Darius Garland’s ‘expendable’ label supported by blockbuster James Harden trade
Yahoo Sports’ Kevin O’Connor reportedly took a lot of flak from Cleveland Cavaliers fans for calling Darius Garland “expendable” following the trade that brought Keon Ellis and Dennis Schroder to Cleveland.
Clearly, he was. Garland was sent away to the Los Angeles Clippers, along with a second-round pick, for James Harden. Shams Charania dropped the seismic news on Tuesday evening.
O’Connor took some time to defend his take. It’s one that looks a lot more on the mark now.
Cavaliers have a superior record this year when Darius Garland sits
During a new episode of The Kevin O’Connor ShowKOC presented an eye-opening stat that is hard to dispute when it comes to gauging Garland’s value to the Cavaliers: Cleveland is 17-8 this season when Garland sits, and 13-13 when he plays.
O’Connor then pointed out that while the Cavs have been a bit better offensively when Garland plays, Cleveland has been substantially better defensively when he doesn’t play.
He then argued that Cleveland found itself in January without Garland, and that it “feels like things are working.”
The Cavs were 10-5 in January. Garland played in the first seven games of the month, in which Cleveland went 4-3 and failed to win consecutive contests. Garland missed the last eight games of the month, in which the Cavs went 6-2, including a five-game win streak. Hmm.
Darius Garland latest injury coincided with Jaylon Tyson’s explosion
Interestingly, the first game of eight that Garland missed in the month (Jan. 16 against the Philadelphia 76ers) was also the game that Jaylon Tyson exploded for a career-high 39 points, announcing his talents to the world outside of Cleveland and destroying any doubt that the Cavs should trade De’Andre Hunter.
Was Garland’s presence preventing Tyson from fully shining? It feels weird to speculate on this, considering they play different positions, but keep in mind that there’s only one basketball.
O’Connor shouted out Tyson’s emergence as a key reason for Cleveland’s recent emergence, and KOC also reminded listeners that Tyson was a point guard in college! In O’Connor’s view, this has allowed Tyson to feel comfortable running pick-and-roll for the Cavs when needed, despite primarily playing on the wing. It’s also a subtle suggestion that there is some clash of usage between Garland and the former point guard Tyson.
Then again, Tyson can play up to four positions for the Cavs on both ends. He’s rapidly evolved into a far more useful and versatile player for Cleveland than Garland is, and that was evident before learning about the Cavs’ superior record when Darius is in street clothes.
What Tyson is not is a 6-foot-10 body who can give you minutes at the five, or even beefy stretches at the four. He’s 6-foot-6, which allows him to cameo at the four for stints but mostly serve as an appropriately-sized wing.
This is relevant in light of the Cavs adding the 6-foot-4 Ellis and 6-foot-1 Schroder to a rotation that already features Donovan Mitchell (6-foot-2), Craig Porter Jr. (6-foot-1) and Garland (6-foot-1).
That’s an unhealthy dose of undersized guard play, which Cleveland could greatly improve upon by trading Garland. They did just that with the Harden deal.
