Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 pressing questions to be answered in offseason

3. Who deserves to start in the backcourt?

Since initiating the rebuild in 2018, the Cleveland Cavaliers have selected three backcourt players in the first round of the NBA Draft. To no surprise, the abundance of young guards on this team has created some problems. Which players deserve to start?

Before the season was put on pause, Collin Sexton was in the midst of a blazing hot streak. The Young Bull was torching opponents, averaging 28.1 points on 45.0 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 56.2 percent overall across his last eight games. He even set a new career-high with 41 points over the Boston Celtics.

Sexton hit his stride as a shooter and made significant steps forward as a playmaker. Since mid-January, the Rising Star is dishing out 4.2 assists per game. This is an encouraging sign for such a young player and another example of his will to improve.

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Although Sexton has arguably been the best player on the Cleveland Cavaliers roster, Porter is the one gaining the most hype. His potential is undeniable as he has flashed an array of skillsets throughout his rookie season.

Porter is an elite combo guard in the making. He has great size at 6’5″ and is a phenomenal athlete. He has already proven to be a crafty ball handler and can shake his way to the basket with ease. Once at the rim, Porter is converting over 70 percent of his attempts.

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KPJ still has some work to do as a shooter. He is incredibly streaky and began his career shooting just 29.3 percent from the 3-point line in his first 35 games. However, he has improved a bit down the stretch of the season, hovering around 40 percent since late January.

As for Darius Garland, he has yet to show the offensive brilliance that he had in college. This could be because of a few factors. Perhaps playing alongside other ball-dominant guards is holding him back.

Nonetheless, Garland has remained a consistent producer for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Since the New Year, Garland is posting numbers of 13.7 points and 5.1 assists per game. At 20 years of age, there is plenty of time for Garland to improve.

The problem here is finding a way to provide sufficient time for each of these guards to shine. There is no reasonable way to place all three of them on the court at the same time due to their lack of height and playstyles. It’s impossible to win with three ball-dominant guards playing together.

Right now, Porter has been the one taking the backseat while Sexton and Garland secure starting positions. Though Garland and Sexton have had positive moments on offense, they are one of the worst defensive duos in the league. Porter doesn’t fix this issue entirely but does slightly improve the Cavaliers defense when he is on the floor.

It seems to be only a matter of time before KPJ forces the Cavaliers to make a tough decision. Soon, the franchise will have to make some serious adjustments to their backcourt rotations.