After a fairly underwhelming rookie campaign because of a variety of factors, Darius Garland responded well last season in his second year with the Cleveland Cavaliers, averaging 17.4 points and 6.1 assists per contest. He connected on 39.5 percent of his three-point attempts, too.
In Year 2, the shiftiness, hesitation prowess, passing vision/timing and perimeter shooting capabilities were on display often from Garland, whereas his first year he had his share of struggles. Garland’s prior meniscus injury that cut short his lone collegiate season at Vanderbilt and of which reportedly affected him in Year 1 was not in Year 2, and that showed.
I would expect Garland to take another step forward this coming season, too, which is set to begin on Wednesday for the Cavaliers at the Memphis Grizzlies.
Garland was a different player in his second year, and prior to an ankle sprain at the end of April, he was amid his best month of his young career before he missed nearly all of Cleveland’s close of last year in May. In April, he had 20.5 points and 7.3 assists per contest.
Along with his strong last season, Garland got meaningful experience as a member of Team USA’s Men’s Select Team this summer, and ended up playing a bit with Team USA in exhibition games prior to the Tokyo Olympics. That was assuredly invaluable for him as a player, and I’d think probably helped him develop further as a leader for the Cavs, too.
That being said, this next season, he does need to build on Year 2, and keep improving for this Cavaliers squad to ascend. And while it was only preseason and a few new guys are in the fold, Garland and Collin Sexton, realistically, did not perform well in games they were involved.
I’m not excusing Sexton’s play prior to him being sidelined a bit because of precaution involving a right shoulder injury, to that last point. But I do believe both him and Garland will be just fine, as a side note first.
Back to Garland, though, in his first three preseason games active (he missed the second Chicago Bulls one due to a non-COVID-19-related illness), he had 10.7 points per outing on 50.0 percent effective field goal shooting. He hit just 31.3 percent from three. Plus, he had 4.0 assists and 4.0 turnovers per game, also, which was a far from stellar assist-to-turnover clip.
Overall in the four games he appeared in, he had 8.8 points per outing, but in the last preseason outing in a Cleveland W over the Indiana Pacers, he was only in for seven minutes, so one shouldn’t read into that much.
Either way, as many would attest, offseason trade acquisition Ricky Rubio, who will be Garland’s primary backup at the 1, was making things happen. Aside from the first Chicago preseason game, when Cleveland was blown out, Rubio did really commendable work, by and large, and he had 9.0 points and 5.2 assists in 17.2 minutes per game, and he averaged only 2.0 turnovers.
Regardless, though, I’m not that concerned about Garland this coming season, and I’m not overreacting to preseason/the team needing to re-establish cohesion a bit. But in that realm, it’s paramount that Garland doesn’t get too hung up on this leading into the season and then, it’s key that his confidence is not affected at all game-to-game.
Garland will be just fine, so long as the confidence is there and he’s assertive overall.
Garland throughout last season was a catalyst for the Wine and Gold as a playmaker, and his scoring abilities both on and off-ball were on display. This coming season, I would anticipate him to take that a step further as well, and that should help out a variety of players for the Cavaliers, such as Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, Collin Sexton and others.
As we alluded to, though, while in preseason he seemed out of rhythm, to some degree, one shouldn’t be concerned about Garland, so long as the confidence is there. That’s was mostly the case last season, too, as his prior injury in college was not affecting him, as compared to Year 1.
Rubio will get his share of minutes, and he’s proven himself over the course of his career, however, one shouldn’t be worried about Garland, given his play last season, and him looking to be a completely different player, with him more sure of himself on-ball. The same went for him, in regards to playmaking.
The key here is Garland’s confidence has to be there game-to-game, and even with his preseason play being a bit underwhelming, it was, in fairness, preseason, and I’d imagine early on this season, he should be fine, so long as the conviction is there. In his first season, that didn’t play out nearly enough, and his play up-and-down.
And while of course Rubio will help Cleveland off the bench in his minutes, Garland’s shooting/scoring abilities are at a much, much different level, especially with his range/off-movement abilities. He was working on extending his range in the offseason, too.
So long as he’s healthy, that will make him a difference-maker for the Cavs, and his playmaking will open up opportunities for a plethora of others, via pick-and-roll, his vision and in secondary transition after stops.
It’s just clear, though, that Garland, both as a scorer/on-ball threat and playmaker, continues to grow, in relation to his confidence as a crucial catalyst for the Cavaliers offense. One shouldn’t be concerned about him, to reiterate.