Darius Garland Predicts Cavs Make It To East Finals

July 22, 2022

It was a bounce-back sort of year for the Cavaliers, their best season in about 25 years without LeBron James on the team.

Now, All-Star Darius Garland expects them to take it to another level. Not only will the Cavs return to the playoffs, Garland predicted, but they will make some noise after they get there.

“I think we can get even better,” he said on the Varsity House podcast. “I think we can make it to the Eastern Conference Finals next year for sure. We’re coming back with a chip on our shoulder.”

Just for a quick recap: The Cavs finished 44-38. They were comfortably in the East’s fourth-to-sixth seed for much of the season. Then injuries hit — to Collin Sexton, then Ricky Rubio, then Garland and fellow All-Star Jarrett Allen. And that’s just to name a few.

In fact, the Cavs traded Rubio for Caris LeVert in February, and you guessed it: LeVert got injured, too.

Now, the Cavs have Rubio back. They are still working on Sexton, a restricted free agent. But at least he’s finally healthy enough to play. Along with that, they have loads of promise in Garland, Allen, All-Rookie member Evan Mobley, Lauri Markkanen, and first-round pick Ochai Agbaji, among others. Oh, and coach J.B. Bickerstaff, who figured out a way to bring it all together despite the obstacles.

So, the promise is undoubtedly there.

“We’re a young team,” Garland said. “We battled through a lot of adversity this (past) season. So, it was cool just being there, but we not satisfied. We all in. We all ready to rock and roll.”

The Cavs are set to begin training camp in late September/early October. The NBA schedule is expected to be released next month.