Atkinson has to “make it work” between Mitchell and Garland

The Cavs have too much invested in the backcourt duo for it not to mesh.

The fit between Cleveland Cavaliers guards Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland hasn’t worked as envisioned. This was a reoccurring theme throughout last season as Mitchell, and the team’s, best basketball came without Garland on the floor. Even in the 2022-23 season when the team performed better with both than they did this past go around, it always felt that things weren’t clicking as they should.

This hasn’t been lost on Garland’s representation as rumors about asking out have been persistent since the season ended. At least new head coach Kenny Atkinson seems to know what he’s walking into.

When asked about how he’s going to make the backcourt duo work, he simply answered, “Well, that’s what they’re going to pay me for.”

It was delivered as a joke, but there’s truth behind it. As important as Evan Mobley’s development is, the oversized frontcourt and undersized backcourt won’t work as intended if the Mitchell and Garland pairing isn’t optimized.

“We got to make it work,” Atkinson said. “That’s part of the reason I’m here.”

It’s easy to look to Garland for why it isn’t working and rightfully so. He’s the one who suffered a poor season and didn’t truly find his footing once he came back from his broken jaw. This seemed to only be exaggerated when Mitchell was on the floor. Figuring out how to get the best version of Garland again will be the first step in getting the duo back on track.

“I’ve already spoken to Darius multiple times, I’m just a big fan,” Atkinson said. “He’s obviously a great shooter and underrated passer.”

Atkinson thinks even higher of Mitchell, going as far as saying he’s good enough to be the best player on a championship team and is an MVP-level player. The goal is to figure out how that leads to team success while not alienating Garland. One of the ways to do that is by increasing the pace and three-point attempts. Both of those things will involve more buy-in from the guards on and off-ball. It’s also something J.B. Bickerstaff tried and failed to implement.

“I think we saw it in the Finals,” Atkinson said. “The three ball is a huge part of it. I do anticipate picking up the pace, shooting more threes, crashing the glass a little more. I think that’s something we could do better.”

The Cavs have one of the most skilled backcourts in the league on paper. Through two years, that hasn’t translated onto the court on a nightly basis. At least not in terms of both players feeding off of each other’s skill sets the way you’d like. Just good synergy from the backcourt isn’t enough for a team deficient on the wing and an offensively awkward front court. They need more.

“The talent is there,” Atkinson said. “We’re just going to work on tweaking things so we can maximize those guys. I just love both of them together.”