Sexton can be ‘perennial All-Star’ for Cavs
Alabama coach says guard not afraid of playing on big stage.
CLEVELAND — If Alabama coach Avery Johnson is right about Collin Sexton, the Cavaliers are going to be happy with their 2018 draft pick.
“I think he’s ready for the NBA and has the potential to be a perennial All-Star,” Johnson said Friday.
The Cavs took Sexton eighth overall in Thursday’s NBA draft. He’s 19 and played one season for Johnson at Alabama, where he was the Southeastern Conference’s freshman of the year and averaged 19.2 points.
Of course Johnson had nothing but glowing things to say about his prized pupil, who’s moving on to bigger and better (hopefully, for Cleveland’s sake) things with the Cavs. But Johnson played 16 seasons in the NBA and is a former NBA head coach and TV analyst.
So while guarding against some of the hyperbole that might flow from a proud coach’s mouth the morning after his top player was drafted in the lottery, Johnson’s predictions of Sexton’s NBA future carry some credibility.
Again, that’s potentially a good thing for the Cavs.
“The Cleveland Cavaliers are getting an outstanding player, a player that I think is going to be a better pro than what he was as a collegiate player because of all the space and games are longer,” Johnson said. “He’s going to be playing with more experienced players. He’s a multilevel player. He can get the ball to the basket and finish. Great mid-range game. Much improved 3-point shooter. And then he’s going to be very competitive on the defensive end.”
Johnson said Sexton “didn’t need to come to college” and “could’ve gone straight out of high school” into the NBA. As of now, all high school players must either play in college for one season or wait until they’re 19 to be drafted.
He said the first time he saw Sexton play was shortly after being hired at Alabama in 2015, at the Crimson Tide’s team camp, when Sexton was “cruising down the floor at about 1,000 miles an hour and shooting the ball and just outplaying everybody.”
This was the summer after Sexton’s sophomore year of high school in Georgia, and at the time, Johnson said, Sexton only had two collegiate offers, from Kennesaw State and one from Georgia State.
“I said well let’s get this kid to my office immediately, I need to talk to him,” Johnson said.
Johnson said Sexton changed his diet during his year with the Tide, changing from “chicken wings” to “vegetables and salads.” And as anyone might, Johnson points to the 40 points Sexton scored in a November game against Minnesota, a game in which the Tide finished with only three players because the entire bench was ejected and two other players were lost to fouls and injury. Alabama nearly won the game anyway because of Sexton.
“He was basically in tears because he thought we were going to win the game,” Johnson said. “That’s part of his DNA. It’s real, and that’s what I appreciate about him.”
On Thursday night, Cavs general manager Koby Altman said he viewed Sexton as a starter right away, though he’d defer to coach Tyronn Lue on that decision. Altman also mentioned Sexton’s play during the SEC Tournament, where he pushed the Tide to two wins and scored 31 points with six 3s in a victory over Auburn, as the moment when the Cavs became serious about him.
Johnson said bigger games are better for Sexton, who has good size at 6-foot-3 and more than 190 pounds.
“He’s not afraid of the big stage, the lights,” Johnson said. “When you’re playing against all of these elite point guards in the NBA (Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, etc.), he’s not going to ask anybody for their autographs, OK? He’s going to show them a healthy dose of respect, but he’s going to think he belongs on the floor.”