https://youtu.be/Vgu6khzRd0M
When you think about up-and-coming guard duos in the NBA, what do you think of? Do you think of anything at all? I just started thinking about this as a fun thought exercise, and maybe I haven’t had enough Pop-Tarts this morning, but my brain is just completely unwilling to disgorge its list of up-and-coming guard duos in the NBA. Even when I beat my brain with my fists, the list of up-and-coming guard duos in the NBA stays stubbornly within the neuronal confines of my gray matter. Assuming the list ever existed at all. Maybe there aren’t enough up-and-coming guard duos in the NBA to constitute a “list”.
That said, there is at least one up-and-coming guard duo in the NBA that is worthy of your attention, and that guard duo is none other than the Cavaliers’ Collin Sexton and Darius Garland. Sexton is entering his third year, and Garland is entering his second year, so you won’t find many other duos who better exemplify the “coming” aspect of “up-and-coming”. They’re coming, all right. They’re coming fast and hard. And often. Their combined stats also suggest that they’ve got the “up” part of “up-and-coming” on lock as well. So not only are they up, but they’re coming as well. Coming. And up. And coming.
The comparisons are there to another illustrious guard duo of old. The duo I have in mind also played for a pitiful east team that was severely winning-challenged. Since I’m DownToBuck, the only guard duo I could be talking about is Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis. Those two chucked their way into a playoff appearance, but they were both kinda small and kinda bad, so the fit wasn’t great. Sexton and Garland are also both kinda small, but they’re already better than Jennings or Ellis from an efficiency perspective, so, if history repeats itself, the Cavs should make the eighth seed as soon as next season.
In this scenario, Garland is Jennings, and Sexton is Ellis. I think. Sexton isn’t much of a passer, so even if he’s nominally the point guard, Garland is the one getting all the assists. This comparison works out even better because the Cavs also have a Drew Gooden analogue already on their roster, and his name is Kevin Love. Why do I feel a sudden and intense kinship with Cavs fans?