Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson wants guard Darius Garland to tinker with his offensive game in one way, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.
“Atkinson feels a great responsibility to make things simpler for [Donovan] Mitchell,” Fedor wrote. “He wants Garland to shoot more 3s. Wants to lengthen the rotation — a thrilling idea to some inside the organization who implored [J.B.] Bickerstaff to go deeper than the customary eight or nine last season.”
When looking at the success that Garland has enjoyed shooting the ball from deep since joining the NBA, one can understand why Atkinson wants the 24-year-old to let it fly from deep with greater regularity.
Garland has been an effective 3-point shooter since he’s joined the NBA. The guard has knocked down 35-plus percent of his 3s in every one of his five seasons in the league, and he is a career 38.4 percent 3-point shooter.
Additionally, he averaged 2.3 made 3s per contest for the Cavaliers last season, which was tied with Sam Merrill for the third-most of any player on the team behind only Mitchell and Max Strus.
What separates Garland from Strus and Merrill in terms of shooting the ball from deep is that the former is comfortable taking and making 3s off the dribble, but the same cannot be said of the latter two. Merrill and Strus are great at spacing the floor, but they’re at their best from deep when shooting 3s off the catch.
The Cavaliers were one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the league last season, and if Garland can up his shooting from deep to another level in the 2024-25 campaign, that would help to ensure that Cleveland remains among the best squads in terms of making 3s.
Cleveland knocked down 13.5 3s per game during the 2023-24 regular season, and that mark ranked seventh in the NBA. The Boston Celtics — who later won the 2024 NBA title — averaged a league-high 16.5 made 3-point shots per contest.
Garland has never averaged more than 6.7 3-point attempts per contest in an NBA season, and fans of the Cavaliers should pay special attention to the number of 3s he takes per game in his sixth NBA season to see if he will achieve a new career-high or not in that regard.
Time will tell if Garland will heed Atkinson’s wish and shoot the ball early and often from 3-point range in the 2024-25 season.
