Cavs: Darius Garland is showing further growth on interior in Year 3

Heading into this season, there were high expectations placed on Darius Garland heading into this third season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and rightfully so. Garland had a bounce-back year in 2020-21 with 17.4 points and 6.1 assists per contest.

Also, in the offseason, Garland participated with the USA Select Team, and even received a bit of playing time in Team USA’s exhibition games prior to them competing, and ultimately winning gold, in Tokyo.

Thus far this season, after him starting a bit slow, likely because of an ankle sprain sustained in the opener, to some degree, Garland has found his rhythm again. Through 15 appearances, he’s had 17.8 points and 6.5 assists per outing, and has knocked in 38.0 percent of his three-point attempts.

That’s carrying forward how he connected on 39.5 percent from three last season; objectively, though, Garland’s 7.2 deep attempts thus far per game could come down a bit when Kevin Love and Lauri Markkanen are back in the fold more. Love has been back the past two contests, and went 4-of-10 from three in Cleveland’s severely shorthanded loss to the Golden State Warriors on Thursday, where the team’s effort shouldn’t be discounted, given the circumstances.

Nevertheless, I’m not taking anything away from Garland, who has carried Cleveland at times as a scorer, to go with his playmaking skills.

What has been encouraging from him to play off of that, however, is how Garland has demonstrated continued progression as a finisher, and with his playmaking presence, that’s promising.

Cavs: Garland has shown further growth as a finisher so far in Year 3.

It’s not necessarily going to be at a really notable volume when it comes to Garland as a finisher right near the basket, but he did make some strides there in Year 2.

In a season where Garland looked to be fully himself, if you will, and not having his prior meniscus injury in the back of his mind, which reportedly was the case in Year 1, it led to him displaying more shiftiness, and helped him convert more.

He hit 57.1 percent of his restricted area shot attempts last season (per NBA.com’s shooting data), which while not quite league average, was far better than his rookie season. And though it’s early, he has hit 67.6 percent in the restricted area so far, and even with a lower volume, with his proficiency from three at a reasonable volume in mind, that’s been noteworthy.

Additionally, I acknowledge that Garland is not going to be generating near the free throw attempts or free throw rate of say, Collin Sexton, or Isaac Okoro, but him utilizing his shooting range and passing impact to get there near on-par with last season is fine.

It’s been encouraging to see Garland probe defenses more as well, and one can seemingly credit Ricky Rubio for some of that mentorship influence. That’s leading to generation of threes from other guys, and has helped Garland manufacture interior threats getting more open.

We’ve seen that pay dividends for him at times in recent games, which has led to him seemingly becoming in-rhythm from deep more when shots prior to that weren’t falling. And when Jarrett Allen is back from illness, I’d expect to see that more readily from Garland, given the chemistry between the two in pick-and-roll and on the secondary break.

So, generally, one has to be satisfied with Garland’s playmaking, and him appearing to be more confident from deep, however, the continued finishing growth has been a positive takeaway as well from his play in Year 3 so far. I’d also think with reinforcements set to come back, the turnovers for Garland from recent games will be trimmed down a bit, with him likely able to pick his spots more.

And again, it’s evident that the volume in the restricted area for him in the mean time will be trimmed down some, but I’d expect that to pick up once Cleveland gets their regular rotation bigs triggling back in, which could reportedly be Monday. That’s with screening in mind, and their presence as interior threats.

For what it’s worth, I do still believe with Allen seemingly set to return soon here, with the way Garland and Rubio have been playing, Markkanen hopefully back soon, and the Cavs’ defensive effort, they can find a way to stay in the thick of things. We’ll ultimately have to see regarding when Evan Mobley is back, and/or with Sexton, of course.