This stat emphasizes how Cavs’ Darius Garland is big-time shot-maker

I get it. The close to the season for the Cleveland Cavaliers has not gone as us fans of the Wine and Gold would’ve hoped. The Cavaliers are just 3-7 in their past 10 games, and on Tuesday night, they lost to the lowly Orlando Magic, who have the league’s second-worst record, and Orlando was very banged up in that game.

Post-All-Star break, Cleveland is just 8-14, and in their past 15 games, the Cavs are 5-10 with a net rating of minus-4.1. Among teams in that stretch, that net rating is 21st in the NBA, and post-All-Star, Cleveland’s net rating of minus-3.7 is 22nd.

By comparison, the Cavaliers were 35-23 heading into the Cleveland-centric All-Star break, and before the break, the team was seventh in net rating at 4.2.

Of course, injuries have taken their toll, as Jarrett Allen has been sidelined for the past month or so because of a fractured finger, Caris LeVert missed the first nine games post-All-Star break with a foot sprain, and Evan Mobley has been sidelined of late due to an ankle sprain. Rajon Rondo‘s ankle sprain caused him to miss an extended period, too, and it hasn’t helped that Dean Wade was ruled out for the rest of the season a few weeks back, in relation to a partially torn meniscus.

Granted, it’s not all been related to injuries, and the defense has not been what it was for most of pre-All-Star break play, even prior to Allen’s injury. There’s been extended periods where the Cavs have had lapses, or at times lulls on offense, but objectively, there still have been positives.

For example, Lauri Markkanen has played very well on plenty of occasions, Lamar Stevens continues to make an impact on both ends, and recent two-way signing Moses Brown has done decently, all things considered.

That said, even with the teams’ inconsistencies for the past month-plus, Darius Garland‘s efforts still shouldn’t be diminished.

The third-year guard was rightfully selected to participate in his first All-Star Game this season, in which Jarrett Allen was, too, and in Garland’s case, he’s had 21.7 points and 8.7 assists per contest on the season. Garland’s knocked in 37.9 percent of his three-point attempts, and has had a true shooting rate of 57.4 percent.

Now, post-All-Star, his true shooting clip has dipped a bit to 55.5 percent from pre-All-Star at 58.4 percent, but with his huge workload both as a scorer/shot creator and playmaker, I don’t read much into that.

One area of his play that has indicated he’s taken his shot creation and scoring to another level as the season has progressed is his pull-up shooting from beyond the arc, too.

Some of it has had to do with Cleveland no longer having Ricky Rubio since near the end of December and his contract since having been included in the trade for Caris LeVert, but while Garland’s catch-and-shoot hit rate from three post-All-Star has been just 26.5 percent, his pull-up hit rate on threes then has been 45.9 percent. That’s both per NBA.com’s shot tracking data.

That stat is very impressive from Garland, and it shows how he only continues to get better, and is further solidifying himself as a big-time shot-maker.

I get that Garland’s catch-and-shoot hit rate on threes is down post-All-Star, and for the season, as compared to last, but he’s still shown off-ball abilities, and not having Collin Sexton for most of the year hasn’t helped, regarding secondary playmaking. And Garland’s off-ball opportunities/catch-and-shoot looks haven’t been there as much, with him still getting used to playing with Caris LeVert, and Rajon Rondo having been unavailable often.

However, as we touched on, his efficiency on pull-up three-point attempts post-All-Star speaks to Garland’s emergence as one of the league’s big-time shot-makers, and even with the players being in and out of the lineup for Cleveland, Garland has still been hitting his share of deep looks, mostly from his self-creation.

Personally, that sort of thing demonstrates to me that Garland has taken his shooting to another level, and with what he’s shown last season and still a good amount this year, I’m not concerned about the catch-and-shoot slump from three post-All-Star break. Some of that has had to do with Cleveland’s injuries and shuffling of lineups, too, for further context.

In any case, even with while the close to the season has not gone how we would’ve hoped as Cavs fans, injuries aside, Garland’s continued growth as an overall shot-maker and three-level scorer shouldn’t be discounted, nor his playmaking progression. He recently broke the Cavaliers record for assists in a calendar month in March, point-assist double-doubles in a month in March with 11, and on Tuesday, even with the ugly L, he did have his 29th double-double of the season.

So, to drive it home, Garland’s aforementioned pull-up three efficiency post-All-Star on a frequency of 19.7 percent, and him hitting 40.3 of those on the year with a 22.2 percent frequency (3.8 attempts per outing) has been very impressive.

His ability to make things happen when getting switchouts in pick-and-roll situations, especially with his driving and playmaking prowess, has made Garland even more lethal as a shot-maker from the perimeter, and seemingly in the mid-range. The range for Garland has played into him generating more free throw attempts as the season has worn on, too, for what it’s worth, and I don’t gloss over that, either.

But as we’ve hit on here, the pull-up shooting efficiency from range in the close to his season emphasizes how Garland is undoubtedly becoming one of the big-time shot-makers in this league, even with the team falling into play-in territory.