Who Do the Cavs Miss More: Garland or Mobley?

As I’m writing this, I’m watching the Cavs cruise to their second easy win this week over the woebegone Washington Wizards.

Just prior to tipoff, Bally Sports flashed a graphic stating that the Cavs have led the league in assists since Dec. 16.

Not coincidentally, Dec. 16 was exactly one day after the news broke that Darius Garland and Evan Mobley would miss multiple weeks due to their respective injuries. Garland broke his jaw in a collision with the Celtics’ Kristaps Porzingis on Dec. 14, and on Dec. 15, the Cavs announced that Mobley would require arthroscopic surgery to repair his left knee.

Devastating news.

Mobley was averaging 16 points and 10.5 rebounds a game. With his elite defensive skills, the 6-foot-11 phenom had become the heart and soul of this team – the glue that kept the Cavs competitive as other banged-up starters bounced in and out of the starting lineup.

Meanwhile, the loss of Garland leaves nearly 21 points and six assists a night on the bench.

A highly emotional Cavs fan might have made a rash decision to toggle off the “renew” button for their Bally Sports subscription.

If they did, they would have missed some of the best basketball the Cavs have played all season.

In an injury-plagued campaign that could’ve become another frustrating chapter in Cleveland’s sad sports history, the loss of Evan Mobley and Darius Garland has galvanized this team.

The ragtag Cavs have discovered a winning formula, although it’s nothing new and it’s certainly not revolutionary. In fact, it’s a tried-and-true blueprint for success if you stick to it for 48 minutes.

The Little Things Make a Big Difference

It starts with hustle.

Talent being relatively equal, you give yourself the best chance to win – night in and night out – with maximum effort on every possession.

And credit the Cavs’ front office for assembling a roster of gritty guys who buy into that mindset.

Defense. Ball movement. Moving without the ball. Cutting to the basket. Fighting for 50-50 balls. Crashing the boards relentlessly.

That’s how you stay competitive when you have 37 points per game on the bench in sweatpants.

That’s how the Cavs have gone 7-3 without Garland and Mobley. Even Mitchell missed several games during that stretch.

I’ve enjoyed watching these past 10 games more than any of the previous 25 games, except for that gutsy overtime win in Philadelphia – which might have been the best basketball game of the season so far, at least for this team.

With all of that said, it feels a little odd asking if Garland or Mobley leaves the bigger hole in the starting lineup. After all, it almost seems like a blessing in disguise at this point. Their absence has created opportunities for guys like Sam Merrill and Craig Porter Jr., both of whom have been nothing short of a revelation this season.

It forced J.B. Bickerstaff to put Isaac Okoro and Dean Wade in the starting lineup. More on Okoro in a bit.

It also woke up a sleeping giant in Jarrett Allen, who has been nothing short of fro-dacious over the past 10 games.

Allen scored 19 points, hauled in 17 rebounds and dished out seven assists in a Christmas Eve win at Chicago. Four nights later, he followed up that with a ridiculous stat line of 24-23-6 in an improbable come-from-behind win over the Dallas Mavericks, on the road.

I could go on.

So, who do the Cavs miss more? I contend that it’s not Darius Garland.

Based on a 10-game sample size, the Cavs are better with Okoro in the starting lineup. It’s an immediate defensive upgrade over Garland. The knock on Okoro – who is only in his fourth season – was that he was a 3-and-D guy without the three. So far this year, Okoro seems more confident in his three-point shooting, and he’s emerging as a strong finisher at the rim.

Wade and Mobley are light years apart in terms of talent, but Wade brings good size (6-9), he’s aggressive on the boards and he gets after it on defense. However, Wade is timid in the paint – unlike Mobley.

While Garland’s 21 points a night are missed, I’ve always argued that Garland and Mitchell shouldn’t be on the floor at the same time. They’re both ball-dominant guards, and only one guy can hold the ball at any given time.

Mitchell is an above-average defender when he puts his mind to it. Garland always seems to work hard on defense, but he lacks the size and build to be the kind of elite defender that Okoro can be.

So, a starting lineup of Mitchell, Okoro, Max Strus, Wade and Allen isn’t that far removed from what I consider to be the ideal starting lineup: Mitchell, Okoro, Strus, Mobley and Allen. Or Mitchell, Strus, Wade, Mobley and Allen.

Without Mobley, the Cavs are sorely lacking in frontcourt depth. Allen has been phenomenal, and Tristan Thompson, for the most part, has been vintage Double T – a persistent pain in the neck in the paint. But Damian Jones is virtually unplayable, leaving the Cavs a bit undersized against teams with multiple bigs.

Seizing the Opportunity

There are two other reasons that the Cavs miss Mobley more than Garland: Sam Merrill and Craig Porter Jr.

Merrill is a cold-blooded three-point shooter who needs about a nanosecond to launch. But he’s no one-hit wonder. The former Utah State Aggie hustles on defense, cuts to the basket, finds his teammates and can finish at the rim. I like his game a lot.

Porter, meanwhile, plays with preternatural poise for an undrafted rookie from Wichita State (just watch a replay of Porter driving into the chest of Joel Embiid if you need proof). In his final season at Wichita State, the 6-1 Porter led the Shockers in steals, rebounds and blocks. Sounds like a perfect fit for a team that’s been in “next-man-up” mode for most of the season.

I’ll save my argument that Garland should come off the bench – admittedly a fanciful one given that Garland is the highest-paid player on the team – for another day. For now, though, I think the Cavs should be more anxious to get Mobley back on the court than Garland.