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I clearly remember there was a time when the (majority) of this board is very high on Darius Garland. I certainly have seen some people stated that they would rather have Garland over Ja, Zion, LaMelo and Edwards. He was in a lot of conversations with the top upcoming stars. But it seems like his hype train has been moving really slow these days. Or even dead. No one is talking and raving about him.

I'm curious to know how other people think about Garland right now. Are you still high on him? And where do you rank him amongst point guards?

I still really like his tools, but he had a rough year and I think playing next to Mitchell is hurting his development. Send him to Orlando and they'd be monsters.

Not sure what to vote, he's clearly not top 10, but that 10-20 range gets very muddled.

cgf wrote:I still really like his tools, but he had a rough year and I think playing next to Mitchell is hurting his development. But send him to Orlando and they'd be monsters.

Orlando would be a great fit for him. same with the Pelicans and Spurs.

Frank Dux wrote:

cgf wrote:I still really like his tools, but he had a rough year and I think playing next to Mitchell is hurting his development. But send him to Orlando and they'd be monsters.

Orlando would be a great fit for him. same with the Pelicans and Spurs.

Cleveland will be really interesting this offseason. Either Mitchell is staying and they should dangle Garland, or Mitchell is leaving and they have to hold onto Garland for dear life. If they enter next season with both PGs on their roster, that'll be a colossal mistake IMO.

I've suggested various Garland for Franz or Ingram based trades, but the Cavs can't pursue those until Spida commits.

cgf wrote:

Frank Dux wrote:

cgf wrote:I still really like his tools, but he had a rough year and I think playing next to Mitchell is hurting his development. But send him to Orlando and they'd be monsters.

Orlando would be a great fit for him. same with the Pelicans and Spurs.

Cleveland will be really interesting this offseason. Either Mitchell is staying and they should dangle Garland, or Mitchell is leaving and they have to hold onto Garland for dear life. If they enter next season with both PGs on their roster, that'll be a colossal mistake IMO.

I've suggested various Garland for Franz or Ingram based trades, but the Cavs can't pursue those until Spida commits.

And they might be approaching a similar situation w Mobley/Allen as well.
Really weird, interesting team.

I can think of around 20 point guards I'd rather have over him right now pretty simply, but he has had a rough year. Mitchell being there has stunted his development in some ways I'd guess and the broken jaw really seemed to affect his year long after the physical recovery.

He still has the talent and age on his side to be much higher than that though.

Hard to draw conclusions, since he showed he can be excellent, but has had a terrible stretch. He doesn't even look like a starter now, but I would not sell his stock, I would buy all of it, he should turn it around.

There is no chance he is in the top 5, when we have Luka, Brunson, Ja, Haliburton, Jrue or Kyrie, but I could still talk myself into top ten based on what he showed in the past.

We have 15 players that are better Doncic, Curry, Shai, Brunson, Haliburton, Lillard, Morant, Irving, Trae, Jrue, Harden, Jamal, Fox, Maxey, and LaMello.

Then we still have Dejonte Murray, Derrick White, Fred Van Vleet, Conley, Cade, Coby White...

Average PG

It honestly feels like he's just plateaued into that fringe all star point guard category.

Can he get better? Of course.

But he's never going to be the tallest, strongest, fastest etc player in a game. So growth from him requires specifically him getting better on his handles and his shooting.

Frank Dux wrote:

cgf wrote:I still really like his tools, but he had a rough year and I think playing next to Mitchell is hurting his development. But send him to Orlando and they'd be monsters.

Orlando would be a great fit for him. same with the Pelicans and Spurs.

Wow, outside of some all-star level guards Garland might be the best fit alongside Wemby.

BruttoNostra wrote:

Frank Dux wrote:

cgf wrote:I still really like his tools, but he had a rough year and I think playing next to Mitchell is hurting his development. But send him to Orlando and they'd be monsters.

Orlando would be a great fit for him. same with the Pelicans and Spurs.

Wow, outside of some all-star level guards Garland might be the best fit alongside Wemby.

Yes, I would ge excited about that pairing far more than Trae rumors. Someone over here even suggested Westbrook to Spurs, which is just laughable proposition in my opinion.

The team isn't as good this year with Allen out half the series and a few veteran presences gone from the bench. That isn't the full story though, as Garland performed a bit better in last years playoffs, but I think that team was better constructed than this current one.

Garland looked lost and second guessed his shot during the Magic series and his inexperience was shining bright. He wasn't playing free, and that's something the coaching staff needs to look at too. Just look at game 6, Don had an insane burner of a game and carried that team to victory. But that hero ball resulted in a loss, 8 4th quarter turnovers, and Garlands only attempting one fg. That's not good.

So I think it's a combination of inexperience and being a young player, generalized poor roster construction, and being on the losing end of the coaching battle.

cgf wrote:I still really like his tools, but he had a rough year and I think playing next to Mitchell is hurting his development. Send him to Orlando and they'd be monsters.

Not sure what to vote, he's clearly not top 10, but that 10-20 range gets very muddled.

Mitchell was there last year and Garland had the best season of his career. He's much worse this year.

His efficiency has dropped across the board. Lower free throw rate, and lower shooting percentages. Even his free throw percentage is at a career low this year. His assist rate has dropped as well. His defensive metrics also appear to have dropped.

Garland has talent. He's proven that. He might be dealing with some injury or mental block this year or something.

Great offensively but his size and lack of Defensive instincts and effort will keep him from being a star.

Rendei wrote:

cgf wrote:I still really like his tools, but he had a rough year and I think playing next to Mitchell is hurting his development. Send him to Orlando and they'd be monsters.

Not sure what to vote, he's clearly not top 10, but that 10-20 range gets very muddled.

Mitchell was there last year and Garland had the best season of his career. He's much worse this year.

His efficiency has dropped across the board. Lower free throw rate, and lower shooting percentages. Even his free throw percentage is at a career low this year. His assist rate has dropped as well. His defensive metrics also appear to have dropped.

Garland has talent. He's proven that. He might be dealing with some injury or mental block this year or something.

I think it's both, that jaw injury messed with his season but I also think that he's struggling with having been supplanted by Mitchell...which was fine when they were rolling to the 3 seed last year, but became less fine when they got sonned in round 1 before a tougher go of things this year...and also with the team having seemed to do better while he was out.

So I suspect he's feeling a little unwanted, like he's just an insurance policy to hedge against DM refusing to sign a new contract in cleveland, and like the team might be thinking about moving on without him if Spida stays...but that's just reckless speculation on my part. Don't know the kid and can't say what's really going through his head.

For all we know it's all GF drama.

he has Jameer Nelson vibes - can maybe grab 1 or 2 All Star nods with the right team / big man combo

I used to love him and considered him one of the best upcoming talents at point guard. He's not the same and hasn't been the same since Mitchell came to town.

I am not the biggest fan of his decision making. He is a second generation NBA player, yet his BBIQ always leaves me wanting. Then again, that could a byproduct of the coaching he's receiving from Bickerstaff and Walton. He needs to improve a lot. That all-star appearance doesn't fool me. He would never have sniffed that in the West.

He's an all star caliber player who had a down year - that broken jaw that caused him to lose so much weight is something I think most players would struggle with.

For this season below top 15, but he should regress back to the mean next year and be top 10 (closer to 10).