Is the grade for the Utah Jazz’s Collin Sexton fair or foul?

The Utah Jazz’s Collin Sexton is an important piece for the team but is his draft grade fair or foul?

When the Utah Jazz traded away Donovan Mitchell to the Cleveland Cavaliers, one of the big pieces in return for the prized guard was young-budding prospect, Collin Sexton. Sexton showed off an impressive ability to get inside the three-point line and get a shot off, usually with a high rate of efficiency. The young guard hustles hard, but his game isn’t very dynamic.

He doesn’t take a lot of three-point attempts, though the ones he does tend to go in ahead of the league average. He doesn’t pass a bunch but did have a season where he averaged four per game. And while he isn’t great (or even good) on defense, his defensive box plus-minus has improved over the years.

He’s capable, but flawed. A 20-point per-game scorer if used right, but could be a 25+ point-per-game guy if he challenged people more at the rim and shot more threes. Instead, he relies on his pull-up game to great effect, shooting 35% of his shots from outside the paint but inside the three-point line. Anywhere from 3′ to 10′ from the basket is where he feels most comfortable pulling up from.

He isn’t perfect, but he’s a solid player. So is the “C” grade given to him by the YouTube Channel Sporting Logically, and its owner Tucker, fair?

It’d be easy to slam the “C” grade, but the points made aren’t unfair, and they center unsurprisingly around Sexton’s health. He’s missed most of the last two seasons due to a knee injury, so his output and performances have been limited in the past. This is the first time since the start of the 2021-2022 season that Sexton is coming into the season with expectations. Last year it was just to get him healthy.

This year, it’s about seeing him return to form. And while knee injuries are far easier to recover from now as opposed to 40, or even just 20 years ago, you still have to see how his body recovers and rebounds. Can he play 60-70 games this year? Who knows.

And if he can, will his quickness and zip still be there? Will his knees hold up? Will his shot keep its form?

There are so many questions to ask, so it’s not unfair to not give Sexton a high grade. He has potential but like with Lauri Markkanen before him, Sexton has to prove that the potential can be turned into more. So for that reason, we’re not against the “C” grade. We think it’s more of a “C+”, but it’s understandable why it’s not higher.