Charlotte Hornets head coach Charles Lee loves what Collin Sexton brings to the table.
After missing seven consecutive games with a strained left quadriceps, Charlotte Hornets guard Collin Sexton returned to action on December 23, and as expected, the rugged defender was rusty.
Sexton shot 2/7 from the field against the Washington Wizards in 16 minutes. He finished with 12 points.
However, Sexton has looked like himself in the past two games against the Orlando Magic and Milwaukee Bucks. The Alabama product scored 13 points (5/9 FG) against the Magic and 16 points (6/12 FG) against the Bucks.
After the Hornets lost to the Bucks, Charlotte head coach Charles Lee spoke how important Sexton is.
“I love his energy,” Lee said. “He elevates the group as soon as he steps on the court with his energy. And then offensively, he’s another guy for us to be able to have a really good ball-handler out there that can also score when we get to the bonus. He’s a guy that can get himself downhill and take advantage of some of the hand checking and physicality that might come into the game and get himself to the free throw line.
“So, Collin’s kind of added a lot of different elements and his voice is always present. But now it’s present and he’s playing, so it’s a huge added bonus for our group.”
Sexton has appeared in 24 games for the Hornets this season. He's averaging 15.3 points, 2.0 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game while shooting 48.6% from the field, 41.5% from 3 and 87.9% from the free-throw line.
“I would say it’s tough, it’s definitely tough,” Sexton said about returning from his injury. "But I have to be patient, have to be patient with my body and make sure my mind is connected to my body. I feel like the mind is something that most people don’t think about. Everybody is worried about the body, but your mind has to be connected so that you can go out there and perform the way you want to and not think and not overthink about it.
“And I feel like just getting back in the rhythm of things. I want to just continue to be patient and know that it does take a while. And I was out for three weeks, three and a half weeks. And you’re not going to just get everything back in one day.”