Anticipating builds for Darius Garland’s return | Cleveland Cavaliers podcast

Anticipating builds for Darius Garland’s return | Cleveland Cavaliers podcast

On today’s show let’s get into Darius Garland who is on his way back anticipation is building what does it look like how weird is his injury let’s dive into it are locked on Cavs your daily Cleveland Cavaliers podcast today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more right now

New customers get $150 in bonus bets guaranteed when you plays a $5 bet visit fanduel.com backlock on today to get started I’m Chris Manning that is Evan Dam roll this is the lockdown Cavs podcast your team every day thanks again to Jake Stevens as always for his work on production

We’re all about Darius Garland today his injury the recovery what we know about that what kind of season he was having before he had to miss a month plus with a jaw fracture and then where can he go when he gets back how does he fit in to

The way the Cavs have played during their 10 and3 run while he’s out but Evan let’s just start with the injury and I got to tell you a it’s just weird but weirdly and I it’s it’s darus being a NBA player who has this jaw shoe feels kind of not

Right cuz it’s not right but it feels kind of like of course this would happen to the guy who last year got whacked in the face all the time I mean yeah um I think it’s kind of indicative just of Darius Garland’s NBA career in general he’s always had these weird random

Injuries that kind of seem out of nowhere whether it’s the lacerated um or not the El aceration with the bruise in his ey last year that uh swelled shut and like he couldn’t see out of the left side of his eye for a really long time and it was hard for him

To practice cuz you see double or just you know half of things at times or this year at the broken jaw or just the random aches and pains and bumps bumps and bruises and I think you know part of it is just how Garland plays he’s incredibly physical despite maybe the

Limitations that come with his size and just you know the lack of just overall weight comparatively to some of the players that he suffered these injuries with sure some of them are just straight of freak accidents like the eye injury and then the continue eye pokes after

That kind of felt like just continuous walls because people are you know more focused and Hyper sensitive to it after the first time he was ruled out with it but yeah this jaw stuff like it was just him trying to make a hustle play and he unfortunately collided with the hip of

Christop porzingis and didn’t spit up any blood but he apparently had a cup of blood that he was spitting into uh postgame in the locker room after that loss and then the news broke almost immediately after he was undergoing surgery to uh getting worked on then he

Uh recovered Through the Wire and now that the wire is removed as we discussed uh recently um yeah like it’s just you know just kind of a waiting game we’re kind of in a holding pattern now and just kind of have to wait to see

When he can be cleared to get back on the court and bjb biger staff probably has like a list of prerequisites for him to get back out there the most being just like is he able to practice in full but yeah it just it it kind of to go

Back to your point like it of all guys on the Cavs team to have this happen to it makes sense for him just because he always seems to get the most random of injuries and this is just also just such a weird return right like this is just

Going to feel I think just what he looks like is going to be really interesting because it’s it’s just well you hope he still looks like Darius Garland but well but I just mean I don’t mean it in that sense of like what he looks like or or

Not like he is what he is as a player he is going to play a certain way that’s just who he is what he’s about but I feel like it’s just such an interesting physical recovery in the sense of we know that he hasn’t he has

Been able to eat physical food for a while and was on like a liquid diet and it was hard for him to work out and now he’s at the point where he’s getting in pregame workouts right before opening tip if you ever go to the NBA game and a player on

A on a on the home team is going to get a workout in you can see them often times working up right up until they clear off the court for the national Anthem that’s what Garland has done the last two caps home games at least the

Ones in Cleveland I don’t know if he did that in Paris or not so like he’s at that stage who he’s getting back to it but it’s obviously just going to like it wouldn’t shock me if to ease him into things he plays 20 minutes in his first

Game just to be like hey you haven’t like you you had a really weird thing where you couldn’t exercise and eat real food really let’s just have you play 20 minutes we’ll ease you into it we’ll figure it out and and scale him up to his normal 30 32 33 minutes 35 minutes

Whatever it’s going to be over this over the the course of a week or two yeah and I think that’s just the best way to go about it in general because you want to make sure like he’s doing all right out there and also like

