The Cavaliers gave the Detroit Pistons the blueprint, but can they follow it?

Detroit Pistons: Figuring out two star guards

Like the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Detroit Pistons are trying to build their offense around two star guards who like to have the ball in their hands in Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland.

Again, Cleveland is showing this can work. Mitchell is the alpha dog, scoring 28 per game with a 31.8 usage rate. It's Garland who has had to sacrifice some of his stats, as his scoring (18ppg) has dropped slightly from the last two seasons and he has a usage rate of 25.4 percent.

So between the two of them, the ball is in one of their hands most of the time and coach Bickerstaff does this wild thing where he sometimes staggers the two and lets Garland be the primary guy. Crazy idea I know.

Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey can have the same kind of relationship and synergy, as Cade is the clear alpha dog and Ivey is right behind him. The one big difference is that Mitchell is a high-volume 3-point shooter, as he and Garland average over 15 combined attempts per game while Cade and Ivey are taking just nine between them.

Cleveland's 3-point shooting from their guards helps to alleviate spacing issues, so you could argue that the Pistons need a few more attempts per game from their duo.

They are both improving in that area and this is a pairing that can work for Detroit if they fire a few more 3's per game and Monty Williams figures out how to stagger them to get the most out of each of their respective abilities.