Larry Drew Told Cavs Veterans to Take It Easy on Collin Sexton

Reports surfaced earlier this week that Cleveland Cavaliers rookie guard Collin Sexton had been the subject of criticism from his veteran teammates. That led Cavs head coach Larry Drew addressing the issue with the team in order to remove any further problems connected to a squad that’s now dropped 10 of their first 11 games.

Drew explained the situation on Wednesday:

“I didn’t read the article, what was wrote, but I was told what was in it, and I just didn’t think that was fair at all to go at a 19-year-old kid like that. As I told a couple of the guys, hey, you were 19 at one point.”

One of the key facets of that veteran criticism was directed at the belief that Sexton was ignoring bits of advice that had been offered. The rookie is just two years removed from playing at the high school level after having played last year for the University of Alabama.

Sexton was the eighth overall player selected in last June’s NBA draft and is seen as the centerpiece of the Cavaliers’ rebuilding focus. That rebuilding has been a disaster in the early going, with the extended injury absence of power forward Kevin Love aggravating the issue further.

In his first 11 games in the NBA, Sexton is averaging 10.9 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. However, indicative of his rookie status, he’s also averaging 2.2 turnovers per contest, averaging 24.7 minutes of time on the the court.

Sexton and his teammates will be looking to collect their second victory on Saturday night when they play a road contest in Chicago.