Darius Kinnard Garland

[Nathan S]

Garland seems overwhelmed physically so far. My hope is that it's wholly a combination of two things: first, that as most rookies do, he's struggling physically transitioning to the league; and second, with all his recent injuries, he's simply totally out of shape. My fear is that he might be a lackluster athlete and it'll be an obstacle he'll have to overcome (but plenty of good players have done so).

How can you say such a thing after he just hauled in a career-high 3 rebounds?

 

[roozy]

He's making the game harder on himself by not taking the open 3, once he starts taking and making them, then you can go for your floater because they'll be running you off the line. I'm glad Belien mentioned him passing on open 3's, because it's driving me crazy.

 

[NMCav]

He's making the game harder on himself by not taking the open 3, once he starts taking and making them, then you can go for your floater because they'll be running you off the line. I'm glad Belien mentioned him passing on open 3's, because it's driving me crazy.

I think this is pretty much it. He's trying to do too much. He needs to just play within himself and do what hes comfortable doing. I think he's trying to hard to not make a mistake which is what oddly leads to poor play and stupid mistakes. I know it was only 4 games at Vandy but he wasn't afraid he's playing scared right now.

 

[Futuredome]

Playing with Sexton ain't helping

 

[inliner311]

Playing with Sexton ain't helping

I agree with this but probably for different reasons. Sexton is probably first or second option when he is on the floor. The way Sexton is playing right now, I think he deserves being a top option and has the trust of the starters around him.

Unfortunately for Garland, his current play and the unexpected good play of TT, has slide him all the way down in the pecking order. I think the starters would even rather have the ball in Cedi's hands than Garland at the moment.

I think that why it might be best to start playing him with the second unit more. He can be a top 2 option with the 2nd unit and build chemistry with those guys. At this point sharing the workload with Clarkson actually should give him more opportunities than with the starts. The other 4 starters are just playing too well for Garland to get a hold of the opportunities he needs to regain his confidence.

 

[Cavatt]

Game is fast for him now. He is not controlling the pace, and it's speeding him up.

I still think he is better off starting because he is playing with the best guys now.

It's been a brutal squedule so far. Teams really playing physical. I get building him up off the bench, but that will also be a blow to him.

He is hesitant IMO because the game is too fast for him and I would totally expect that from a guy that played 4 college games.

We saw good decisions and shot selection in preseason. The games are more intense and faster now. Guys are also playing d.

Garland isnt the only one affected. Tough defense and turnovers destroy the offense because everyone falls back on 1 on 1.

Kid needs reps and he has to get in a lot better shape.

 

[CavsFTW]

Playing with Sexton ain't helping

Garland shitting the bed every time he touches the ball ain't helping much, either.

Through 7 games, he's actually putting up more shots per game than Sexton did last year. The difference is that Sexton was making his. If Garland is the player we hope him to be, he'll improve regardless of Sexton's presence.

 

[CleveRocks]

Game is fast for him now. He is not controlling the pace, and it's speeding him up.

I still think he is better off starting because he is playing with the best guys now.

It's been a brutal squedule so far. Teams really playing physical. I get building him up off the bench, but that will also be a blow to him.

He is hesitant IMO because the game is too fast for him and I would totally expect that from a guy that played 4 college games.

We saw good decisions and shot selection in preseason. The games are more intense and faster now. Guys are also playing d.

Garland isnt the only one affected. Tough defense and turnovers destroy the offense because everyone falls back on 1 on 1.

Kid needs reps and he has to get in a lot better shape.

He is not putting the ball in the basket. We picked him because he has unlimited range, and elite quickness. Niether of those are currently evident. Carson Edwards goes 5-6 last night, and there are five rookie point guards shooting better right now..

He is only 19, but he is not the hero we needed, at least not yet..

 

[NMCav]

He is not putting the ball in the basket. We picked him because he has unlimited range, and elite quickness. Niether of those are currently evident. Carson Edwards goes 5-6 last night, and there are five rookie point guards shooting better right now..

He is only 19, but he is not the hero we needed, at least not yet..

It's 6 games into his NBA career. He's in a unique position he went almost a year without any competitive basketball. Holding him out of SL may have been a mistake. I'm not putting stock into SL but it would have got him reps. He's essentially a HS draftee who sat a year out. Trae Young last year in November apparently had a stretch where he shot 1-25 from three point land.

