Darius Garland’s defense is becoming a major problem for the Cleveland Cavaliers

Darius Garland is one of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ most problematic on-court players.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are one of the best offensive teams in the league when Darius Garland is on the court. He’s an above 40% three-point shooter and can score from all three levels on the court, and is an efficient free-throw shooter. With him on the court, the Cavs are also one of the worst defenses in the league, at least around the perimeter.

When looking at the lineups on NBA.com, when you look at minutes played, Garland is usually a part of some of the worst defensive lineups the team has. When looking at some of the most used, worst defensive lineups the Cavs have, Garland is often the common factor.

And why shouldn’t he be? Out of anyone who has played at least 10 games for the Cavs this year, he’s dead last on the team in defensive box plus-minus. He’s the only Cavs player with 10 games or more under his belt who has a net negative in DBPM, -0.6.

To be fair, RAPTOR doesn’t agree, and has Garland at a +0.3, while Donovan Mitchell has a -0.8. Mitchell’s DBPM is +0.7. So clearly there is some debate to be had here.

That said, just looking at how the Cavs’ defense plays with Mitchell only, as opposed to with Mitchell and Garland, it is night and day. The Cavs had a long-winning streak to start the season where Garland was absent for most of it, and the team had a huge point differencial during that time span.

Garland also fails the eye test on tape. He gets beat too easily and often times the guys he’s covering takes and makes threes all day long. He’s too valuable to get rid of so what’s the alternative?

The Cleveland Cavaliers should consider starting Ricky Rubio and moving Darius Garland to the 6th man role

Too many people see a move like this as a negative, or an insult, but it’s common sense. The Cavs starting five has enough scoring power with Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen to still be highly effective. If you move Ricky Rubio to the starting point guard, then you drastically improve the team’s defense. Rubio is the team leader in DBPM currently with +2.5 and has a RAPTOR grade of +5.2, the highest on the team. Though he’s also played far fewer minutes than others, so it may be a bit exaggerated.

Moving Rubio to the starting five and giving him 25 minutes a game, could, in theory, cut down on the number of threes opposing teams take against the Cavs, while also helping out the bench as well.

Garland would still get 30-35 minutes as the team’s sixth man. He’d help stagger the minutes with Mitchell, making sure the two don’t share the court as often in a game, as well as giving the bench unit some much-needed scoring.

The San Antonio Spurs found success with this very same concept, giving Manu Ginobili the top spot on the bench, so they could instead use him primarily as an offensive weapon. It worked, very well. There’s no reason to think Garland couldn’t have a successful season, (or career), coming off the bench for the Cavs.

Now, it would be a short-term fix, with the idea that you’d move him back into the starting lineup in the offseason, after bringing in some bench help, but until then, it may be the best way to fix the team without doing something drastic.