Here, I’ll stress two bold predictions for Darius Garland in his second season with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Darius Garland‘s rookie season for the Cleveland Cavaliers can be looked at as up-and-down. The 6-foot-1 point guard out of Vanderbilt was drafted with the fifth overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, a move that had a lot of people raising eyebrows.
This move formed a small backcourt with Garland and Collin Sexton, forming a duo that drew comparisons to another undersized backcourt in Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, in an ideal sense.
Rather than trying to ease him in, the Cavaliers and former head coach John Beilein decided to throw Garland into the starting lineup, where he struggled. It took Garland some time to become accustomed to the NBA, and him playing in only five games at Vanderbilt due to a meniscus tear likely played into that.
It was in January where we saw him start to blossom into the player he was made out to be. After his January run, Garland would “fizzle out” and it seemed as if he had hit his rookie wall, though.
Garland would end up sitting out a handful of games to end the season with a groin injury and with the NBA season being suspended due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, Garland’s rookie year ended several games early. The 19-46 Cavs are not a team set to participate in the league’s season resumption in Orlando at Disney World.
During the NBA’s hiatus, Garland has had many basketball runs in Nashville, some of which he has posted to his Instagram from time to time. For Garland, this offseason will be a big one as he looks to improve his game and with the right improvements, he could solidify himself as the point guard of the future for the Cavaliers.
With that being said, here, I will be looking at two bold predictions for Darius Garland.
The first has to do with his three-point shooting.
Bold Prediction #1: Garland will break the Cleveland Cavaliers’ single-season record for most three-pointers made
One of, if not the biggest reason the Cavs selected Garland was because of the three-point shooting he displayed at Vanderbilt and during his workout with the Cavaliers. The crazy shooting ability that Garland was said to possess wasn’t seen this year but, you can see the potential that he has there.
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This past season, Garland shot 35.5 percent from three-point land on 5.0 attempts per game. He also became the second rookie in Cavaliers history to hit over 100 three-pointers in a season, with Collin Sexton being the first.
With feasibly a bigger scoring role and more expected shots next season, it would be no surprise if Garland were to more than double his three-point shots made in a season in 2020-21.
The current record for most triples made in a season by a Cavalier is held by J.R. Smith, who made 204 threes in the 2015-16 season, per Basketball Reference.
Looking at that season from Smith, he shot 40.0 percent from deep on 6.6 attempts per game, in 77 games.
Doing some math, if Garland were to increase his attempts per game from three to about seven per game and hit around 2.5 threes per game, in an 82-game season (assuming the league still has a full season next year), he would break the record by 1 three-point field goal.
This bold prediction isn’t out of the realm of possibility, considering that Garland only shot 35.5 percent from beyond the arc in his first year.
Taking into account that it is likely Garland will improve on his three-point shooting next season, it isn’t crazy to think that Garland could break the record with games to spare, if he can stay healthy.
The second bold prediction for Garland for 2020-21 has to do with his overall scoring.
Bold Prediction #2: Garland will end the season top three in total points for the Cleveland Cavaliers
For his rookie season, Garland averaged 12.3 points per game and saw his scoring average go up every month from October to January. This past season, offensively, Garland looked to be playing behind Collin Sexton, Kevin Love, Jordan Clarkson earlier on, then Andre Drummond-post trade deadline, and even at times, Kevin Porter Jr. and Tristan Thompson.
Garland looked to defer a lot on many, many occasions throughout the season but, with improvements to his strength, confidence and overall game, his deference may be a thing of the past.
It isn’t much of a surprise that Garland had his best offensive month after the Cavaliers traded Clarkson and with question marks surrounding the backup point guard position, we could see Garland take on an even bigger role offensively next season. Now, Garland’s playmaking feel was at least encouraging, though, and it was a positive that he averaged 5.1 assists per outing in his last 26 games active.
Anyway, back in terms of the scoring sense, for next season, looking at the roster, there doesn’t seem to be a definitive second/third option on the Cleveland Cavaliers. With Love, his injury history is always a concern, and he has also been a subject of trade rumors for a long time now, even while it would seem he’ll be with Cleveland through next year for now.
Meanwhile, Drummond’s time with the Cavaliers, assuming he picks up his $28.8 million option, which is reportedly likely, may be brief as they could look to move him at the trade deadline and Porter may be a season or two away from really taking off.
Lastly, it could take the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 2020 NBA draft pick some time to get accustomed to the league.
With all of that in mind, next year seems like the perfect opportunity for Garland to capitalize and further establish his role with the team by placing top three in total scoring.