Darius Kinnard Garland

[Los216]

I have nothing against Garland and couldn't care less about his agent. It's a tad bit defensive to suggest that anyone who can't obviously see him as the future at PG for this team must have ulterior motives. If he's going to be our full time PG playmaker I want to see it on the court. IMO he hasn't come anywhere near showing that yet. He's going to get his chance to start this season so we'll see.

And you think it's fair to expect him to be our full time playmaker at PG while playing him next to an undersized scoring guard?

This is what I don't understand with people who are critical of Darius Garland. Is he supposed to just overcome playing next to Colin Sexton? How about you don't play him next to Sexton and maybe you could actually let him develop.

This reminds me so much about how people were critical of Steph Curry because he wasn't as good at scoring early on as Monte Ellis was when Monte Ellis should never have been starting next to Steph in the first place.

So if Darius Garland is ever going to be good here it's all on him to overcome the ineptitiude of this team building strategy?

 

[daddywags]

So now it's Sexton's fault?

 

[Los216]

So now it's Sexton's fault?

No. It's not Sexton's fault but for some reason Darius Garland is the only player on the team who is being told to just play through the bullshit failure that the team set him up for.

Remember when we drafted Dion Waiters and Tristan Thompson with back to back #4 picks and people were questioning why Kyrie couldn't get him teammates involved and didn't look like a real PG when his running mates were an energy big and a scoring bench guard?

Here we are yet again as an organization drafting players and setting them up for failure and like clockwork the response is that the player should be able to just figure it out.

Even Sexton was drafted to fail. We drafted him to a team that didn't even know if they wanted to win or lose and all playing Sexton did was piss off the veteran players who weren't here for that shit.

Why don't we put more of this on our shitty Front Office and their blatant disregard for team building? Drafting players who have clear holes in their game and then surrounding them with a team of misfits and calling it development.

 

[mvp25]

I personally feel that Garland should back up Sexton. Okoro and Cedi would start at 2/3. Garland's potential benefits as a distributor compared with Sexton likely are outweighed by the defensive deficiencies in a 2 small guard lineup. Nance and Cedi could provide additional facilitating and Drummond and Love are decent passers as well.

He's young (will be 21 in January) and doesn't seem to have a huge nor fragile ego. I don't think that putting him on the bench would cause him to pout. I also don't think it would crush his confidence either. If it puts more fire in him, that could be a plus as well.

Yes, Okoro is a rook and only 19, but let's face it he's got the physical edge over Garland. Additionally Okoro is not technically starting over Garland, Sexton is; the rationale is to not have a diminutive guard staring lineup. If JBB is half as good as we think he is, he should be able to sell Garland on this.

There's no shame whatsoever for Garland to backup Sexton at this point and by no means would it be a sign of "giving up on him" and "a blown #5 pick". Kevin Johnson and Terrell Brandon both were backups here first and I recall that Brandon in particular was really effective at backing up Price back in the day. They both went on to be great starting point guards which I still feel Garland can achieve.

 

[Los216]

I personally feel that Garland should back up Sexton. Okoro and Cedi would start at 2/3. Garland's potential benefits as a distributor compared with Sexton likely are outweighed by the defensive deficiencies in a 2 small guard lineup. Nance and Cedi could provide additional facilitating and Drummond and Love are decent passers as well.

He's young (will be 21 in January) and doesn't seem to have a huge nor fragile ego. I don't think that putting him on the bench would cause him to pout. I also don't think it would crush his confidence either. If it puts more fire in him, that could be a plus as well.

Yes, Okoro is a rook and only 19, but let's face it he's got the physical edge over Garland. Additionally Okoro is not technically starting over Garland, Sexton is; the rationale is to not have a diminutive guard staring lineup. If JBB is half as good as we think he is, he should be able to sell Garland on this.

There's no shame whatsoever for Garland to backup Sexton at this point and by no means would it be a sign of "giving up on him" and "a blown #5 pick". Kevin Johnson and Terrell Brandon both were backups here first and I recall that Brandon in particular was really effective at backing up Price back in the day. They both went on to be great starting point guards which I still feel Garland can achieve.

So let's say Sexton starts at PG and then Garland comes off the bench and starts showing that he's clearly the best distributor on the team. Then what are we gonna do?

 

[Comeback kid]

Reward the one who’s playing best?

 

[OptimusPrime]

So let's say Sexton starts at PG and then Garland comes off the bench and starts showing that he's clearly the best distributor on the team. Then what are we gonna do?

If he became a better player than Sexton, he would start and Sexton would likely go to the bench. Of course that has to happen first.

 

[Los216]

Reward the one who’s playing best?

It's not that simple though. It effects the entire lineup. You're gonna pull Okoro of Cedi if they're playing well too?

If he became a better player than Sexton, he would start and Sexton would likely go to the bench. Of course that has to happen first.

But does he need to be a better player than Sexton or does he just need to be better at playing PG? Sexton is a better player than Delly but Delly is a better PG. That doesn't mean that Delly should start tough.

 

[Comeback kid]

It's not that simple though. It effects the entire lineup. You're gonna pull Okoro of Cedi if they're playing well too?



But does he need to be a better player than Sexton or does he just need to be better at playing PG? Sexton is a better player than Delly but Delly is a better PG. That doesn't mean that Delly should start tough.

Yup I know it’s a novel idea but I’m giving more minutes to the guy at his position whose playing better at the time.

 

[mvp25]

So let's say Sexton starts at PG and then Garland comes off the bench and starts showing that he's clearly the best distributor on the team. Then what are we gonna do?

I guess that then it would be characterized as the proverbial "good problem to have", particularly if they are winning games with this lineup. If we're losing and it's felt that switching Sexton for Garland in the starting lineup is the answer, then I suppose you have to make the change; at that point Garland would have shown marked improvement and that would be a good "problem".

Sexton being demoted, then, now, would seem to be the issue that most here would be concerned about (given Sexton's hyperintense nature). I'm sure Sexton would take it as a slight and I'm sure he's going to go into an extra gear to make his doubters pay, and if it means him upping his playmaking, then maybe that could be a blessing long term as well.

But ultimately, maybe the Cavs at this stage should not be overly concerned about "feelings"; also, they should not be debilitated in making the right decisions on who starts or who's on the bench based on perceptions of "blown" or "wasted" picks. Just have to do what's right to field a winning team.

 

[Los216]

Yup I know it’s a novel idea but I’m giving more minutes to the guy at his position whose playing better at the time.

Then why is Delly not our starting PG?

 

[MirORich]

After not playing for 9 months, can we at least give the team and the players 12-16 real regular season NBA games (still far too small a sample size) before going straight to the broad sweeping and severe reaction about the team as a whole, individual players, and the long term outlook?

 

[daddywags]

There's more to playing PG in today's NBA than being a good distributor.

 

[mvp25]

After not playing for 9 months, can we at least give the team and the player 12-16 real regular season NBA games (still far too small a sample size) before going straight to the broad sweeping and severe reaction about the team as a whole, individual players, and the long term outlook?

Of course, just my opinion. Will see how thing go; believe me, if they prove they are the real deal with the SexLand backcourt, no one will be more ecstatic than me.

 

[Comeback kid]

Then why is Delly not our starting PG?

Maybe because he’s been hurt and hardly played?