Cavs: Darius Garland has been putting it all together as of late

Darius Garland, the fifth overall selection in the 2019 draft, had a rough rookie season to say the least, but it has been a completely different story for the Cleveland Cavaliers second-year point guard in 2020-21. Garland was reportedly not himself, in regards to him still having his past knee injury that cut his collegiate season at Vanderbilt short in the back of his mind last season, though.

And in Year 2, Garland has made huge strides in just about every facet of the game.

Meanwhile, his play has gone fairly unnoticed by the rest of the NBA, seemingly, albeit if he continues to take big leaps in his game he could take the league by storm in the next couple of seasons. The second-year potential star not only has improved his scoring, but his passing, too.

He struggled to score the ball efficiently in his shortened rookie season as he was shooting 40.1 percent from the field and 35.5 percent from three-point land. This season has been a big step up for him as he is currently hitting 43.8 percent of his shots and knocking down an impressive 39.6 percent from three.

The Cavaliers have had to have loved what they’ve seen from him and he is quickly becoming a fan favorite here in Cleveland. Garland is starting to let the game come to him instead of forcing up shots and risky passes and that’s a big reason why he’s having a great campaign to this point, and he’s been making quite the impact as of late, too.

He looks more comfortable out on the floor each and every game and that’s great to see from a point guard in their second season. And let’s also consider that he didn’t play but five games in college and had a rookie season that was ended early due to COVID-19/the Cavs not having been an Orlando bubble team.

Garland has again, been really coming on of late, too.

Garland has been putting it all together for the Cavs recently.

Plenty of that has had to do with how they’ve made things easier on him in relation to the pick-and-roll with his key big.

What did the Cavs do to make Garland’s job easier?

Cleveland made a sneaky trade in the James Harden deal and grabbed Jarrett Allen from the Brooklyn Nets which has payed off very well. The Cavaliers received Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince from the Nets in exchange for a second-round pick and we also sent Dante Exum and a first-round pick that Cleveland had from Milwaukee, to Houston.

Adding Jarrett Allen has helped Darius out significantly in the PnR and has made the defense choose to defend the lob or the floater. This has really made the game easier for him, and in particular, it’s been encouraging to see Garland take advantage of switchouts more, and get to in-rhythm three-point looks in those situations.

Garland’s passing has been clearly on display, and has improved more and more throughout the season, too, though.

Garland’s playmaking has been so impressive for the Cavs, and even more so lately

This is where he has progressed the most at this season for the Cleveland Cavaliers, as Garland has been great at setting up his teammates with easy looks all season, with him so frequently finding the open man. It’s arguable that he is one of the shiftiest ball-handlers in the NBA, as his ability to get past his defender and draw opposing bigs to help has been very beneficial.

That opens up an easy pass to Allen, and did for the recently-traded JaVale McGee, and that’s what he has done all year. The same could play out in burn with the recently-acquired Isaiah Hartenstein (via trade), who will likely get some extended run in the next few games with Allen having suffered a concussion recently.

Additionally, Garland has also been great at making the right decision in transition and not forcing a contested layup much.

In the last seven games, Garland is averaging 20.0 points and 5.4 assists, while shooting 43.8 percent from the field and 44.8 percent on three-point shots. Now, there have been 3.1 turnovers per outing, but it’s evident that his playmaking is truly invaluable for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he’s done his part in opening up quality looks.

Also, he has notched a steal at least once per game in the last seven outings. Confidence is one thing that he seemed to be lacking his rookie season so it’s good to see him feeling his shot out there attacking the basket and being more aggressive as the season goes on.

So how can Garland continue to improve for the Cavs?

The 21-year-old has a ton of potential and he is showing flashes of it night in and night out but he does room for improvement.

The Cavs are one of the worst teams in the league when it comes to limiting turnovers and that is one thing Garland needs to work on. He does have a high usage right and that does usually come with a fair amount of turnovers but limiting those is the next step for his progression as a player.

Granted, Garland deserves some slack in that regard with all that he’s been doing for Cleveland’s offense. The same goes for Collin Sexton, as a scorer, especially, too.