Cavs’ Garland and Rubio are synonymous with NBA Assist Week

Recently, the NBA has been having weeks dedicated to various types of plays being highlighted in its social channels, with last week being #NBAHandlesWeek, and the preceding week having been #NBADunkWeek.

Those sort of things are ways to engage fans, at least to some extent, via sharing from team social channels, and for Cleveland Cavaliers fans, it was fun to see Darius Garland with some shine a bit. His play in recent open runs (via Swish Cultures and as h/t the NBA) showcased his wide array of moves, too. God does he have a deep bag, as Cavs fans know.

Anyway, next up for the league’s set of plays to flashback to is the week being dedicated to some awesome assists from last season.

With that caveat, as a Cavaliers fan, to me, two players immediately come to the forefront as such versatile passers/key playmakers, with those guys being the aforementioned Garland and Ricky Rubio, who was brought back via free agency. That was via three-year, $18.4 million deal, albeit with the third season non-guaranteed.

Cavs passing wizards Garland and Rubio are synonymous with #NBAAssistWeek.

To reiterate, Garland is guy who is getting to fill it up going forward in his own right for the Cavaliers; his game has grown leaps and bounds the past two seasons after he’s come into his own.

He had 21.7 points per contest last season, and was selected to his first All-Star Game, and then repped the hometown Cavs in Cleveland, alongside teammate Jarrett Allen with Team LeBron. Garland’s combination of handle, quickness, change-of-pace, deep range and multi-level touch make him such a dangerous threat as a scorer.

But paired with those abilities, he’s a hell of a passer, too, as we mentioned. Garland demonstrated plenty of that in his second season with the Cavaliers, when he had 6.1 assists per outing, and last year, he averaged 8.6 helpers per contest. That mark was sixth in the Association in 2021-22.

The emerging star’s playmaking has had quite an impact in the past two seasons, where he’s dished out a bunch of lob feeds, hit precise pocket passes, thrown open cutters and has made some gorgeous wraparound passes. There’s been some impressive hit-ahead dishes as well.

So, further without ado, let’s take a look at a few awesome Garland feeds from last season, that illustrate his wide range of passing abilities, beginning with this nasty one to Evan Mobley early on.

Garland’s timing and execution on that dish with the angle on that pass was ridiculous in set offense, and looking onward, his connection with Mobley is one that’s going to be very fruitful for both parties.

These next dimes were a pair to cutters in Cedi Osman and then Lamar Stevens, as was shown during last season in a win at the San Antonio Spurs. The precision and urgency on the first to Osman was something else, and when he keeps his dribble alive near the baseline, defenses have to be on high alert. If not, something special happens, and props to Stevens on that cut.

As we also alluded to previously, Rubio is the other Cavs player that is synonymous with NBA Assist Week.

Rubio made a big-time impact as a setup man last season following his offseason trade acquisition from the Minnesota Timberwolves. In what was mostly a supersub-type role, Rubio had 6.6 helpers per game; for his career, he’s amassed 7.6 helpers per outing through 11 seasons.

He unfortunately tore his ACL in late December, and the team wasn’t quite the same without him available, but in his time with Cleveland last year and throughout his career, he’s often dished out some amazing feeds. He should seemingly return in December or January in midseason, where his rare vision should again be on display.

The accuracy on this one right to the shooting pocket of his longtime teammate on the Timberwolves in Kevin Love was outstanding, for instance. Perimeter shooters assuredly love playing with the veteran.

You can see a few great feeds from Rubio in this assist montage from the Cavaliers here as well, though I’m not going to shortchange Garland’s several, and Evan Mobley, another gifted passer, had some nifty ones here.

But even in a short time with Cleveland last year, Rubio had nice chemistry hitting Jarrett Allen and others over the top for lobs, as shown below, and Rubio’s feel for finding shooters makes it seem as if he has eyes behind his head at times. Cedi Osman was the beneficiary of one of those looks here back from the 2021-22 season opener.

It’ll be exciting to see Garland and Rubio’s passing sorcery back next season, and in years to come.

And those two clearly are synonymous with #NBAAssistWeek.