3 Cavs announced as finalists for NBA season awards

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Darius Garland (right) and Lamar Stevens, Cleveland Cavaliers. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) /

Darius Garland – Most Improved Player

Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com said this about Darius Garland’s rookie season in the 2019-20 season, for initial context.

"“Garland was last in Win Shares, Value Over Replacement Player and ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus — a player’s estimated on-court impact on team performance, measured in net point differential per 100 offensive and defensive possessions that also takes into account teammates, opponents and other additional factors.”"

Darius Garland was statistically the worst NBA player that season, so obviously, he had a lot of room to grow. In his defense, he only played 5 games in college at Vanderbilt, so he did not really have a lot of time to progress there. At Vanderbilt, he averaged 16.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game on 53/47/75 splits, very good for a freshman in college. However, he had a meniscus injury in his left knee, meaning he would not play the rest of the college season.

His rookie year was rough at times. Averaging 12.3 points, 3.9 assists, and 1.9 rebounds per game on 40/35/87 splits was not the best, but his free throw percentage showed that he would eventually should be a good shooter. His poor shooting performances proved enough to not put him on either of the All-Rookie teams, consisting of 10 players. His sophomore season showed improvements, averaging 17.4 points, 6.1 assists, and 2.4 rebounds per game on a very much improved 45/39/84 shooting splits.

This year was definitely his best year, no doubt. Making his first All-Star team, leading the Cavaliers’ offense, and being arguably the best player on the Cavaliers. He averaged 21.7 points, 8.6 assists, and 3.3 rebounds, and had the 6th-most assists per game in the league.

He has 2 other players he is competing against, both also very deserving of the award. One player is the Memphis Grizzlies’ point guard, Ja Morant. Morant is a 22-year-old guard who was an unranked recruit in high school.

Making his first ever All-Star Game, he averaged 27.4 points, 6.7 assists, and 5.7 rebounds per game. His points had an increase of 8.3, his rebounds up by 1.7, and his assists only down by 0.7 per game. His efficiency also increased, as his field goal percentage went up 4.4% to 49.3%, which is a good amount. His 3-point percentage went up 4.1 percent to 34.4%, which is a respectable number considering Morant’s main skill is driving to the paint.

The other finalist for the award is point guard Dejounte Murray of the San Antonio Spurs. Murray was the youngest player ever to make an All-Defensive team, as he made it at the age of 21. Murray has always been a stellar defender, but his offense needed to come around considering former Spur, DeMar Derozan, left the Spurs in the offseason to the Chicago Bulls.

To end the season, Murray averaged 21.1 points, 8.3 assists, and 7.1 rebounds, while also leading the league in total steals with 138 and steals per game with 2.0 per game. Murray deservingly made his first All-Star appearance this season, and also should have a say in the All-Defensive team. As a side note to that, Marcus Smart of the Boston Celtics won the Defensive Player of the Year.