Chicago Bulls: No. 3 player selected after Wendell Carter Jr. – Collin Sexton
Sexton went 8th overall in the 2018 NBA Draft, meaning he was the selection made after the Bulls took WCJ 7th overall. The fit wasn’t ideal with Sexton, who like franchise cornerstone Zach LaVine is a scoring guard best suited playing next to a more traditional point guard.
Still, in a league that is directed at allowing more offense than defense, scoring is something teams can never have enough of. Additionally, the Bulls couldn’t have been so sure what they had in LaVine at the time of the 2018 NBA Draft that they wouldn’t select the best overall player just because of fit.
Sexton came out of Alabama as a player that could score seemingly at will. In college, he averaged 19.2 points per game in 33 games for the Crimson Tide. His scoring translated to the NBA fairly quickly despite some concerns over his size and play style in an NBA backcourt.
His scoring has increased fairly significantly in each of his three NBA seasons so far. Year one saw him put up a promising 16.7 points per contest. Somewhat surprisingly was how quickly his three-point shot became a weapon in the NBA. In that rookie season, he hit on 40.2 percent of his three-point attempts.
Now in year three, Sexton is proving himself to be an absolutely lethal scorer at the NBA level. He is averaging 23.9 points per game for the Cavaliers and is the centerpiece of their offensive production. Further, he is playing alongside another young guard in Darius Garland and both are finding their footing despite the lack of experience.
In simple terms, the Bulls would have been making the much wiser decision both long term and short term had they selected Sexton 7th overall instead of Carter Jr.