We knew that coming into this season, there were high expectations placed upon Cleveland Cavaliers lead guard Darius Garland. After Garland had a forgettable rookie season, thanks to a variety of reasons, he had a bounce-back Year 2 with 17.4 points and 6.1 assists per contest, and connected on 39.5 percent of his three-point attempts.
Garland over the summer got experience scrimmaging against Team USA’s Olympic squad while playing with Team USA’s Select Team, which had to have been huge for him, too. Plus, Garland even received some playing time with the US Team it turned out in exhibition games prior to the US going on to win gold in Tokyo.
So, as we noted, it was apparent that this season could very well be a breakout campaign for Garland, and in a poll, 15 NBA executives reportedly believed Garland was one of the top three candidates to have a breakout year in 2021-22. Based on how Garland has really come on thus far in his third season, those execs are also being proven right it seems.
Now, the Cavaliers have had a ton of injury woes already this season, and Kevin Love and Lauri Markkanen had extended absences because of COVID-19 health and safety protocols, so that has played some into it. And it’s still crushing that Cleveland will be without Collin Sexton for the rest of the season due to meniscus surgery/the determination there.
That being said, Garland has been great for the Cavaliers this season, and currently, he’s averaging 19.3 points and 7.3 assists per outing, and has hit 39.0 percent from three on 6.9 attempts per game. He does need to cut down on turnovers a bit, as he’s had 4.0 of those per outing, but generally speaking, the breakout is happening from him.
Garland has still been making continued strides as a playmaker for the Wine and Gold, and with more experience, and mentorship from Ricky Rubio, Garland will only get better there.
Regarding the scoring sense though, the strides from him as a deep shooter off-the-bounce, especially, have been crucial as well.
That’s been awesome to see, and it was a key reason for him connecting on 47.4 percent of his three-point attempts in his last six games, prior to Cleveland’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday. In that one, it was a rough shooting night, thanks largely to Jrue Holiday’s defense, as Garland was just 3-of-12, and 1-of-3 from three-point range. He did nine assists, on the plus side, and it was the third game for the Cavs in four nights, in fairness.
But in plenty of games this season for Garland, his off-the-bounce three-point shots have been huge for him to get himself going, and it’s aided him in other ways.
Cavs: Off-the-bounce triples are becoming a staple for Garland this season, in terms of frequency, and him hitting them as a go-to part of his game.
Last year, the range from Garland was on display more than in his rookie year, but more of the deep ball efficiency was from catch-and-shoot situations.
While there has been a batch of games when he was off from three, particularly with him having to adjust some with Sexton out, Garland has proven to have more confidence pulling from three off-the-bounce. Again, I’m not reading too much into Monday’s game. And although we saw him make strides in that realm last season, that area is becoming much more of a staple for him as a scorer so far this season, at least 25 games in.
As was reportedly a point of emphasis for him coming into the season from the Cavs, along with Sexton, as an aside, Garland is attempting more triples, for one. And most notably, he’s hit a pretty robust 39.4 percent of his 33 pull-up three attempts, per NBA.com’s shooting data, and he’s knocked in 11 of his 25 step back three attempts (44.0 percent). He’s 3-of-7 on running pull-up three-point attempts, also.
The gyst is, of his 159 three-point attempts so far this season, 65 of those have been either pull-ups, running pull-ups or step back three attempts, which would qualify as 40.9 percent of his total triples attempted. That’s based on NBA.com’s shooting data’s details, to reiterate.
On those three types of off-the-bounce attempts, he’s hit 41.5 percent of those, which indicates he’s getting himself in-rhythm with his handle often, and it’s demonstrating that he’s becoming very comfortable at generating separation and converting after doing so.
In any case, we know that Garland is a more than capable catch-and-shoot guy, for when those chances come, and he’s hit 39.3 percent of his catch-and-shoot three attempts, per NBA.com’s shooting data. This season, Garland’s catch-and-shoot three attempts have constituted 16.4 percent of his shots, and in 2020-21, that was nearly identical at a frequency of 16.7 percent.
But the difference is so far this year, Garland is shooting far more off-the-bounce three-point shots, and that’s been part of the reason for his breakout Year 3. To that point, 66.7 percent of Garland’s three-point makes above the break (the vast majority of his deep ball shots) were assisted; this season, 56.1 percent of his makes in that area have been unassisted.
And thanks to more experience for him, more confidence and his further playmaking progression, he should only continue to get better as the season progresses.
There have been a few instances when Garland didn’t get a deep look off-the-bounce to go on last-possession-type situations, such as in Cleveland’s close loss to the Utah Jazz on Sunday. That will happen though, and again, one shouldn’t overreact to the off night from him on Cleveland’s third game in four nights, let alone against Holiday and a tough Bucks team; he was hardly the only one off on Monday, anyhow.
Generally, however, I’ve been pleased with Garland’s play for the Cavaliers, and off-the-bounce triples becoming a staple of his game will make him all the more dangerous as a playmaker, pick-and-roll player and lob thrower for Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley.