Collin Sexton is a relentless and tough point guard, perfect for the Cavaliers

Imagine you’re in a five-on-five basketball game, and everyone except you and two of your teammates gets thrown out of the game. Now imagine one of the players remaining on your team is Collin Sexton, the player who revitalized an Alabama basketball program that had only been to the NCAA tournament once since 2007. It’s safe to say you’d be in good hands, and so will the Cavaliers team that selected him No. 8 overall in this year’s NBA Draft.

With or without LeBron James, there’s plenty to love about Sexton.

After one starter fouled out, another got injured and the entire Crimson Tide bench got ejected for stepping on-court during an altercation, Sexton played just under 11 minutes in a three-on-five basketball game on Nov. 26 against Minnesota. Alabama trailed by 11 when their roster was reduced to just three players. Sexton took over, scoring 17 of his 40 total points in those minutes to cut Minnesota’s lead down as little as three.

The Golden Gophers won the game by five, but if anything became clear that night, it was that Sexton was a star in the making. But how does that star — one that shone brightest under a rare form of pressure usually reserved for playgrounds and backyards — translate to the highest level of competition in the world?

We’ll have to wait and see, but here’s what we know so far.

That’s because Sexton attacks with a head full of steam, and once he gets going, it’s really hard to slow him down. Some liken him to Russell Westbrook, though comparing a prospect to a triple-double machine and former league MVP might provide too big a set of shoes to fill. Another comparison has been Eric Bledsoe. Sexton will likely pave his own path; a dynamic player who could standout from the pack of this loaded draft class or fall between the cracks.

He’s 6’3, which is undersized at the guard spot. He’s not the greatest defender nor is he a lights-out shooter. He’s also not a true point guard in the sense of a floor general.

But what Sexton did at Alabama and projects to do in the NBA is simple: He leads. He leads with a motor that is second-to-none. He leads with an ability to get to the rim, where he scored the majority of his 19 points per game on 44.7 percent shooting from the field. And he helped lead the Crimson Tide to its first 20-win season since 2013 and a second-round appearance in the NCAA tournament, where they were knocked off by the eventual champion Villanova Wildcats.

Alabama head coach Avery Johnson played point guard in the NBA for 16 seasons and coached in the league another seven. He knows a pro basketball player when he sees one, and judging by what Johnson said in an interview with WJOX FM’s 3 Man Front, Sexton is a player projected to make an impact once he touches the floor.

“I think his speed, his high basketball IQ,” Johnson said Wednesday. “He’s a very explosive offensive player, and because of the space that he’s going to have on the court in the NBA because of the guys that he’s going to be playing with, it’s going to be lights out.

“I mean the kid is a high-level player. He plays both ends of the floor. He’s not a one-way player, he’s a two-way player. And because he’s got to guard some of the best point guards in the world he’s going to be very competitive. He’s got a lot of confidence, mental and physical toughness. So, I think a lot of attributes about his game translate to the NBA game.”

Good college players bust all the time, and sleeper picks turn into all-stars just as often. It’s hard to tell how a player’s career will pan out five years down the road. Just look at what the Cavaliers did when they drafted Anthony Bennett.

But Young Bull can hoop, and there’s no doubt about that. He’s a slasher who has areas to improve in his game — specifically the aforementioned areas of three-point shooting (33.6 percent at Bama), court-vision (3.6 assists per game as lead guard) and defense.

But when someone can flat out play basketball, you don’t pass him up. The Cavaliers didn’t, and now Collin Sexton is on the clock.

How Collin Sexton went from unranked to 5-star recruit in one summer
By Ricky O’Donnell, Oct. 24, 2016

Washington describes Sexton as a “throwback,” and not just because of how relentless he is on the court. He is also the rare teenager with no Facebook, no Twitter, no Instagram, and no Snapchat.

“The first time he got ranked, the kids were running around the school congratulating him,” Washington said. “He didn’t know what people were congratulating him for. I see him at my door and he’s telling me come here, come here. I’m like, ‘Oh God, what’s wrong?’”

Washington informed him he was now ranked a top-25 recruit. Sexton shrugged and went back to class.

Alabama nearly beat Minnesota 3-on-5 because of Collin Sexton
By Matt Ellentuck, Nov. 25, 2017

Minnesota head coach Richard Pitino joked after the game that Sexton could beat an entire team on his own.

Maybe he wasn’t kidding.

Sexton should put this game on every NBA general manager’s desk. He finished with 40 points, but the buckets he was draining by himself were the most impressive. Even when the Tide were down to just TWO other options, the Gophers couldn’t contain the potential lottery guard.

Collin Sexton is a March Madness hero in the making
By Matt Ellentuck, March 9, 2018

Sexton is extremely here to beat your team’s ass and show you how much gas he has left after it’s all over. He’ll shimmy his way down the court Steph Curry-style after a made three. He’s the kind of guy who’s ready to play in the semifinals five minutes after the quarterfinals are over. That’s the type of cutthroat competitor he is, and that’s why you, non-Alabama fan, will curse this kid out like he’s Grayson Allen come next week.

Collin Sexton would fit the Cavaliers, with or without LeBron James
By Jeff Siegel, Fear the Sword, June 19, 2018

In an era where a lot of top point guards are score-first, pass-later, Sexton fits this period in league history perfectly. A developing three-level scorer, he can get to the rim with a lightning-quick first step, already possesses a strong pull-up mid-range jumper, and can punish defenses who go under ball screens at the three-point line. He’s not perfect — that three-point jumper can be shaky at times and he’ll have to prove he can hit it consistently before teams guard him out there — but he’s already an aggressive, efficient scorer in the half-court and transition to take some of the usage load from James or take the lead guard responsibilities for a less competitive team.

Learn more about Alabama’s first draft pick in a decade
By Brent C. Taylor, Roll Bama Roll

Despite the hype, however, Sexton has always been known as a blue-collar, no-nonsense kind of guy who thrives under pressure rather than buckle under expectations. He’s a fiery competitor on the court, and a perfect student-athlete off of it. He finished his one year of college with a 4.0 GPA, despite knowing from day one that he was only going to be there for one year. He doesn’t have any social media, and has never been involved in any sort of off-court drama that drags down so many famous athletes today.