Darius Garland is playing… Good ?
Watching this years Cavs team has been a wide range of emotions. A few that come to mind, stressful, frustrating, disappointing, and lovable (yes the pun was intended). I have no idea why but this Cavs team still brings me so much joy to watch, even when they’re losing games and playing teams that are better at them in almost every aspect of the game.You can see the young core listening to their veterans, Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love on and off the court, whether it be advice on certain defensive strategies or being told not to take certain shots, and the most improvement I’ve seen so far is with Darius Garland. Garland is attempting more three point shots, he’s passing more, and his basketball IQ looks like it is growing more and more every game he plays.
Garland went to College at Vanderbilt as the best recruit the school had ever seen on their basketball team,but he was a top prospect before he had ever stepped on the court at Vanderbilt. Garland was a star in high school and was ranked as one of the best prospects coming out of high school. Then Garland got to Vanderbilt and played 5 games and then he went down with a torn meniscus and he never played another game in College as he took time to heal his injury and to prepare for the draft. Garland was a risk, considering he had just tore his meniscus which is caused by putting too much pressure on the knee, and a big part of basketball is going up and down on landing on your knee. Garland also had almost no experience in College which is a deterrent for some teams as sometimes them playing good in high school is just a fluke and caused by bad opposing players. Despite all this he had already proven to a lot of teams in the league that he had the potential to be one of the best young point guards in the league. The Cavs decided the reward seemed bigger than the risk and they drafted Garland 5th overall in the 2019 draft.
With most rookies it takes a few games or maybe a month (and for some it takes year) of NBA basketball for them to get used to the competition they’re facing. Since, Garland hadn't played in competitive basketball in almost a year, I assumed at the start of the season that it would take him longer than most to become used to the NBA. Here we are on January 15th and I think the kid is finally ready.
The Cavs made a trip to Los Angeles this week to play a back to back against the Lakers and the Clippers, which meant the Cavs 29th ranked defense had to go up against Lebron James on one night and then Kawhi Leonard the next. It wasn’t looking good for the Cavs. They ended up losing to the Lakers on Monday night in a blowout, 128–99, and then lost to the Clippers the next night, 128–103. Lets look on the bright side here, Garland had his first career double double against the Clippers, finishing with 14 points and 10 assists, it is also the first time Garland has gotten more than 8 assists this season. Garland took 16 two point shots and he only drained 5 and attempted 7 three’s and hit 2 of them. This may not sound great, but after watching guys like JR Smith and Kyle Korver for years it seems that the best way to get better at shooting is to keep shooting.
Against the Clippers last night, Garland was more aggressive when he was holding the ball, choosing the drive to the net and get the layup rather than pulling up for the shot. He and Colin Sexton need to improve their eyesight as they are getting their shots blocked at a high rate (Sexton is 3rd in the league with 112 shots blocked)
I think Darius Garland is starting to really find his groove on the court, he’s still got a ways to go when it comes to making smarter shots but that will come with time, The Cavs have a very bright future ahead of them, they have lots of young players with very high ceilings, such as Kevin Porter Jr, Dylan Windler (who still hasn’t played a game and wont play until next year due to injury), Darius Garland, and Colin Sexton. The 4 of these guys are very young as Dylan Windler is the oldest player at 23 years of age. The Cavs have multiple years left on all of their contracts and I”m excited to see how good these guys become in the years to come.
Sources
“Darius Garland 2019–20 Game Log.” Basketball, www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/garlada01/gamelog/2020
“Teams Advanced.” NBA Stats, stats.nba.com/teams/advanced/?sort=W&dir=-1.
