Cleveland Cavaliers lead guard Darius Garland was originally a player that was invited/chose to play for the USA Select Team, which trained with in drills and got some scrimmaging in with the US Men’s Olympic Basketball in Las Vegas this month.
In doing so, Garland reportedly looked “really good” in those scrimmages for the Select squad, and that likely led to him being called up as one of three Select Team members to Team USA for exhibitions. That was the same for Saddiq Bey and Keldon Johnson, of the Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs.
Garland didn’t get much playing time in those outings, but in general this experience with Team USA/its Select squad has been invaluable for the young guard, who will be heading into his third season with Cleveland.
Now, even with Bradley Beal ruled out of the 2020 Olympics (they’re being branded that way as they were postponed due to COVID-19) set to commence in Tokyo, it’s not likely Garland is on the US team for that.
JaVale McGee and the aforementioned Johnson were chosen to be on the team in replacement of Beal and Cavs big Kevin Love, who unfortunately is still not 100 percent from a right calf injury that limited this past season to only 25 games active. And at least for now, Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton are still set to participate with that group in Tokyo.
Nonetheless, even with it seeming that Garland’s Team USA experience won’t extend to the 2020 Olympics, the experience has been a very meaningful one for him in general, and from a leadership standpoint, in particular, one would assume.
Team USA experience is key for Garland as a leader for the Cavs.
Just having been around the likes of Damian Lillard, Beal, before he was in COVID-19 protocols and also with Zach LaVine in that sense, to go with Kevin Durant and others, I’d think that Garland will have been able to pick up on some things to help his game. That should help him in itself, I’d imagine both in the scoring/shooting and playmaking department.
So that element is clear, as one would think would have been the case, and I recognize that. And hopefully, Garland can further build on his bounce-back campaign last season, in which he had 17.4 points and 6.1 assists per game, and hit 39.5 percent of his three attempts.
That is realistically even more crucial, and/or it’s apparent that Garland will need to be very consistent too, when factoring in the Cavs, given trade rumors/talk involving Collin Sexton (via KJG’s Justin Brownlow) could seemingly trade him. You can view more on that here, too.
Regardless of my feeling on that with Sexton though, and whether or not the Cavs do actually end up trading Sexton, of which they might not, I would expect Garland to have more of a leadership role from here.
And as we touched on, one would imagine that this recent Team USA experience/USA Select Team experience will have been key for him as a leader, as having been around big-time players/that exposure will be something that he can use to help the Cavs.
From a mindset/approach and skill standpoint, I’d think that just being around guys of that caliber, many of whom are key leaders seemingly on their teams, will be something that Darius can take with him to aid in pushing the Cavs hopefully forward.
That’s both with how he could feasibly have taken some things from Lillard in regards to how to get himself and teammates going in-game, and again from how to progress behind the scenes with how he can help lead from a team dynamic perspective, with him the lead guard and heading into Year 3.
Moreover, it’s clear that this Team USA/Select Team experience has to have been truly invaluable in Garland, for a number of reasons.