You don’t want to burn him or run him back into the ground cuz one you would avoid any possible opportunity of him either reinjuring the jaw injury somehow or just aggravating injuries elsewhere and also we’ll talk about this more on third segment when just like what to

Expect when he comes back to the floor like there is going to be a bit of an acclamation process because the Cavs are rolling quite a bit without Garland and Moy out there they are 10 and three in these 13 games without the two um Donovan Mitchell is really starting to

Show a lot of that rust and shine that um the Rus the Lac of shine rather uh before well rather while dealing with those hamstring injuries but yeah like we we’ll see how it goes and I think just taking it bit by bit minute by minute maybe finding opportunities to

Let him run on the floor in general just find his footing back out there and kind of shake off that rust that probably is going to have for the first few games and then just kind of keep moving from there is there any part of Garin Evan

That you look at and say this is what they’ve missed with him this is where they where they’ve missed his presence over this this run while he’s been out um I think just the overall control at times this offense sometimes lacks it’s really when a donov and Mitchell

Sits especially in their latest game against Chicago like there’s moments when Mitchell was out and the Cavs just really looked a little bit haphazard on offense and those are the moments you really need Garland just because he does have such a cerebral ability to make plays and opportunities for others on

The floor and also just get shots off at least from the point guard position that Craig Porter Jr is just incapable of doing of just because Craig Porter Jr isn’t the three-point shooter Darius Carlin ever will be but um more than that it’s just like sometimes it’s like

The offense kind of gets a little halfhazard and crazy and I think that’s why you see them leaning on Donovan Mitchell and to an extent Caris LeVert so heavily at times and I think just having that extra primary ball handler is something they’ve been missing and also just the offense does look

Fundamentally different when Darius Garland is out on the Ford we’ll talk I’ll talk about that more rather um in the upcoming segment but um or what I mean by that but it’s just it’s obvious just different without him out there the Cavs have had to adapt to their

Situation given their personnel and it’s much different than how Darius Carlin left yeah I think control is a really good way to describe it there’s just it’s a little bit of a different feel not having a traditional point guard really lean on and if you’re not paying

Craig Porter Jr then you’re in a situation where like you just aren’t playing someone like that and that there’s there’s been some obviously positives to it there’s been some things that have really worked but there obviously have been things that have an art after this let’s get into Darius scarland what kind

Of season he was having before he went out little spoiler alert hasn’t been a great one for Darius if you look at the numbers you look at I think how he was playing it wasn’t the best version of Darius before of the the injury we’ll talk about that after

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The official sports book of lock down again that is $150 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place a $5 moneyline bet win or loose Evan when I ask you darus scarland the season he was having before his injury what what kind of season do you

Think he was having a little up and down a little Topsy Turvy I think surprisingly he and donov and Mitchell were kind of struggling to gel at times on the floor together um there were people myself included I think you as well who really noted that when Mitchell

Was out it was just Garland running the entire show on offense um the Cavs just had like a different Cadence and Rhythm to them offensively and as I alluded to last segment like control is a good way to put it and then when of the games

When Garland was out due to the nagging injuries he was dealing with the start of the season um the offense just looked a lot different with Mitchell because I think they try to run a lot of the similar things a lot of heavy pick and

Roll stuff a lot of a lot of a lot of attacks at the basket I think George nag not being comfortable or maybe Max Tru kind of still finding his footing within this team or just this Cav team maybe not just kind of being fully healthy to

Start the year certainly uh is a weird comparison just when looking at how they’re playing now with Mitchell running the point but I think that’s what I really stuck out to me is just like mid Garland was up and down just because he was in the rotation out of

The rotation whether it’s just like injuries or illness or anything in between um the most recent being this jaw fracture and then the surgery after it but I’m curious to see what they look like now that they’re kind of hitting their stride a little bit and things are

Jelling and clicking quite a bit for the Cavs and just because based on what we saw before um Garland was out for such a long time 13 games and Counting now but um things felt like they were starting to turn the corner between him and Mitchell like I felt like they were

Trying to find that footing that they had last year at least that comfortability they had with each other out there on the floor so they could coexist and I’m curious see if they can pick up where they let left off and just kind of continue building on that or is

