Why Garland will end up as the best Cavs guard of all time
By Corey Casey
Competition for best Cavs guard – Donovan Mitchell
The final guy on this list is Garland’s current backcourt teammate in Donovan Mitchell. I don’t think you can put Garland or Mitchell over Irving or even Price right now. I think Garland and Mitchell are better talents than Price, but the track record isn’t there yet to put them over either player.
Mitchell hasn’t been here that long, but in his short time he’s been just as advertised and quite frankly has leveled up. On the season Mitchell is averaging 29 points, 4.9 assists, four rebounds and 1.5 steals while shooting 49.6 from the field and 42.4 from 3 overall. For Mitchell ppg field goal percentage and his 3-point percentage are all career highs by a decent margin.
The Cavs knew how dynamic and how good Mitchell was when they traded for him , but he’s taken his game up a notch this year. Mitchell was already a three-time All-Star and a top 15-18 player when he got traded to Cleveland, but he’s going to make his fourth All-Star appearance, as of now would probably be an East starter, will almost certainly make his first All-NBA team this year and has turned into a legitimate MVP candidate.
He had good teams in Utah, but he never had a talent like Darius Garland next to him, nor a player with the upside of Evan Mobley. As intimidating of an interior force as Gobert can be, he does have his limitations in the playoffs. With Mitchell not having to do everything offensively all the time and not having to shoulder as much of a burden, we’ve seen Mitchell re-energized and as engaged defensively as he’s ever been.
When the Cavs traded for Mitchell, they knew it was always a possibility he could always leave in a few years. If he stays, however, he has a terrific chance to go down as a top-two guard ever in Cavs history, or even the best. With this core of players the Cavs have with Garland, Mobley and Allen, who are all young and haven’t hit their primes, plus a strong front office, it’ll be incredibly hard for Mitchell to leave a great basketball situation like this.