One of the three leaders of a basketball team that has already won 32 victories this season

“Where I come from, few survive. Even surviving 21 years or something like that is an achievement. And to get into the league from the city where I come from, it’s a completely different step. We’re actually just a couple of people from Gary, Indiana who have made it into the league, so it’s cool to just represent your city. The fact that I am doing this for the city means a lot to me.”

After graduation, Garland received offers from many famous basketball colleges. His ultimate goal was to get into the league as smoothly as possible, to gain the necessary experience. Ultimately, Garland decided to choose Vanderbilt. The team at the time was coached by Bryce Drew. Garland attended basketball camps as a child when Drew coached Valparaiso, and Drew quickly noticed how special Darius could be.

His level of skill has always been off the charts

Far above what it should be for a typical basketball player of his age. His physique or his strength may not have set him apart from other kids who were more physically mature at the time, but that didn’t matter because he was a very dangerous and mature player when the ball was in his hands. . You could call him a very funny and funny guy who was always interesting to watch.”

Garland often played with people who were one or two years older than him. And that allowed him to start developing the vision and creativity that he now displays in the NBA. The basketball defender was never afraid of new challenges, did not retreat in those cases when someone bigger or stronger than him was in front of him. Darius knew that in these situations he needed to be a little smarter, to be out of the box more often, and to improvise more. After a while, he became the most visible player on the court at every level and in every age group where he played, as soon as his body began to catch up a little.

He is a born basketball point guard

He plays contagiously and can get teammates into an offensive rhythm. The Cavs have been 4-14 this season without him. He is the type of player (driver) who can take a team’s offense out of the basement of the league.”
With Garland on the court this basketball season, Cleveland has a 114.0 offensive rating, second highest in the entire league. Without him, this figure drops to 106.5 (27th place, the level of Houston). A week ago, when the Clevelands beat Milwaukee, Darius was 5th in the NBA this season with a +317 utility rating, trailing only Stephen Curry, Rudy Gobert, Nikola Jokic and Chris Paul.

To understand how the basketball team’s offense looks now without Garland, who missed the last few games due to back pain, you don’t even need to have statistics on hand, but just watch 3 quarters of the game against New Orleans on January 31. The most revealing basketball match and an example of what role in building a team attack in Cleveland has a defender.