I loved this because I was thinking this exact thing during the game last night.
Late last night, I went looking for a "archetype" for this and stumbled on Nash and Nellie. Look at Nash's career numbers and then look at his first full year as a starter (yr 3, 24 yrs old, first year in Dallas under Nellie).
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Now compare that season to his "breakout season" under Nellie two years later at 26 years old.
That season's statistical output is EEERILY similar to Garland's season last year.
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The question then becomes, what did Nellie do with Nash to unleash him and help weaponize his scoring as much as his passing that season?
I found this game from early in the season against Portland who was coming off the WCF hangover against the Lakers the year before. Watch how Nash starts the game with his first two scoring possessions... that running floater that we had Garland working on all of last season has been abandoned so far early this season as he's learning how to fit in with the new toys Mark and Mobley in this new offensive system.
I believe as Garland gets back to weaponizing that, and trusts it, we'll see a more assertive scorer who takes some of the Rubio approach to moving the ball and balances it out with more of the assertive scoring we saw last year when he and Sexton was ball dominant in order for us to have a chance to compete most nights