There going to be maybe some Growing Pains as JB Baker staff and others have made it pretty clear like they’re hoping that like Mitchell or sorry not Mitchell uh mopley and Garland since the focus of this episode can adapt to this new style of play and kind of accentuate it and

Just kind of fit in instead of fit out and maybe going back to how they looked earlier this season I think if I look at Garland’s year there’s two things to me that that stand out number one his turnovers were up a career-high 3.8 versus just 5.9

Assists this was not the Darius garland that I think is the best version of him where he is in control of the basketball he is careful he is the best decision maker on the floor for Cleveland that was not the guy you got for 20 games for

Whatever reason that guy wasn’t there I think that’s that’s number one the other part of this is I think three-point shooting his attempts were down to 5.2 a game he was at 6.7 his Allstar season and it was at four it was at six last year at 41% last year to me

Evan that has always been the the the scoring leap for him as as as a shooter I you know he’s had he’s having a really good Mark from twos this year okay that’s that’s something there’s something there in the idea that he is evolving maybe in in whatever

That’s going to look like maybe he maybe it’s intentional on their part to say we need someone to put some more pressure in defenses the times who wants you to do it Darius okay but I think darius’s offensive Evolution as a score has always been about three-point shooting

And pull-ups and and and finding ways to be dynamic in ways that are not just the occasional three or getting to the rim and and trying to to draw some fouls which is not something he does a lot of I think for Darius three-point volume should be a big part of his

Offensive game in addition to him taking care of the ball those are two things where it just wasn’t the Darius that I think is the best version of Darius in the way that he’ played based on just those two indicators yeah um to your point like it

Is weird just because I think that is usually one of the more bigger knocks against Garland at times is he sometimes isn’t selfish enough or at least selfish enough on the perimeter to kind of like throw up some shots or maybe just rip it

At times or we yeah I mean I don’t know he you could easily make the argument he’s the best three-point shooter on the Cavs outside of maybe Max Tru just in terms of pure volume but like Garland doesn’t have that volume compared to what like stru is able to give Cleveland

Or just what stru has given in his career and it can be a point of frustration for some people just because you see Garland get these really nice looks on the perimeter and either he’s passing it because he is sometimes too selfless to a fault or he uh would

Rather blow past a close out and try and attack the basket draw contact and get to the line or maybe find an easy look on the interior whether that’s a floater or a layup of his own or just a dump off to a teammate in the paint but yeah like

That that’s that that is an interesting stat like the cabs maybe did tell him internally like we want you to apply more pressure to the basket we noted this at media day like he was looking bulkier a lot more like muscular in his upper body so like at least to me that

Was kind of an indicator like okay he’s trying to maybe add some Mass to his frame so he can handle more physicality and contact inside and it it’s shown cuz like he did have he does have an NE into the line most nights but you would like

Him to kind of be find that happy medium or balance where he is able to hurt defenses from all over the floor not just in the mid-range or on the interior and just want him to take that step back and just get three points instead of two in some of those attempts

And even if he doesn’t make them you’d rather him just keep shooting to kind of find his Gru and Rhythm and I wonder with how Cleveland’s playing now um does Garland kind of fall in line with that and just become one of those guys that really have been moving the needle or

Just kind of helps keep moving the needle of this like overwhelming three-point attack the Cavs have been rolling with lately I I just kind of think the way they’re playing even if there’s going to be some differences for him I think it should fit him this will

Kind of indicate this kind of gets us more towards segment three but EV if I think about Darius and like what I think he’s really good at and what I think how he how you can make him and Donovan work however better whatever it is I think it

Is just like three-point shooting and also if you’re kind of if you’re going to tell me a story about how he could turn around the the assist stuff and and the turnover issues which again his turnovers are up and his turnover percentage is up and it’s as bad as it

Has been uh bottom 5% of point guards this year in terms of turnover percentage and a pretty low assist usage ratio all that’s bad other big knock is just like he was been very careless with the ball at times but and that’s not there kind of something that’s that

That’s sometimes been a stain of on him like even last season like there was games where like he would have a lot of assists even if he put up a lot of turnovers and like he would say the same thing then as he would now like he’s

Comfortable turning the ball over if it just is an indicator that they’re being aggressive on offense not being like careless or passive on offense which like I said with him in the first segment like he is very aggressive as a player when he’s on the floor especially

