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If they had to overcome Garland's lack of defense you would think it would have shown through a bit more since his return then it has? The Cavs are second in the league in defensive rating in February (106.4)... Here are their defensive points per possession percentile ranks in their February games: 90th, 92nd, 63rd, 81st, 93rd, 81st..Idk why people are acting like Garland was playing well pre-injury. He was probably shooting better, but that’s about it.
Anyway…He was a minus 8 tonight. Mobley was also a negative and the other three starters were +5, +10, +10. As usual we have to overcome Garland’s lack of defense and rebounding and he himself didn’t do enough to make up for that on the other end. He had a 2-3 minute stretch where he was aggressive & effective. Assists are not going to impress me at this point. He’s a natural set up man and he can rack up assists in his sleep.
I don’t think 2-3 years ago we’d be content with Garland being a clear level or two below Maxey (who is 1 year younger with 1 year less experience), but that’s for sure the case.
Garland is going to be a max player who is not even top 10 at his position.
Maxey is without a doubt a better scorer than Garland.. Maxey has benefited from good health this year as well as being unpaired from Harden.. But it's funny even in a down year for Garland and a breakout year for Maxey, their TS%, free throw rate, assist percentage usage percentage, are all about equal with Garland having a slight advantage in steal percentage whereas Maxey has a slight advantage in rebound percentage.. Maxey has had a DRTG below 115 once in his career, Garland has had it in three straight seasons..
Also, saying Garland isn't even close to top-10 at his position is a bit exaggerated since it speaks more so to the depth of the position in the league currently then it does about Garland... Additionally, of course saying it in the midst of a down year is going to make your point a lot more salient then saying it after last year, or after an All-Star year.. Even within that, he's still a top-15 PG on his worst day and firmly in the top-10 conversation on his best unless you're including any of the psuedo guard-wings like Luka, Cade, Booker, Harden, etc., point guards then it just furthers the depth point to which you ask 10 people their top-10 point guards they're all going to have different answers..
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