After a breakout season in 2021-22, Darius Garland has responded well in his fourth year in the 2022-23 campaign to this point for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He wasn’t given the All-Star nod this time around, but it’s not as if Garland hasn’t solidified himself as one of the NBA’s best guards, and he’s again been one of the key reasons for Cleveland having a strong season thus far.
It was a relatively difficult beginning of the season for Garland, as he dealt with an eye laceration suffered in the season opener, and at other points, has had to endure a knee sprain, and like others, was battling sickness earlier in the year.
For a while since, however, Garland has settled in for Cleveland, and his ever-evolving game has defenders often off-balance, and both as a scorer and playmaker, he’s improved as the season has worn on and he’s gotten more comfortable.
With that in mind, here, we’ll break down how Garland has shown growth in three key areas for the Cavs this season.
We’ll begin with his scoring.
Growth Area No. 1: Continually rounding out his scoring skill set
Whether it’s the first or second growth area that’s resonated with me pertaining to Garland, he’s continued to round out his scoring abilities.
On the year, Garland has had 22.0 points per game, which is a bit of step up from his breakout season last year, and after a somewhat beginning of the year, he’s picked things up. On the season, he’s connected on a career-best 42.4 percent of his three-point attempts, too, and has had a true shooting percentage of 60.0.
There was, and still realistically to some degree is, an adjustment for Garland, similar to others, in relation to playing with Mitchell, but Garland has found ways to mesh with and play off him better it seems.
Generally, though, Garland has clearly taken that next step as a scorer this season. He’s shown viability as a movement shooter and improved as an off-ball player, and on-ball, his creativity, quickness, and feel for generating space has made him a nightmare to guard. Plus, he’s found ways to get to the foul line more this season, as he’s had 4.9 attempts per game this season, which has been another encouraging growth sign.
In pick-and-roll situations, he’s been able to counter opponents, and take full advantage often. Whether opponents have made mistakes in going under from miscommunications and he’s risen into deep balls, he’s hit floaters against drop, or gotten to the cup, Garland’s PnR feel has been outstanding, and that will only become more refined from here.
As we touched on, it was a tough go for Garland early on, largely due to him having to find his rhythm coming off injury, but he’s been crushing it for a while now, and was among the most notable All-Star snubs. Since the turn of the year to 2023 (a 25-game sample size), he’s had 22.8 points per game on 62.7 percent true shooting, including a 45.4 percent clip from three.
Growth Area No. 2: Finetuning playmaking, and cutting turnovers down
This season, Garland has once again been setting up his teammates very well, and has finetuned his playmaking. His chemistry with Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley has only gotten better in two-man games and/or pick-and-roll situations, and he’s shown improvement when it comes to hitting perimeter shooters.
On the season, Garland has had 7.9 assists per game, which is a bit down from last season, but that’s partly because of the trade arrival of Mitchell, and while he had a slow start to the year, Garland has regained his rhythm, and it’s paid off as a playmaker. Both on interior feeds and dishes to the perimeter, his placement has typically been on-point, enabling receivers to either catch feeds in-stride or right in the shooting pocket, leading to quality looks.
Additionally, despite some inherent games with high turnover totals, for the most part, Garland has been able to trim his turnovers down game-to-game this season. On the year, he’s averaged 2.9 per contest, and he’s posted a career-best 12.2 percent turnover rate, which has placed in the 50th percentile, per Cleaning The Glass. With Garland as the primary engine for the Cavs offense, his turnover splits haven’t been high at all.
In his fourth season, the game has slowed down for Garland, leading to him turning it over less in transition, and in set offense, in instances where he’s kept a live dribble. Of course, the presence of Mitchell has likely helped Garland trim down his turnover splits, but by and large, DG’s made further strides with his own decision-making as the season has worn on.
Growth Area No. 3: Team defense
Garland is going to have limitations on-ball defensively, that’s apparent at this juncture. He has to improve in that area long-term to help cut down dribble penetration from opponents, and to prevent Cleveland’s bigs from being in foul trouble.
On the plus side, though, Garland has shown continued growth from last season as it relates to his off-ball/team defense. He has limitations as an on-ball defender, as we alluded to. Garland’s frame doesn’t aid him there, and in instances defending bigger guards at times for stretches, he has issues.
But Garland’s team defensive instincts have gotten better, after making strides there last season, and that’s led to him again posting 1.3 steals per contest this year. His activity as a rotator has gotten better as the season has worn on, and while Garland has some room for improvement navigating off-ball screens, he’s been competing there, and his weak side feel has led to him making his share of takeaways.
Garland has demonstrated progression as a helper digging in driving lanes, and has been alert as a helper on post-ups as well, which has led to some poke-outs, and/or resulted in opponents making errant passes.
Also, despite Garland being only 6-foot-1, he has improved regarding him getting back into plays when hedging at times in pick-and-roll situations, which has prevented some skip feeds, or led to him being in sound position to defend catch-and-shoot threats.
Again, the 23-year-old Garland has a ways to go individually, and him adding some muscle and meaningful weight could aid him there. But as he’s gotten more experience, and with players such as Mobley, Allen, Isaac Okoro and Dean Wade around him throughout games, Garland’s team defensive feel has shown further improvement in Year 4.