain to the masses why I’m in such strong support of Sexton’s game. Before writing this I went to a friend, and fellow FanSided contributor of mine, who’s favorite players are as follows: Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony, and LaMarcus Aldridge (so yeah, he’s no stranger to explaining his love for a player who goes against that masses). I asked him “what should my premise be?” in writing this article. He essentially replied by saying “man, you just have to leave all out there! Don’t hold anything back; layout everything.”

So with that said, here it is, my case for Collin Sexton.