Cavs: Darius Garland and Collin Sexton are establishing themselves as dynamic duo

I had a conversation the other day with a friend of mine talking about the Cleveland Cavaliers and their guards Collin Sexton and Darius Garland and we were contemplating what the two of them do well at, who does better at what and who would you take to hit the game winner?

Now, my friend isn’t the biggest Cavs fan and was basically suggesting that the Cavs are still a long way off from being a contender. I, of course, was defending the young Cavaliers and where they’re heading, hopefully north and rising in the league.

Both Sexton and Garland are a formidable duo and will help the Cavs eventually get to the playoffs. Maybe not this season, but certainly next season.

Garland and Sexton are establishing themselves as a dynamic duo for the Cavs that seem to just be getting started.

Sexton has one more year under his belt in the NBA compared to Garland. With that extra year, Sexton’s scoring averages have gone up gradually. After his initial season of averaging just under 17 points, he’s now up to over a 24-point average. Sexton is the shooter/scorer and can maybe get to the rim from the outside a bit more smoothly with that extra year of play.

Garland is, by my eye, the more talented guard, who might not score as much as Sexton, but is the more “pure shooter” and his athleticism and acrobatic moves, as he flies to the rim, are more impressive then Sexton. His 17 points a game average is handy but it’s his six-assists average that impresses me more.

Garland is the point guard and Sexton is the shooting guard. It’s been interesting watching these two play together, separately and sometimes not at all. The other night, in the game against the Chicago Bulls, in the 121-105 victory, both Sexton and Garland took a breather for a good five minutes of playing time.

I was a bit surprised by this move, granted the Cavs were comfortable winning by 25 points at the time, but that lead faded down to only 12 points when both Sexton and Garland sat. Cavs assistant coach Greg Buckner was filling in for head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, in fairness in that one, too, who was not on the sidelines Wednesday due to personal reasons.

In any case, it finally seems like both players are playing better together. It hasn’t always seemed that way. I believe Garland has to be the point guard and run the team from the top. Sexton, the shoot-first guy, needs to continue to work on that shot and work in a few new shots over the offseason.

Both Sexton and Garland have developed nice “tear drop” shots toward the rim on those runners in the lane. Garland has a bit more razzle dazzle to those shots yet, a bit more frustrated with himself when those shots aren’t falling.

Sexton also seems to be more mature with that extra year of NBA play. His demeanor after games seems to be more seasoned with experience. Garland is mature too, but still shows a bit more of that collegiate youth, when discussing the situations and the team.

It’s very impressive that Garland reached 200 made three pointers in his career to this point, faster than any other Cavalier in history, including the likes of Kyrie Irving, Mark Price or LeBron James. The kid loves to shoot that three, although I don’t care for his one foot inside the three-point arc to then step back three shot. Going away from the basket isn’t exactly the highest percentage shot.

But even with the mistakes Garland makes at this point, I always get the sense that Garland’s upside is going to continue to grow.

Sexton will grow with his game too but not at the same rate and that’s where these two are different. With that idea in mind, it often has me wondering how these two will co-exist moving forward? Can Sexton not get overly jealous and be willing to understand that his game is different from Garland’s but he’s never going to have as much talent as Garland?

If the Cavaliers can continue to find more young talent from the upcoming draft and build pieces to support Sexton and Garland, such as Isaac Okoro from this past draft, I think the Cavs will enter the playoff picture.

Recently, Garland spoke of Sexton, via Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, by saying the following, which was really encouraging looking onward.

That brotherhood is an important key to these two helping the Cavs reach new heights.

And these two, at this moment, seem to be especially fond of each other and that always helps when wanting to build a winner. One would expect their relationship to only grow closer from here, too.