Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 positive takeaways from minicamp so far

1. Darius Garland’s confidence

Darius Garland had a fairly underwhelming rookie season. His advanced metrics ranked him at the bottom of the league – though there are many factors that contributed to his statistics looking far worse than he actually was on the court. That’s not to say that he was great, but Garland did flash potential throughout the season.

One of the core things holding him back was his lack of confidence. It was painfully obvious watching Garland that he was a rookie. Not only that – but a rookie who didn’t get much experience in college due to a knee injury that held him out most of the season. Garland’s inexperience was on full display as he constantly second-guessed himself and played timid a majority of the time.

Towards the back half of the season, Garland was showing some positive growth. He averaged 12.9 points and 5.1 assists in his final month of play and looked much more assertive in his shooting.

Thus far in training camp, Garland has looked even better. Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com had this to say about Garland in minicamp:

"”But he’s way more shifty than he showed as rookie. He looks like he’s moving a whole lot differently.”"

This shiftiness is what gives Garland so much potential as a scorer and playmaker. Building on his ability to dribble the ball will make him a force on offense. Of course, all of this stems from his confidence to insert his will on the game.

It is an encouraging sign to see Garland is beginning to hit his stride. He is still such a young prospect and has plenty of more to show us before we can judge him too harshly. Don’t be surprised if Garland looks vastly improved next year.