The Utah Jazz should be set at their starting guard spots
By Chad Porto
The Utah Jazz's starting guard combo of Kris Dunn and Collin Sexton has paid off huge for the squad during his turnaround. Sexton has become the team's second-best scorer behind Lauri Markkanen and has also established himself as one of the better facilitators at the same time. His offense has been so important for the turnaround of the team. Yet, he isn't the only one contributing.
Dunn's defense is beyond important. He's among the team's best at +1.9 DBPM, right there with Walker Kessler. He's allowed the Jazz to not worry as much about the opposing team's scoring and allows for more creative pairings on the court.
Paired with Sexton, the two men complement one another perfectly. Sexton's defensive woes are masked by Dunn's defensive mindset and Dunn's lack of consistent shooting is masked by Sexton's high efficient shot-making. They are a wonderful duo, so it seems odd there are people out there who still think that either person should be traded.
In a recent post by SI.com, Patrick Byrnes highlights the need for the Jazz to trade for a true point guard, despite the fact Dunn does everything you need a player to do. If the Jazz didn't have Sexton next to him, sure, go get a "better" point guard, but considering Sexton does a lot of the ball-handling duties, and to the best of my knowledge there remains only one ball in play at a time, it makes no sense to pair another guard like Sexton with Sexton.
The article talks about pairing George with Sexton, without even realizing that they're both two ball-dominant guards that take a lot of shots. The only difference is that Sexton is much, much better at converting those shot attempts. Putting another ball-dominant, shooter next to Sexton is only going to cause Sexton's reps to go down, and will likely see a less efficient offense come to fruition.
The point guard spot does not need upgrading. In fact, just the opposite, the Jazz need to re-sign Dunn sooner rather than later, and look to improve the power forward/center and small forward spots on this team, as John Collins and Simone Fontecchio are far bigger concerns for the long-term success of this team than Dunn is.