Cavs: Best and worst-case scenarios for Darius Garland in 2021-22

Cavs: Garland takes another similar step as a scorer, and looks to be All-Star-caliber playmaker in a best-case scenario

I thought Garland looked to be a completely different player last season, in regards to his on-ball prowess. Of course, the prior injury reportedly affecting his mindset in Year 1 didn’t aid him in that way, so that’s why I gave him somewhat of a pass then.

I’m not going to do that from here, but frankly, I don’t believe he’ll necessarily need it. Last year, the change-of-pace and quickness off-the-bounce enabled Garland to get to his spots more as a scorer, and we saw some movement shooting from him as a relocation guy, too.

So, firstly, in terms of a best-case scenario for him, to me, that’d result some in Garland taking another 4-5-point-per-game step in Year 3. There’s other guys that will factor into things for Cleveland, such as Evan Mobley to some degree, and Lauri Markkanen, even if the latter is in a bench sense.

Nonetheless, if Garland were to be more aggressive game-to-game, and trust himself at times to keep putting his foot on the scoring gas, if you will, this best-case scenario could, theoretically, come to fruition.

Garland, as KJG’s John Suchan pointed out, though, does again need to lean more into three-point shooting. But with the Cavs stressing that, and if Garland looks to take another step forward with his confidence level, I could foresee that playing out.

Plus, I do believe with other playmaking around him, such as continued secondary playmaking progression from Sexton, with Mobley in the fold, and playing some with Ricky Rubio, we could see more off-ball play from Garland. And in that realm, he did knock in 43.2 percent of his catch-and-shoot three-point attempts last season, per NBA.com’s shot tracking data.

So from there, as was mentioned, the other part of this best-case scenario for Garland to me was result in him appearing to have All-Star-caliber primary playmaking abilities. I don’t know if next season Garland can be an All-Star player, whereas if things play out really well, I could foresee Sexton potentially hitting that milestone.

However, even if that isn’t the case for Garland, of which I would think is the case honestly, with other star guards in the fold, Garland taking another leap forward as a passer would be big for Cleveland. Him potentially increasing his assist average to say, 8 per game, while trimming down his turnover clip a bit, would play into that.

Garland improving in him being able to hit a variety of bigs with pin-point deliveries, of which Rubio could make a difference, I believe, is something that I’d looking for game-to-game, too.

At the same time, him manipulating defenses to take advantage of Markkanen’s skill set, and other movement shooters, such as Dylan Windler and Kevin Love somewhat, would be very meaningful. Garland improving in his timing in initiating productive ball-reversals, and getting better with his baseline passes over-the-top to shooters out of the pick-and-roll would be a noticeable measure taken as well.

It’d be a big lift for the Cavaliers to see Garland regularly hitting lead passes in transition more, too, for what it’s worth.

In any case, it’s clear for a best-case scenario for Garland, him being more aggressive and letting it fly more when he has things rolling, but making further strides with his passing/playmaking feel also could have even more Cavs fans bullish on him.

Now, to the other end of the spectrum.