Cavs: Darius Garland’s return is key for Larry Nance Jr.’s shooting

Darius Garland made his return for the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday, in what was a second straight win over the Brooklyn Nets. That one didn’t feature Kevin Durant (Achilles), though, but it was still an impressive W.

And while he did have some rust, Garland did seem to get to his spots fairly well, albeit he had missed Cleveland’s past eight games due to a right shoulder sprain, which didn’t aid his shooting, clearly. Garland shot just four-for-13 from the field, and he was pressing some, admittedly.

That said, he did have really nice passes, and though Garland did have two turnovers, his vision was something the Cavs had been missing.

It didn’t lead to a basket in the said sequence, but a pin-point no look feed inside to Jarrett Allen early on was great to see from Garland, for example. As was a feed over-the-top to Allen as a roller from Garland, too.

Garland, for what it’s worth, did not start on Friday, as the Cavaliers/head coach J.B. Bickerstaff wanted to have him more so later on in the game/ease him it seemed, but I’d think he’ll be back soon enough opening games.

And although it seems that Kevin Love (right calf strain/reaggravation) could be back within the next week or so, with Garland back, he should aid Larry Nance Jr. as a shooter. Nance, even when Love is back, should be playing 26-plus or so minutes per game, anyhow.

Garland’s return for the Cavs is key for Nance’s shooting.

Of course, Garland’s return, at least when he’s more comfortable after a bit, should give Cleveland more spacing, and he’ll make a difference for interior looks, and shooters such as Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman, Taurean Prince and Dylan Windler. Garland leads Cleveland in assists with 5.9 per outing, to 2.9 turnovers.

But to me, Garland’s return should pay dividends for Nance, in particular, as a catch-and-shoot player. Nance after the season’s first seven games was only hitting 29.2 percent of his three-point attempts, and it was apparent that he was hesitant from just letting open spot-ups go.

That played into him seeming to be too passive at taking advantage on-ball when having favorable matchups as a driving threat, of which he’s capable, too.

On the plus side, though, since, Nance has been feeling it as a catch-and-shoot threat. In his last eight games, Nance has hit 53.1 percent of his three-point attempts, virtually all via spot-ups, and to me, with DG back in the fold, that should only help Nance more.

Nance has found his stroke from the outside in these last eight games, as we hit on, and I’m not at all discounting that, but Garland’s presence/feel as a passer should pay off for Nance more so. Now I give players such as Sexton some, Cedi Osman, Damyean Dotson and/or Isaac Okoro for helping get Nance some open spot-up looks, and they deserve their credit for that, too.

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I’d only expect Garland being back in the fold to further aid Nance’s shooting, though, and even when Love is back, Nance, who has proven to be a viable 3 at times, should get his share of run with Darius still.

We know that Nance, who has had 3.7 assists per outing (fourth on the Cavs), will be a notable playmaking presence regardless of the players he’s on the floor with, too, albeit with Garland, that will be key for getting Nance in-rhythm spot-ups.

That’s even more so, I’d think, as Garland’s feel for zipping skip feeds, hitting trailers and hitting passes precisely to the corners should allow Nance to have a good chance of staying pretty hot as a shooter.

Nance will not be hitting 42.9 percent from deep on the season, but I’d still expect him to be a more than viable catch-and-shoot looking onward, and Garland’s playmaking feel will only help in that regard.

And lastly, although contenders reportedly “will call” about Nance, per ESPN’s Zach Lowe (subscription required), who is such an instinctive defender, and is leading the league in steals, and continues to improve offensively, Nance shouldn’t be traded.

The Cavs themselves it doesn’t appear have interest in dealing Nance, either, and even with him being 28, he’s gotten progressively better in his time with Cleveland, and I still believe will be around moving forward.

Whereas the expiring Andre Drummond, for example, it’d seem could very well be traded by the March 25 deadline, per reports/rumors, and the expiring JaVale McGee, who is set to make $4.2 million this season, is in that realm, too. Sam Amico of OutKick and Forty Eight Minutes also reported recently that the Nets are expected to “make a run” at McGee.

I’d expect Cleveland, should they eventually deal both, to bring back a reserve 5 as part of a potential package, feasibly for Drummond. Perhaps Drummond, who is set to be on the books for $28.8 million this season, could, while I wouldn’t bet on it, potentially just be kept through the deadline and sign elsewhere this offseason, though?

Anyway, circling back to Nance, other pieces factor into it, too, but he’s a player that stands out as one that should benefit in a big way, in the shooting sense, from Garland’s playmaking back in the fold.

I look forward to seeing their two-man game chemistry steadily improve, with the Nance-to-Garland passing sense as well.