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Cavs dominate poll of NBA execs on young players to build around

By Josh Cornelissen

Evan Mobley (left), Darius Garland (middle) and Jarrett Allen of Team Cavs celebrate after winning the Taco Bell Skills Challenge. (Photo by Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports)
Evan Mobley (left), Darius Garland (middle) and Jarrett Allen of Team Cavs celebrate after winning the Taco Bell Skills Challenge. (Photo by Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports) /
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Darius Garland, Cleveland Cavaliers and Kevin Durant, Brooklyn Nets. Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images /

Cavs dominate poll of NBA execs: Darius Garland is #9

The NBA is flush with talented point guards right now. After a long stretch of shaky point guard prospects entering the league, with no true stars in the draft from 213 to 2017, there has been a massive influx of star floor generals over half-decade since. Of the 14 young players who got at least one vote in the poll, at least seven are point guards (eight if you count Cade Cunningham), the most of any other position by far.

The Cavs didn’t get left out in the cold either, which was a very real possibility in the 2019 NBA Draft. Many teams would have seen Collin Sexton on their roster and drafted a different position the following year, but the Cavs trusted their evaluation of Vanderbilt guard Darius Garland and took him fifth overall. That proved to be the right move.

Garland has improved every year he has been in the league, making the All-Star Game as a third-year guard last year. He has become not merely a good shooter but a genuine shot creator, and his playmaking and passing place him right there with any other player in the league. On a Cavs team last year that lost Sexton and Ricky Rubio to season-ending injuries and had very little shot creation support for Garland, he found a way to excel and led the Cavs to the brink of the playoffs.

After not making the previous iteration of this list back in January, a dominant rest of the season and a near-miss as the NBA’s Most Improve Player have earned Garland respect around the league. He tied with Trae Young and finished just behind LaMelo Ball, speaking to his standing leaguewide.