If given more minutes, Cavs’ Darius Garland can make impact for Team USA

With Garland on the floor, based on what he’s shown with the Cavs, others on Team USA could play a style more conducive to winning

As I said above, Garland handling the ball-handling responsibilities would give Durant and Lillard ample room and time to find their spots. With Garland at the point, guys like Bradley Beal and Jayson Tatum could also play more of their style of game. Both are capable shooters, but would be more effective slashing and cutting to get easy buckets.

Tatum had a good first outing versus Nigeria, going 4-7 from the field and 2-3 from deep, finishing with 15 points. Also in that game, Beal was 1-7 from the field and 0-1 from three. Against the Boomers, Tatum was 4-12 and 0-6 from three, while Beal was more steady going 4-6 from the field and 0-2 from three, finishing with 12 points. There are two problems right now involving both of them.

One is that during this past season Beal shot 35 percent from three, which is decent, but he also took six three-pointers a game. Beal is most effective while cutting and slashing, but he also needs to take more threes. Him being 0-3 in the first two games from three was bad because it was simply just not enough; he did attempt four on Tuesday, hitting two, which was a plus.

Albeit Team USA’s roster was built with shooting as a priority. They are extremely small, especially at the 5. So if Beal was chosen, he needs to be taking more shots from behind the arc game-to-game.

As for Tatum, he shot 39 percent from three this past season, so it’s clear he can shoot. But, especially in the game versus Australia, he looked like all he wanted to do was shoot threes. His shooting ability and percentage is aided by the fact that he’s very good off the dribble, and can out-muscle a lot of smaller defenders. Obviously it would be better if he hadn’t have gone 0-6 from three versus Australia, but once again, the United States put a lot of emphasis on shooting, so he needs to take his shots as well.

Albeit they don’t all need to be threes. Tatum shot a great 87 percent from the charity stripe this past year. He had only been to the line five times in two games, with none coming versus Australia in these exhibitions. He needs to be a more willing driver, and look to get contact.

On top of all of that, Tatum averaged over four assists per game this year. He’s a good passer. Thus having a total of 4 assists in two games, is a bit disappointing.

Granted, Tatum missed the past game due to knee soreness, but in general, the approach from him hasn’t been what it should be in this setting. Hopefully he ends up being fine soon enough, though.

Overall, the United States needs a primary ball-handler that will be constantly looking for open guys. Garland is only 21, so he would be happy to pass to superstars like Durant and Lillard. On top of that Garland is a top of the line shooter. So while there is a lot of shooting already on the squad, another one can only help.

As a Cavs fan, I would love for him to get more time in the closing two exhibitions, because he will be able to show his skills. Also, he will be able to work on his perimeter defense. There were times on Monday night that Patty Mills not only made Garland look bad, but his other defenders as well.

Now, should Darius Garland be averaging over 20 minutes per game for Team USA? Probably not. Hopefully in the future he will be. But, if you give him say, 14-16 minutes per game in the last two, I would have no doubt that he would improve the team’s success around him.

And in at least the next two exhibitions, in Garland’s case, that’d make a difference. From there, it’s difficult to say to if Devin Booker or Jrue Holiday, both of whom are in the NBA Finals against one another, would potentially bypass their initial Team USA playing decision.