Cavs Player of the Month for January: Darius Garland

Darius Garland (#10) celebrates with his Cleveland Cavaliers teammates. (Photo by Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports)
Darius Garland (#10) celebrates with his Cleveland Cavaliers teammates. (Photo by Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports)

This past month was a very successful one for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are currently 31-20 on the season, and have found themselves in fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

In the month of January, the Wine and Gold went 11-4, and were 11th in net rating in that span. For added context on the season, the Cavaliers have had the best net rating in the East this year, and considering the schedule they had for much of it, not to mention their injuries/COVID-19-related absences, that’s been something else. 

Nobody could’ve realistically predicted the Cavs to have been playing this well, this late into this season. But they have, and the club deserves its share of credit.

Circling back to this past month, though, as far as a standout performer, that clearly was lead guard Darius Garland, who has had 19.8 points and 8.2 assists per contest this season, and he’s taken that Year 3 leap many leading into the season thought he’d make.

To the last point, in January, he had 20.4 points and 10.2 assists per outing in 13 games, also, and he has a compelling argument to be named to his first All-Star Game this season, which is of course in Cleveland.

Garland was definitely the Cavs Player of the Month in January.

Garland clearly took it up a notch in January, and with the Cavs being without Collin Sexton still and after the loss of Ricky Rubio, he was big-time for Cleveland.

Garland’s three-point shooting, given the workload he’s had, was more off this past month, at 33.3 percent, but his on and off-ball abilities still popped. The same applied when it comes to his playmaking as well, and though Rajon Rondo has helped there some, he missed time with hamstring soreness.

I do give two-way player Brandon Goodwin his credit too, as an aside, in that realm, and he tied a career-best with 21 points in Cleveland’s win versus the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday. That was a positive takeaway from that ugly W then, along with Cedi Osman’s 12 assists, in a spot point guard start actually, as Garland missed that one because of back soreness.

Granted, it’s apparent the Cavs could definitely use another shot creator with their injuries, and Garland’s back soreness has seemingly been there for a few weeks, to that point. The Cavaliers are reportedly seeking perimeter/wing help via trade as well, as one could imagine.

In any case, it’s still been impressive what Garland was doing throughout this past month, and while Cleveland needs to manage the back situation for him, and an additional shot creator would help in general, it’s realistic to think DG could be named an All-Star reserve soon. He’s been a crucial reason why Cleveland has been one of the surprise teams this season in the NBA, and he looks to be a budding star.

In regards to other notable performers this past month, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen kept doing what they do on both ends, with Mobley averaging 15.7 points and 8.0 rebounds per outing, and Allen having 14.3 points and 11.1 boards.

Both have been invaluable, really, in their own right, and they, along with guys such as Isaac Okoro, Lamar Stevens and to some degree, Dean Wade, have been crucial contributors for the NBA’s third-best defense.

And lastly, although he had been off leading into it and a bit early in the month, when Lauri Markkanen was in before a high ankle sprain on Jan. 19, he was heating up for Cleveland, with a better 14.1 points per game and he shot 43.5 from three in his 11 games active. His chemistry with others and feel offensively seems to be improving as he’s gotten more experience with his new team, too, and fortunately, he’s reportedly making good progress.

Even taking the efforts of those other notable guys into account, however, Garland was clearly the Cavs Player of the Month for January.

Hopefully the team can get him some help, and they find ways to manage his back soreness as well.