The Cleveland Cavaliers need to limit Darius Garland to a bench role
In the previous NBA draft, the Cavaliers used their lottery pick to select Vanderbilt point guard Darius Garland. To many, he had a very disappointing rookie season with the Cavs and there is clearly a lot to improve on; 12.3 points was underwhelming for him. The main focuses are being a more effective off-ball player, playmaking, and playing with consistency.
At this point in time, Garland would be best coming off the bench for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Currently, in a starting role, his ball-dominant play style clashes with the style of Sexton and creates an offense of seemingly two black holes with little ball movement; Garland leading the Cavs in assists per game with 3.9 was not anything noteworthy, from an objective outlook.
Garland has had problems getting the offense going and had issues getting Kevin Love the ball this past season in his preferred spots often, for example.
If Garland is moved to the bench, though, he will have more free reign with the offense and could even possibly see more shots in key stretches of games and chances to get his own as a scorer if he accepts a bench role.
With Garland moved to the bench, Sexton would be brought to his natural position of point guard, while Kevin Porter Jr. or if the Cavs pick a guard, whoever that player is would be in contention for the starting shooting guard position.
With Garland as perhaps a sixth man on the roster, it’d make the Cavs bench already exponentially better than it already is, and if they are looking to make a playoff or even championship run at the end of this rebuild, depth will be a necessity.