2 areas where Cavs’ Darius Garland needs to improve moving forward

Initially, Darius Garland didn’t get off to the best start this season for the Cleveland Cavaliers. His eye injury early on didn’t help, and it was taking some time for him to get used to playing with Donovan Mitchell, as was seemingly the case for some other guys, which was understandable.

For the most part, though, Garland has had another stellar campaign for the Wine and Gold to this point, and as he’s gotten more comfortable, he and the team have benefited immensely from it.

Thus far in his fourth season with Cleveland, Garland has had 22.0 points and 7.9 assists per contest, and has connected on a career-best 43.1 percent of his three-point attempts, of which have been 6.1 per outing. In his past 30 appearances, he’s had 23.2 points per game, and has shot 47.8 percent from beyond the arc, and has averaged 7.7 assists.

His plus-minus in that span has been a robust plus-6.7 as well, and one shouldn’t gloss over Garland’s further strides made as a team defensive player this season, which have resulted in him snagging his share of opposing attempts to find shooters and entry feeds. He’s again had 1.3 steals per game this season, to follow up 2021-22.

It’s safe to say Garland was one of the NBA’s more notable All-Star snubs, and the 23-year-old has gotten better and better and has continued to round out his game as the season has worn on. He could be on track to join one of the league’s most exclusive clubs, as a result of that, too.

That said, Garland can still get to another level as a player for Cleveland.

He’s only 23, but if Garland improves in two areas, especially, it’d pay off big-time for him and the Cavs.

We’ll begin with the first key improvement area.