Mitchell having real share of Cavs primary playmaking work will pay off

Heading into his fourth season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Darius Garland will assuredly be getting his share of primary playmaking work.

Garland had a hell of a season in a career year in 2021-22, achieving All-Star honors, and having averages of 21.7 points and 8.6 assists per outing. Last year was quite the follow-up from his second year, when he was one of the key bright spots for Cleveland with 17.4 points and 6.1 assists per game, and going forward, he looks to be the engine of the Cavaliers offense.

That being said, with the arrival of Donovan Mitchell via trade from the Utah Jazz, it’s apparent that Garland should have more playmaking help, and when he returns, Ricky Rubio being back in the fold should aid Garland and the overall team.

When it comes to Mitchell, he’ll be a heck of a scoring presence, sure; everybody recognizes that, as he had 25.9 points per game last season, and he’s had 23.9 points per game through five seasons. He’s a three-time All-Star in those five seasons, and can fill it up in a variety of ways; one shouldn’t discount his playoff experience even at only 26, either.

But, it was also notable that recently in media availability, Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff stated that Cleveland intends to have either Garland or Mitchell on the floor at all times, feasibly for playmaking purposes and I’d assume for that on-ball scoring skill set off that. Here was more in that realm for clarification, via Evan Dammarell of Fear The Sword and Right Down Euclid.

Mitchell having a real share of seemingly primary playmaking work should pay off for the Cavs, and they’ll improve in playing off him as the year progresses.

In some lineups, I’d think there’s instances where both of those aforementioned two in Garland and Mitchell are not on the floor. That could be with Raul Neto initiating in some spurts and/or with Caris LeVert being in a de facto 1 role. Or perhaps LeVert is just more of the go-to scorer for stretches in those spurts/stretches.

Generally, however, I get the reasoning behind those Bickerstaff comments, with Garland and Mitchell being Cleveland’s best offensive talents, clearly.

To that point, with him improving over the years as a passer, Mitchell should have legit stretches being more of a lead facilitator, one would assume, and even more so following those Bickerstaff comments above and these, via Dammarell.

The Cavaliers will assuredly be staggering Garland and Mitchell for stretches throughout games, and Mitchell handling some primary playmaking duties, seemingly, should pay off for Garland/his preservation looking onward, and Cleveland.

Mitchell isn’t the passer of Garland, and is a combo guard, realistically, that is going to be Cleveland’s primary option in the scoring sense. But, he’s a player that can really make things happen in pick-and-roll situations, and he’s shown vastly improved feel for hitting quality sprayouts to shooters playing off his on-ball presence, and that should make a difference for a variety of Cavs.

Mitchell had 5.3 assists per outing with Utah in 2021-22, and 5.2 per game in 2020-21. In that time, his vision has gotten better, too, and based on Bickerstaff’s recent comments, one would imagine we’ll see Mitchell for real stretches in games being more pass-first, if you will, in times Garland gets a breather.

Obviously, when Rubio returns, things will have to recalibrate somewhat in this regard; even still, there could feasibly be stretches where Rubio plays with Garland and Mitchell some, particularly with Rubio’s defensive capabilities and a 6-foot-9 wingspan for him helps. Mitchell, along those lines, has a 6-foot-10 wingspan, also; he does need to prove he can be more competent defensively, in fairness.

Even with that in mind, Mitchell having some of the primary playmaking duties should pay dividends, as we’ve touched on. And generally, with his scoring presence and being a much improved passer in recent years, he should enable Darius Garland to have some more off-ball opportunities, and I’d think that over time, Mitchell and Evan Mobley should play off one another well.

We’ll ultimately have to see what plays out in this aspect with Mitchell, but overall, it’s evident both his three-level scoring and passing should make a significant difference for Cleveland’s offensive outlook. That includes them having more open three-point looks for catch-and-shoot threats, too.