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.
Improvement Area No. 1 for Garland: On-ball defense
One of the clearcut areas where Garland needs to improve is his on-ball defense. Nobody would mistake Garland for a lockdown defender individually, and throughout his career, it’s safe to say that’s probably not going to be what he’ll labeled as there.
Garland gets beat too often off the bounce, which causes penetration into the lane from opponents, which can cause others to be in tough matchups, or for opposing playmakers to find open looks for others on the perimeter. That can result in open threes, or if those looks are taken away, opponents can at times get to the rim, draw fouls themselves, or find cutters.
Now, Garland has made some strides with his ball pressure, and he’s a competitor who has improved at getting back into plays with effort and high hands. But there are clear limitations with DG on-ball, and it is reasonable to point out when projecting how he’ll fare in the playoffs in comparison to where he is a star level player offensively.
Granted, Garland has greatly improved over the course of the past two seasons as a team defender and rotator, and he should receive praise for his growth there. However, if he can add some more functional strength and muscle over the upcoming summer and/or in coming seasons, as he gets more into his prime, it could surely help him in individual defense.
Improvement Area No. 2 for Garland: Continued strides with finishing at the rim
It’s probably nitpicky here, given how much Garland has grown over the past three seasons as an offensive player for the Cavaliers. He’s such a dangerous shooter, shot creator and is such a gifted playmaker that has gotten marketedly better in most facets of the game offensively.
He has improved with his finishing on the interior, too, but his finishing at the rim could still be better looking onward. Garland has also shown progression there in the past two seasons, and recently, he has generating quality looks for himself in that area, and has been converting.
Still, on the year, Garland has connected on 55.3 percent of his restricted area shot attempts, per NBA.com’s shooting data, which is down from last year, when that clip was 57.4 percent. Garland’s been very effective recently with his finishing lately, hitting 72.7 percent there in his past 15 games, but for much of the season, that’s realistically been the only shot zone where he’s underwhelmed.
In fairness, the eye injury he suffered had to have played into some inefficiencies for him near the rim, and the dude has been hit in the head/face so often throughout this season, out of unfortunate luck, or whatever reason. So one has to take that into consideration.
Even with that in mind, and him exhibiting improvement as a finisher in recent seasons, though, if Garland can gradually get stronger in coming years, and keep rounding out his overall game, it should pay off for him at the basket, too.
This isn’t a huge thing, but with how he’s demonstrated growth as a scorer at the other areas of the floor, with the shiftiness and body control Garland has, and with his playmaking presence, his finishing at the rim can be more consistent.