3 things Cleveland Cavaliers fans should be thankful for

#2: Darius Garland’s next step for the Cavs

The second key thing fans should be thankful for, from my perspective at least, is Darius Garland looking to take the next step.

I get that there’s some frustrating instances where Garland looks to be pressing it a bit too much with Sexton out, and his role needing to be more of a scorer, to some degree here, but that’s nitpicking I believe.

For the most part however, Garland looks to be taking the next step, and his playmaking has still improved, I think, as his chemistry with Jarrett Allen, along with others, has been better. And his two-man game with Mobley has been better than one would’ve even imagined. Thus far, he’s had 6.8 assists per outing, and between him and Ricky Rubio, Cleveland has gotten solid primary playmaking throughout games, mostly.

The on and off-ball scoring abilities from Garland have shown continued development as well, as he’s had 18.2 points per outing, and though there will be some streakiness with the injuries to Cleveland, he had been hitting 36.4 percent from three on 7.4 attempts per game. Following Cleveland’s close loss to the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday, when he was objectively 0-of-6 from deep, that clip is now 34.7 percent, but the shooting has popped from DG on many occasions.

The deep range from him, and a seemingly more aggressive mindset, has led to Garland looking to take the next step as a scorer, and his shooting in other areas has gotten better, too.

Hopefully Garland’s neck strain, as an aside, isn’t too nagging for him, but I don’t believe that should be too concerning for an extended period. He had an up-and-down game versus Phoenix, and fouled out in that one, but he didn’t seem too affected.

Anyhow, in a general sense, DG’s continued growth has been very encouraging thus far this season, and I’d only expect him to be more confident moving forward.

I’d hope the Cavaliers can find some ways to get him more off-ball opportunities, though, and I believe they can.