Darius Garland, the Cleveland Cavaliers dynamic guard, will be entering his third season with the Wine and Gold. Recently in an article/report published by Hoops Hype’s Michael Scotto, 15 NBA executives recently voted Garland as their lead breakout candidate for the season. That’s in relation to him having the highest percentage of the vote, when asked who their top three breakout candidates are for 2021-22.
Garland’s talents are in the early stages and that progress we are all anticipating happening this next season won’t be a mirage. I’d be very surprised if Garland doesn’t have his most successful season yet. The Cavs have a plethora of young talent and I believe Garland is at the top of the Cavaliers roster as for his upside so expecting better days ahead for the team is undoubtedly a reality.
It frustrates me when I read other opinions of Garland that aren’t expecting much more improvement and then it comes down to personal opinion on whose ceiling is higher. For example, comparing other Cavs guard Collin Sexton to Garland is usually the go-to for some.
But, I don’t believe that’s a fair comparison because they are different types of players. I believe Garland is more valuable to the Wine and Gold than Sexton in the end because of the things I believe Garland has more talent with.
It’s great that Sexton can score and he led the Cavs with a 24 points a game as he did a year ago. But Garland has other parts to his game that are more important to the team winning more consistently. When Garland is distributing the ball, getting steals and shooting the ball well from three-point land then the Cavaliers will be winners.
Garland led the team in assists per game average, steals per game average and three-point shooting average a year ago. I’m expecting that to occur again this upcoming season and if he can improve even more on his points per game average there’s no reason to believe he won’t have that star-studded breakout year that many NBA executives are already projecting.
With that in mind, here, we’ll highlight three reasons why Garland is guaranteed to have a breakout Year 3 for the Cavs.
The first reason he’s guaranteed to have a breakout campaign is the aforementioned passing abilities.
#1: Assist anyone?
Sharing the ball in basketball is very important to winning games. Usually, when a team like the Cavs had upwards of 20 assists a game they won. Garland, in his rookie year averaged 3.9 assists. Last season it went up to 6.1 assists. A very nice leap.
For comparison sake, Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lilliard, who’s entering his tenth season in the league, has a 6.6 assists average. The last two seasons Lilliard got his assists average up to 7.5 and 8. While Garland’s points per game were just over 17 points a game, and not close yet, to let’s say, Sexton’s or Lilliard’s points per game average, that assists mark should continue to rise this next year.
Adding a newly-drafted big in Evan Mobley and working together with other post/rolling presence Jarrett Allen should give Garland more opportunity at increasing that assists stat.
There are many that are expecting Garland to increase his points per game totals this next year, and while that should happen just because Garland is getting better at shooting especially the three-pointers, I wouldn’t promise you a 24 points per game average yet by seasons’ end.
I’d say getting Garland to like 20-21 points a night is much more realistic, considering players such as Cavs wing Isaac Okoro and the newly-drafted Mobley will expect touches and points.
#2: Defensive strides, and him seeing an uptick as far as team impact
Defense is always the name of the game. Like many young and talented basketball stars, the defense is usually a step or two behind the offense. Garland’s not a horrible defender. He certainly improved from year one to two. His steals per game average went from 0.7 to 1.2 a game.
This is a very important step in the breakout possibilities for Garland this next season. If he can get more focused on those defensive stops, force his opponent into bad decision-making, which at times would lead to steals, then we will all be singing Garland’s praises.
I think Garland’s the type of defender that over time, will improve just because he’ll continue to get better because of his talent and continued practice. And if he does those things, he’ll see an uptick as far as his team defensive impact.
#3: “Three-Point Land” is a happy place
This area is one that Garland has steadily improved at when he shoots behind the three-point line. He went from 35.5 percent to 39.5 percent from his first NBA season to the next.
That percent average on the season is similar to the previously mentioned Lillard. He averaged 39 to 40 percent on makes of three-pointers. The big difference between Garland and Lillard is how many three-pointers that each player has launched from deep. Lillard is averaging over ten shots from three-point range over the last two years, whereas Garland is right around five three-point attempts per game.
I believe the Cavs have to build up their three-point shooting abilities, to drive that home. Garland has been willing to launch shots, sometimes in my opinion from way too far out beyond the three-point line. However, that willingness will need to grow even more this next season.
If Garland can work that three-point shooting average up a tad, like over 40 percent on makes and gets that attempts average up to more like seven or eight shots a game from distance then look out folks! A star is born!
And for what it’s worth, Cleveland is reportedly stressing for both Garland and Sexton to increase their triple attempts game-to-game, which is a plus.
Anyway, as I mentioned previously, Garland’s talents will have more of an impact on this Cavs teams’ winning ways in the future. But he’ll need to take a more aggressive approach, at the same time. I like to start with defense always because generally speaking, that’s what wins championships. If that defense of Garland’s can get more steals that will lead to more Cav possessions.
From there, then it comes down to assists and shooting the three-pointer which, when you get down to it, is a very fine line for this team. You want to see Garland continue to dish the ball to his teammates and spread the wealth, but you also have a player that needs to shoot the ball more, work that points per game average up and nail those deep looks.
If Garland can do that and still be standing by next spring at the end of the regular season, then that breakout season is certainly a guarantee.