Cavs' Darius Garland delivers a blunt message to haters amid desire for a rebound season

The Cleveland Cavaliers are preparing for an exciting 2024-25 season. The Cavs bring back one of the league's most talented young rosters, including sixth-year guard Darius Garland. Garland didn't have his best year in 2023-24, but he's made it his mission to prove those who doubt him wrong.

When asked about his priority for the upcoming campaign, Garland expressed a blunt message:

“That I’m better than I was last year,” Garland said, via Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. “First and foremost I just want to stay healthy and be myself again, play with that joy again and do the things I'm used to. Hopefully I’ll have an All-Star and All-NBA season and try to help this team win as many games as I can, like I know I can.”

Darius Garland is coming off a “bad” year, averaging 18.0 points and 6.5 assists on 37.1 percent three-point shooting. Nevertheless, he achieved his best steals mark to date with 1.3 steals per game. During the 2022-23 season, Garland averaged 21.6 points, 7.8 assists and 1.2 steals, a career-high 41.0 percent shooting.

The former 2019 fifth overall pick was named to the NBA All-Star team in the 2021-22 season, where he had his breakout season. Garland averaged a career-high 21.7 points, 8.6 assists and 1.3 steals on 38.3 percent shooting from distance.

Garland knows what he's capable of and wants to do everything he can to help the Cavs succeed in 2024-25. His take on Kenny Atkinson's offensive plans should aid his efforts.

“I think (Atkinson’s diversifying attack sets) will be good for us. We have a lot of talent on this team, so different actions off the ball and different actions on the screen to just get defenders moving and shifting will help us just get downhill and make plays for others. So I think just moving the ball back and forth and shifting the defense will be good,” Garland said, according to Spencer Davies.

It will be exciting to see how Garland performs in the new system in 2024-25.