Also he's averaging more assits then Sexton in less minutes and fewer touches. That's more about Sexton slowly becoming a shorter Clarkson then a compliment to Garland though. I'm unsure about his quickness being a factor dude has created good looks for himself but the shots just aren't falling.

 

[Norm]

He is not putting the ball in the basket. We picked him because he has unlimited range, and elite quickness. Niether of those are currently evident. Carson Edwards goes 5-6 last night, and there are five rookie point guards shooting better right now..

He is only 19, but he is not the hero we needed, at least not yet..

Do we really need him to be a hero though? I'm just hoping for a good pg.

He's getting "stuck" driving into the lane. Seems lost once he gets there and can't make the right decision. And he's not seeing the open 3 for himself. Game looks fast for him right now and it's understandable why coach isn't getting him more minutes. I do think things will slow down for him.

He's still showing his good handles. Needs to learn a couple moves to bring the ball back out of the lane when he gets in there or a hesitation to opt for a some type of floater. When the lane is that clogged, put up a shot, we have 2 guys normally in position to get an offensive rebound at least.

I've been noticing: not sure if it's the plan or not. But when Garland gets the in bound, he comes close to an 8 second violation almost every time he crosses half court. Taking away at least 2-3 seconds each possession to try to run some plays

 

[CleveRocks]

It's 6 games into his NBA career. He's in a unique position he went almost a year without any competitive basketball. Holding him out of SL may have been a mistake. I'm not putting stock into SL but it would have got him reps. He's essentially a HS draftee who sat a year out. Trae Young last year in November apparently had a stretch where he shot 1-25 from three point land.

Also he's averaging more assits then Sexton in less minutes and fewer touches. That's more about Sexton slowly becoming a shorter Clarkson then a compliment to Garland though. I'm unsure about his quickness being a factor dude has created good looks for himself but the shots just aren't falling.

And Coby White isn't 6 games in? There was a lot of rave about Garlands range, handle and quickness...

Rookie guards like Herro, Nunn, White and Edwards are performing better. I leave out Morant because he was not available...

That's assuming it was a good idea to draft another point guard when we already had Sexton.. Currently out of the top 13 picks, not looking at guys drafted 1-4, only Cam Reddish has a lower Field goal percentage at 26, Garland is 29%..

Meanwhile everybody's favorite punching bag , Jordan Clarkson has proven to be an actual NBA guard..

My point is that while part of fandom is getting excited by what might be, part of it is also being real about what we got in the draft. We gambled on the unknown, and at this point it's not clear that was a good idea..




It's only six games in, but the justification for taking him is looking a little thin. He has a long way to go to justify being number 5, much less replacing Collin anytime soon..

 

[Sir'Dom Pointer]

And Coby White isn't 6 games in? There was a lot of rave about Garlands range, handle and quickness...

Rookie guards like Herro, Nunn, White and Edwards are performing better. I leave out Morant because he was not available...

That's assuming it was a good idea to draft another point guard when we already had Sexton.. Currently out of the top 13 picks, not looking at guys drafted 1-4, only Cam Reddish has a lower Field goal percentage at 26, Garland is 29%..

Meanwhile everybody's favorite punching bag , Jordan Clarkson has proven to be an actual NBA guard..

My point is that while part of fandom is getting excited by what might be, part of it is also being real about what we got in the draft. We gambled on the unknown, and at this point it's not clear that was a good idea..




It's only six games in, but the justification for taking him is looking a little thin. He has a long way to go to justify being number 5, much less replacing Collin anytime soon..

White hasn't been good.
Edward's too.

 

[KilgoreTrout]

Need to start Delly and have Garland come off the bench. Garland is a mess right now.

 

[Lumthemad]

Things need to stay the course and coach the kid up. Let him learn and pull him in certain circumstances. Check back at game 30 to see where we are at and I can guarantee as fans we will be a LOT happier. The kid is all sorts of hesitant out there. Anyone who's played the game knows that isn't the way you play good basketball. He will settle in better as the year moves along. The biggest issue ALL SEASON will be his lack of defense.

 

[CleveRocks]

White hasn't been good.
Edward's too.

Both have been better than Garland. But that misses the point. We did not need to take a point guard.. if they next nine players available included SF, SG or bigs with equivalent skills, we would have been better off chosing them. The logic was that Garland was so much better that we picked him despite the position he plays..

He may prove to be that good, but so far he is not tracking in that direction.. it's a long season, and like Collin he may significantly improve between now and May. IMHO that improvement will track closely to his ability to shoot high percentage shots, as opposed to many bricks..