Cavs: Darius Garland’s floater is key, but he knows team needs more 3s

Darius Garland has gotten himself healthy it seems for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

After missing an eight-game stretch due to a right shoulder sprain, Garland has gotten his way back into the fold, and has been back for eight games. Initially, he was back in in a bench role, but has been back in the starting lineup for the past five outings.

There have been some rough patches for Garland, admittedly, still this season, even with him having figured things out more so it appears, but that’s not unexpected.

That said, Garland has clearly been more confident, and is fully trusting himself and past his prior meniscus injury, of which cut his Vanderbilt career/lone collegiate season to just five games. That reportedly was in the back of his mind last season, and it showed, and this season, conversely, the change of pace/added shiftiness for Garland has been there.

And that sort of thing has led to Garland getting to his sweet spots on the floor more, and the floater game, in particular, has been money often for him; albeit he knows, and the team seemingly does, that they need more three-point looks.

Garland’s floater is on-point, but he knows the Cavs need more 3s.

Garland’s floater game was a key bright spot for him as a rookie, and this season, it’s come along further. On driving floaters, Garland is currently shooting 43.9 percent on the season, per NBA.com’s shooting data, but since he’s been back from injury, that’s been at 47.8 percent on 23 attempts.

On the year, Garland’s hit 48.9 percent of his shot attempts from 3-10 feet, but those have been seemingly more to the closer-to-10 feet range, which has been pretty solid.

Garland’s feel in his floater game, especially with Jarrett Allen as his on-ball screener in the pick-and-roll, has led to quality looks and soft, realistically, dead ball shots from Garland. And that’s led to plenty of easy shots for the second-year point guard.

The crucial element to that for Garland, again, has been the change of pace/quickness being there more this season, as opposed to last season.

Anyhow, it’s clear that the floater game continues to be on-point for Garland, and that’s a nice shot to have with touch in his bag, but it’s good to know that and the squad, realistically, are aware that they need to generate more 3s.

In Cleveland’s rough loss to the LA Clippers on Wednesday, who were on the second night of a back-to-back, the Clips had 20 three-point makes on 34 attempts. And Paul George, who was eight-of-nine from deep and had 36 points on 13-of-20 shooting overall, had four more triples made than the entire Cavs roster.

Plus, to make matters worse, the Cavs had only 10 three-point shot attempts, which as h/t Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, was the lowest amount of any NBA team this season.

It was at least encouraging that after the game, Garland recognized, along with Collin Sexton, seemingly, that the Cavaliers need to generate more three-point looks, as Fedor noted in the link above.

Garland hit on how he/the club need to emphasize utilizing kick outs more, via Fedor, and hopefully, Kevin Love being back it would appear, fairly soon from a high grade right calf strain he previously reaggravated, should absolutely help.

Love knocked in 37.4 percent of a career-high 7.0 triple attempts per game last season, but in the mean time, it’d be good to see the Cavs trim down Isaac Okoro’s minutes a bit, and play Dylan Windler, a highly capable shooter, more, for instance. Albeit Windler does need to be more assertive from deep, too, as Fedor stressed, and to me, I’d like to see Garland and Collin Sexton both be utilized off the ball more as relocation threats.

And in that realm, Cleveland allowing Cedi Osman, who has good vision, to create when he’s out there as a passer more could help, and hopefully still with Larry Nance Jr., when he’s more back in the fold from a right wrist sprain, more.

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Perhaps Okoro when he is in there, and is a willing passer and solid kick out passer, could aid in that realm, also.

And the Cavs finding ways to maybe stagger Garland/Sexton a bit more, and allowing Damyean Dotson to playmake, who did a nice job of that when the Cavs were especially banged up, and has an assist rate of 17.1 percent this season, can, too. That could aid Taurean Prince and others.

Moreover, it’s evident that the Cavs, who rank dead-last in three-point attempts per outing, along with three-point makes, and are last in both via catch-and-shoot 3s, per Second Spectrum, need to generate more kick outs, and off-movement 3s, in particular.

And it’s clear that less Andre Drummond post-ups/drives, could definitely help, in his time left with the Cavs.

Per recent rumors/reports, of which you can view here and also here, it would seem Drummond could very well be moved by the March 25 trade deadline, and the Dallas Mavericks and Toronto Raptors have reportedly shown interest in Drummond.

Nonetheless, dealing him, along with Kevin Love, whose been perpetually mentioned in trade rumors, is a different story, though, and in fairness, Drummond still has made a real impact, particularly defensively, as Fedor noted. So let’s not act like he won’t be playing considerable minutes, whether or not him as an expiring is dealt, even with Jarrett Allen being a far better fit and the long-term future.

Anyhow, while the Cavs need to generate more triples, and Garland, whose hit 43.1 percent from deep, needs to get more, as he’s only had 3.3 attempts per outing in his past eight games, his floater touch has been on-point.

For him, that’s a nice thing to have in his bag to get him going when it’s needed, but if he can do his part in getting others involved more so as he did earlier on in the season, that will go a long way, and I believe he will.

Garland having that floater for down the stretch of games and/or for end-of-quarter situations, though, is good to have in his tool box, and that threat can hopefully allow perimeter shooters to get looks if opponents at times are expecting that from Darius.