When the ball is in his hands he’s also just I think he’s right about that when you’re when you’re someone like him who has a high usage rate and who is going to you’re you’re going to turn the ball over it is inevitable it is part of the

Game his Allstar season he had a a us a turn an over rate of 14.5% that was up near it was like 25 near the bottom 25% of of point guards league but he he was assisting at nearly 40% of possessions that’s unbelievable his turnover ratio his his usage ratio

Was awesome last year dipped a little bit with Mitchell and toe obviously but he turned the ball over last last year as a a percentage of his thing and this year this then it is as bad as it was as a rookie but if you’re going to tell me

That there’s a way he comes back and is additive to the way they’re shooting and he gets easier he’s creating easier assists and easier shots for their guys I I could absolutely buy that that’s the way he turns around the Passing yeah I mean absolutely and I think also just like he’s such a good playmaker and talented ball handler that you would assume that the assist numbers go up especially now that role players especially whether it’s stru or Nang or Merill if he could spot minut

Or um even like Dean Wade if he still is in the rotation when things roll around or Nang um like there’s a lot of guys all over the floor whether it’s on the interior or on the outside and even Jared Al and Donovan Mitchell are playing really well too like there are a

Lot of ready and willing guys to receive passes from Darius Garland to get them cleaner looks at the bucket and I think that’s something that has been underated is is like sometimes the Cavs have thrown up a lot of shots and I think the the the quantity is

More smothering than the quality of maybe some of the attempts Cleveland is putting off without Garland on the floor and I think that kind of you’ll get more of that quantity but I think there’ll be more high quality looks because you just have such a talented playmaker in

Garland and yeah like I I think with the benefit of not having him out there is you’re asking other guys to step up and they get comfortable and at least you hope like with a guy who is talented as he is as a playmaker like it’s a hand

And glove thing where like he can play off of that and just rack up clean assists sure there’ll be turnovers and things like that because you and I I agree with you like I think that is the right approach to have as long as like the turnovers aren’t result of being

Careless and passive and you’re just trying to maximize every opportunity on offense like yeah I think you can swallow those pills but the assist numbers should naturally go up because people are finding their groove without him and then having someone as talented as him out there is just going to kind

Of make a hand and glove bit for that offensive scheme they’re running coming up next where can Darius go from here how can he get better we hit on this a little bit we’re going to get into the weeds just a little bit more with Darius specifically on the

Play style and one thing I think he can do better that is I think one of the weaknesses in his game overall we’ll talk about that after this today’s episode is brought to you by jce medical I know we come to sports to escape from the crazy realities of

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Already hit on once he gets back because I do think off ball Darius Garland has been waiting to be he needs to move more he needs to be someone that’s just a little bit more Dynamic off the wall that it’s not the way the Cavs have

Really wanted to play with anyone in a lot of ways stru and Merill are kind of the only guys that really get moving in that specific way but Garland just being someone who could do a little more in that way strikes me as a way to get him

Some cleaner looks strikes me as a way to get him the kind of three-point looks we’re talking about him and maybe up the volume in that way and and I think it adds to how him and Donovan can work together and if you’re and if you’re

Coming out of this 10 and3 stretch and the way the kev’s offense is played and all of that and you say okay we have to keep a lot of what has worked with Darius or with Donovan and the way this has kind of worked on him and what that

Is given us this is the way Darius can I think be additive that if you could push him in in that specific Direction yeah I think additive is a good way to put especially when he’s sharing the floor Donovan Mitchell because I would assume when Darius is back out there even minutes restriction

Not withstanding of course but there are going to be times where maybe within the first handful of games like one of them has a bad night or it results in like a close loss but the other one like clearly there’s like just a little bit of friction as they’re trying to kind of

Figure out how to play off of one another within this new system or just like this new approach that C are trying to utilize and maybe try and take a little bit of what was good from last year and early in the season and apply it to what has really been working now

But yeah off ball Garland is certainly a way to do it just because with the offense being so heliocentric to Mitchell lately like you’re seeing a ton of success they’re 10 and three they’re one of the top assist teams and overall offensive teams in the league currently

