Cavs: Plenty of off-ball work for Darius Garland would keep him fresher in long seasons

Rookie guard Darius Garland is going to be one of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ best catch-and-shoot threats in coming years, and though he looks to be a dynamic scorer off-the-bounce, it’d be smart for Cleveland to feature him off the ball for considerable stretches to keep him fresher over the course of long seasons.

It’s clear that the Cleveland Cavaliers have high hopes for rookie guard Darius Garland, as evidenced by them selecting him fifth overall in the 2019 NBA Draft.

Garland is a player that only appeared in five games in his one collegiate season at Vanderbilt, though, due to a reported meniscus tear, and that was obviously unfortunate for him and his team.

Nonetheless, as KJG contributors have often highlighted, draft pundits have continually harped on how Garland has a very high ceiling as an NBA guard, given that he has a really tight handle that enables him to get separation as an on-ball shot creator, along with Garland being a highly-capable catch-and-shoot threat with incredibly deep range and because Garland reportedly has shown good vision at other levels and is capable of making high-level passes.

In that five-game stint at Vandy, Garland had 16.2 points per game on 63.9% effective field goal shooting, which included a 47.8% three-point shooting clip (per Sports Reference).

If he can stay healthy in coming years with the way he can score in a variety of ways and hopefully playmake for others thanks to his shooting presence and vision, I agree with KJG’s Josh Friedman in that it would seem Garland has the potential to be the Cleveland Cavaliers’ best player in the near future.

Of course, him being healthy will be the biggest key to him ultimately becoming one of, if not the best, player on the Cavs in coming years, and for the record, five-time All-Star big Kevin Love is Cleveland’s best player currently, but he has well-documented injury problems and is 31 years old.

More from King James Gospel

• 3 possible starting lineups for Cleveland Cavaliers in 2023-24
• The Cavaliers may have snagged a hidden gem in Craig Porter Jr.
• 4 players the Cavaliers should pursue in 2024 free agency
• 6 players Cavaliers might replace Jarrett Allen with by the trade deadline
• This stat is one to keep an eye on for Cavaliers’ Max Strus in years ahead

At the moment, though, health would seem to be a potential concern for Garland in his NBA career.

Though it was reportedly precautionary, Garland did not play at all in Summer League for the Cavs due to them wanting to not risk anything more after he didn’t play much in college, and Garland has reportedly been dealing with a minor foot soreness issue and has been limited in training camp, though he was a full 5-on-5 participant on Saturday, per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, which is a relief.

Garland could be the Cavaliers’ primary playmaker of the future, really, if he properly develops under Cleveland head coach John Beilein, who wants to use Garland as a key playmaker and perimeter scorer and has reportedly been working with second-year guard Collin Sexton on growing Sexton’s overall feel as a passer a bunch, too (per Fedor) but of course, Sexton figures to be one of Cleveland’s primary scoring options, still.

Sexton, who was second among qualified players on the Cleveland Cavaliers last season in scoring with 16.7 points per game (per NBA.com) but only had 3.0 assists per contest, improving as a playmaker and at least being able to generate consistent ball-swings, which he at least did more often toward the latter part of last season, would enable Garland to play more off-ball, which would likely keep him more fresh over the course of long (likely 82-game) seasons in coming years.

In addition, the Cavaliers’ offense will be largely predicated on productive man and ball movement under Beilein and the mostly-new coaching staff, and some occasional minutes for Garland alongside players such as veteran guards Matthew Dellavedova, Brandon Knight and/or Jordan Clarkson, to go with I’d think a majority of minutes-share alongside quality big passers in Love and Larry Nance Jr. should equate to giving Garland plenty of chances to get efficient catch-and-shoot and/or off-screen production.

I would imagine that would be less physically taxing (by and large) than Garland being nearly exclusively a primary playmaker when he’s on the floor, which is the right outlook for Cleveland to have for the 19-year-old.

Of course, you don’t want to take Garland’s ability to create for himself and others away, and the Cleveland Cavaliers and Beilein won’t, but again, it’d be ideal from a long-term perspective if Sexton and Garland, especially, can split on-ball creation duties.

Garland I’m sure can learn a bunch from Sexton, who appeared in all 82 games for Cleveland in his rookie year (per Basketball Reference) and got noticeably bigger and presumably stronger thanks to how he appeared at the team’s media day, in relation to staying healthy over the course of long seasons.

Again, though, playing Garland plenty off the ball would be a smart move overall in coming years to preserve his health, along with further space the floor with Garland’s range for others, such as wing Cedi Osman as a slasher and Love and Ante Zizic as post-up threats.