How Donovan Mitchell & the Cavaliers Adjust to the Return of Darius Garland – Sports4CLE, 1/31/24
CES uh getting ready to face the Detroit Pistons Darius Garland back in the uniform set to return to the lineup tonight JB bicker staff um admits there will be some adjustments for Donovan Mitchell Mitchell has been outstanding with the ball in his hand um in Garland’s absence uh but with Garland
Returning there will be some adjustments it’s Donovan and you know he’s a complete basketball player and it’s simple as that um he’s not a one-dimensional guy um you know so but you know obviously when Darius comes back you know Darius is going to have the ball in his hands
As well so uh guys just have to continue to play the right way and keep sharing the ball and uh we keep sharing the ball there’s enough touches out there for everybody so you move it pass it to the open man I think that’s what Donovan has
Done a phenomenal job of is you know helping his teammates get better and I think those two guys can make each other better they take pressure off one another uh and can create some easier opportunities for one another as well that let’s welcome samiko from hoops.com Sam
Um it’s a good problem to have that you have too many good players having said that um is there going to be an adjustment period so they can figure out how this works best you would think there would be at least a small adjustment because obviously since Darius Garland’s been
Out they’ve been uh on quite a tear having won 10 of 11 and beating the Bucks in Milwaukee and then the Clippers at home snapping the Clippers five game winning streak and a lot of that is because Donovan Mitchell has been fantastic obviously not just at scoring
But you know had 12 assists against the Clippers with Garland out he’s twice matched his career-high with 13 assists uh and as I said along with the scoring so he’s Mitchell’s really been facilitating filling in at the point guard spot and now you’re going to move
Him back over to the two guard but you know JB bicker staff just said it as long as you continue to share the basketball doesn’t really matter who’s setting up the offense whether it’s Garland or Mitchell or who’s bringing the ball up the floor and facilitating as long as they continue to
Do those things with Darius Garland which I’m assuming they’re going to be able to do because he is a point guard he does help facilitate uh I I think they’ll be in good shape but yeah it might be a little bit of an adjustment uh not just for
Garland and Mitchell but some of the other guys as well that are feeding off of Mitchell what about the rotation who um who gets the minute you know you’re and I would imagine well we know Mo’s on a minute restriction but who gets squeezed whose minutes get squeezed a
Little well I think we’re going to see you know Sam Merill I know a lot of fans aren’t happy to hear that but he’s probably the guy who’s going to not play as much you know look in the NBA you play about eight guys the most of your
Minutes maybe a ninth man gets 10 minutes or so and uh if you’re talking the Cavs you’re talking you know their core four Max stru and then Isaac okoro Caris LeVert George yangang are going to get a ton of minutes uh you would think Off the Bench so there’s eight guys
Right there and there’s probably room for a ninth guy uh that’s going to depend a lot on matchups and it could be merold you know the data shows that when on the floor even when he’s not scoring uh he’s he’s creating space Dean Wade has been magnificent when he was filling
In for Moy uh in terms of you know his defense not forcing a thing the great thing about Dean Wade is he’s a guy who doesn’t need the ball to make an impact he doesn’t really care if he gets it so um you know right there I just named 10
Players somebody’s probably going to be out now the good news is you know you always have opportunities for matchups where one player May Come Off the Bench as your ninth man uh if you need some outside shooting that’s obviously going to be Merill and the better news than that is
The fact that you know the reason you want to go 10 or 11 deep as the Cavs do isn’t so that you play 10 or 11 guys every game it’s so that you have the luxury of using those guys and you know their game ready in the event they need
Be called on in case of injury you know we we see this is the NBA season and this is the Cavs and there’s been plenty of injuries and plenty of opportunities for guys such as Merl Craig Porter Jr uh Dean Wade who’s been starting you you see that those opportunities are going
To be there for those guys from time to time and they just have to be ready when it is
Dave Bacon and Sam Amico discuss how Donovan Mitchell and the Cavaliers adjust to the return of Darius Garland.
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