Evaluating Cavs guard rotation with Garland, Rubio out

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Kevin Pangos, Cleveland Cavaliers. Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images /

Who starts for Cavs at point guard?

The depth chart for the Cleveland Cavaliers at point guard reads as such: Darius Garland, Ricky Rubio, Kevin Pangos. All things being equal, “next man up” means that Pangos should slide into the starting lineup. Is that what is going to happen?

Pangos is a Canadian guard who attended Gonzaga and graduated in 2015. He went undrafted and spend the last six years playing in Europe, where he had a prolific career. In 2018 while with the Lithuanian club Zalgiris he made the EuroLeague Final Four, and just last season he made the All-EuroLeague First Team. One of the best guards in Europe, he looked like a great option for the team’s third point guard position.

That production has not translated over to the NBA in any meaningful way. Pangos has appeared in just 15 games, which isn’t that surprising or telling on its own given the quality of Garland and Rubio ahead of him. Yet even when absences have provided him an opportunity he has failed to capitalize, most recently and glaringly going scoreless in just eight minutes in the team’s loss to the New Orleans Pelicans Tuesday night.

Pangos is not very athletic and looks slow compared to NBA defenders. He is a smart basketball player with an array of craft moves, and when he does get to the rim he finishes well. The most important skill he needs to have with this roster fit is shooting, and Pangos has hit just 36.4 percent of his shots and 31.3 percent of his 3-pointers. Even if he starts, the Cavs can’t expect much offensive production out of him.

The problem is that there is no clear option elsewhere on the roster. Denzel Valentine has some playmaking chops, but he is even slower than Pangos and would struggle to create in the pick-and-roll with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. Dylan Windler can’t stay on the court and doesn’t have the handle necessary to initiate the offense.

The wild card factor is giving RJ Nembhard some run. He played 12 minutes in a blowout win over the Toronto Raptors and tallied six assists. In the G League this season he is averaging 6.2 assists per game. He isn’t a much better shooter than Pangos or Valentine but he isn’t worse, either. The Cavs could start Nembhard as their best pick-and-roll initiator with the bigs.