Rival teams keeping close eye on Cavs, Darius Garland amid rocky start

People around the NBA are starting to wonder what happens next in Cleveland. Scouts talk. Executives talk. And more than a few believe president of basketball operations Koby Altman may eventually have to consider a real roster shakeup if the Cavaliers come up short again this spring.

Fair or not, the name that comes up most often is Darius Garland.

All of that sits in the background of what happened Saturday. The Cavaliers lost at home to a Warriors team that didn’t have Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler or Draymond Green. Cleveland had Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Garland on the floor. The game was there to be won. It slipped away.

Two days later, the frustration is still hanging in the air. Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com described the locker room as quiet and somber. Players looked dejected. They knew it wasn’t a loss they could shrug off.

Cleveland is now 14-11, well off last season’s 64 wins. If the postseason started today, the Cavs would be in the play-in as the eighth seed. The underlying numbers are good enough to keep the alarms from blaring, but not good enough to match the expectations that surround this roster.

The core of Garland, Mitchell, Mobley and Jarrett Allen has yet to push past the second round. Garland is still working his way back after offseason toe surgery, and people around the league see him as the swing piece if Altman ever decides a reset is needed.

There is still time, and the Cavs believe in what they have. But in this league, the outside noise only quiets down when the wins start stacking again.

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