At least in the last 13 games um and that’s certainly just interesting to kind of keep tabs on and I think there’s a way to make it work and him playing off ball is a good way to make it easier I I absolutely agree and for

Me like I said I think there’s going to be opportunities because like you saw it against the Bulls the other night like when Mitchell sat that the Cavs kind of started to fall apart a little bit um you can afford to sit down at Mitch Mo

And not run him into the ground and then even in those limited runs that Darius will probably get there’s going to be opportunities for him just to be the deao ball handler on the floor and you surround him with shooting uh interior lob threats and just kind of like pick

And choose like what kind of line of in a roll with him just to kind of get him back into like he’ll be in playing shape to go out there and play for the Cavs but like there’s a difference between playing shape and being like actual in-game shape and like it requires you

Kind of shaking and by that I mean like shaking off the rust of just like finding people in the right spots again and kind of figuring out the flow of these teammates and these guys that you do have familiarity with but there is going to be a little bit of a pickup

Just because they’ve been playing without you for a handful of games now so for me I think it’s a little bit bit of a balance of both like when you have him and Mitchell on the floor together even like him and Levert or something like that

Like yeah do a lot of off ball Garland like make him work make him run through screens run plays to get him clean looks on the perimeter especially with this new three-point heavy approach you have um and then just whenever Mitchell sits or like you just want to run a solo

Garland lineup as like the deao ball handle like that’s another good way to kind of get him comfortable and just keep figuring out like the overall fit with this new scheme the Cavs are rolling with well and and if you want want to also I think have him be the guy

Who’s like setting up if you’re going to like play Sam Marill have him be a guy who sets up Sam Marell shot ATM like just play all you can keep just playing all the shooters just keep all of them on the floor if you want to darus like

That’s a you could just say okay it’s we we ran Donovan and Jarrett and while until evans’s back we’re going to have Darius and some Tristan minutes and then three Shooters and pick pick your Shooters you could do it and it’s like you can it’s go there’s obviously going to be some

Adjustment but I think the let me ask one on this question that just occurred to me now would you say Evan I I think this is where I go I think integrating Darius back into the style of play is going to be easier even if there are

Some moments where it it there’s some adjustment then it will be to bring back Evan Moy and play this way yeah with that oh absolutely I think offensively the way the Cavs operate like there’s going to be some Growing Pains I think just because it’s to be expected with a guy

Who’s been out since the end of 2023 and probably won’t be back until late January like that’s a solid almost month off Garland is had like there’s going to be a little bit of a curve there but give it a game or two maybe five tops and it’ll seem like a seamless fit

Especially like you said if you play him off ball a lot like if you run like um like Hammer plays or fist plays or even just like the elev door plays like the Spurs used to run with like the the kawhai ERA with like Po with um Manu and

Um Timmy and Tony and stuff like there’s a lot of clean ways the Cavs can utilize what they have especially with Allen just being so rock solid and like kind of being very physical like he’s setting some pretty solid screens lately like let Garland just be that movement

Shooter kind of similar like what Max Tru kind of gives the Cavs at times and really just stretch this offense out further and I think once he starts seeing the ball go in on a regular basis it’s just all going to be easy peasy after that we’re going to end there I’m Chris

Manning that is Evan damal back at you after Cavs bucks big one in Cleveland don’t suspect we’re going to see Darius just yet for that one yeah he has listed his out on the injury report uh so he is not back as of yet but it’s coming the

Anticipation builds we’ll talk about his actual when it happens but Cavs bucks tomorrow we’ll recap that here unlocked on Cavs back with more later this week enjoy your weekend everyone have a great rest of your day

On a new episode of Locked on Cavs (Wednesday, Jan. 18 2024) hosts Chris Manning (@cwmwrites, The Just Basketball Show, SB Nation’s Fear the Sword, Forbes Sports) and Evan Dammarell (@AmNotEvan, Right Down Euclid) discuss the latest news and updates about Darius Garland’s return, get into what kind of season he was having before his jaw injury and then look ahead to where Garland needs to go as a player once he returns to maximize what this Cavs season is.

This episode was produced by Jake Stephens. The intro music is from our friends at Astral Radio.
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