Vanderbilt Basketball: NBA Draft profile of Commodore guard Darius Garland

Weaknesses

Darius Garland, the small-framed and already majorly injured point guard who posted a negative assist-to-turnover ratio and would be thrilled to check in as below average as an NBA defender. Why in the world would an NBA team draft this guy in the top ten?

There you go, Max Kellerman. There’s your against the grain counter-take for Garland. It’s free of charge. Go ahead. Have at it. My pleasure. On a serious note, there’s the case against Garland. That and Mr. Noe’s sample size measurements.

Garland, despite being a pick-and-roll savant, still asks questions with his play on the offensive end of the court. I mentioned the negative assist/turnover ratio and that’s the most significant bugaboo of his game. He flashed tremendous raw playmaking ability, but his decision-making and execution as a passer were startling at times. Garland’s potential as a creative and effective assist getter is without question, but he needs to fine tune his accuracy and curb his sometimes over-zealous behavior has a passer. Garland doesn’t need to average Ja Morant numbers in the assist column, but he acts like he does with some of his crazy flicks in the half-court. As a pick-and-roll ballhandler, Garland is elite as a scorer and ballhandler, and he does make some incredible passes, but for the most part, his passing has been disorganized off the dribble. He hunts non-existent opportunities and must learn to make the right pass instead of the cool pass.

Off the ball, naturally, he needs to learn how to move and space the floor effectively. Luckily, Garland is projected as a knockdown shooter from three, so flanking the on-ball action as a threatening shooter is an easy and effective role for him. But with his ability to zip through the court like a gazelle, Garland has high upside even as an off-ball player who can slice off screens like JJ Redick or cut to the basket for finishes and pull-up jumpers.

However, at Vanderbilt, Garland was more of a ball-watcher than anything else without the ball. That’s his AAU blood seeping into his game. Let’s put a band-aid on that. I know he was the star of his high school teams and he didn’t have enough time to curb his ballwatching habits at the college level, but he’ll need to develop that off-ball IQ in his rookie season in order to play with Zion Williamson or Zach LaVine or whoever he ends up with. Point being, he won’t walk into an NBA arena and have the ball in his hands enough to be James Harden without it. He’ll have to learn how to play with players that are better than him.

Okay, we have to have the conversation now. I was saving it and I’m going to keep it short…but his defense. Woof. Yikes. Ugh. It ain’t pretty folks. Garland stands at 6’2 with a small body and isn’t a wingspan love child. His physicals aren’t encouraging and neither was his effort on the defensive end. He gambled far too much off the ball and simply wasn’t capable of stopping bigger players on switches.

There’s really not a ton to break down on Garland defensively. His body and attitude handicap him almost entirely on that end of the court. He must improve, and he will. But he’ll never be a plus defender, it’s just not in his DNA. He can become a focused off-ball chaser and competitive on the ball, but that’s about it. The difference I’m talking about his between a total albatross and serviceable. If he checks in as serviceable, Garland’s offense can carry him to stardom.