LOS ANGELES \u2014 Darius Garland\u2019s new life started with Dave Chappelle.<\/p>\n
Garland vividly remembers meeting Chappelle. How could he forget it? Nineteen years old, freshly drafted to the Cleveland Cavaliers, out in Las Vegas for his first NBA summer league. Life was changing fast for Garland. There he was, shaking hands with the funniest man on earth, at the time.<\/p>\n
Sitting in a Vegas green room before Chappelle\u2019s show, Garland was excited to meet the iconic comedian. He was just excited to be in the room, period. These are the rooms where you build the connections that open doors down the road. Those small moments can slightly alter the path of your life in ways you don\u2019t see coming.<\/p>\n
Running into Chappelle that night was unforgettable, but that wasn\u2019t his most important meet and greet of the evening. That green room is where his agent, Rich Paul, introduced him to his now coach with the LA Clippers, Ty Lue.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Lue) actually just sent me the picture (he took with Chappelle) a couple of days ago,\u201d Garland told The Athletic. \u201cWe just hit it off from there.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the show, Lue and Paul went to the casino, but Garland headed back to his room. \u201cI didn\u2019t have no money at the time,\u201d he said. He\u2019d see Chappelle again when the comedian came to visit Cleveland. Garland signed a jersey for him and now calls him his OG. Fame and fortune have brought him a lot of special things over the past seven years, but there were some dark times for him in Cleveland.<\/p>\n
Though Garland has a good relationship with his former Cavs co-star Donovan Mitchell, he knew the writing was on the wall after his turf toe contributed to the Cavs\u2019 disappointing second-round exit last summer. All the while, Lue was watching Garland evolve, seeing a player he could take to the next level. The trade to the Clippers finally gave them the freedom to move on and start anew.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a new chapter of my life,\u201d Garland said. \u201cRich talked about it even last summer, before it happened, (saying) it\u2019s probably going to be our last year there. So, I was ready for it. I knew it was going to come sooner or later. So, when it happened, I was like, \u2018Let\u2019s just do it. Let\u2019s rock out.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Garland knew right away better days were ahead. Playing somewhere you know you aren\u2019t wanted long-term is challenging. How do you show up to work every day and give it your best when you know it could all be for naught? He thought he was ready to start over, but he couldn\u2019t know. Especially on a team that was so good in the regular season.<\/p>\n
Once he arrived in L.A., he knew he was in the right place. It wasn\u2019t just the sunshine, the ocean breeze, the excitement of driving down Rodeo Drive in the middle of winter, knowing he lived a stone\u2019s throw away. He was in a place that was ready to embrace him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like a new breath of life, like a revamp,\u201d Garland said. \u201cBeing around the guys makes it a lot easier because they\u2019re so welcoming. Everybody\u2019s super silly. Everybody\u2019s talkative. My first day there, they were holding their arms out, for real, like, \u2018Welcome.\u2019 A lot of big brothers on this team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garland has come to the Clippers at just the right time for both parties. When the Cavs shipped him to L.A. in exchange for James Harden, there was widespread presumption that the Clippers going after an injured Garland meant they were pulling the plug on the season. Especially with Ivica Zubac heading to the Indiana Pacers for Bennedict Mathurin and draft capital, it seemed like this was the end of the road.<\/p>\n
Since Garland\u2019s Clippers debut on March 2, however, the team is 12-5, with the NBA\u2019s fourth-best net rating in that span, per Cleaning the Glass.<\/a>\u00a0There have been a lot of clean wins against tanking teams, but there\u2019s also been impressive victories over the New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves and Toronto Raptors, two close losses to their potential first-round opponent, the San Antonio Spurs, and now a five-game winning streak. With Kawhi Leonard playing his best basketball in years<\/a>, the Clippers look like they haven\u2019t taken a step back while getting much younger.<\/p>\n \u201cThe stuff he\u2019s brought to this team, it\u2019s extraordinary,\u201d Clippers center Brook Lopez said. \u201cOnly he could do it. He\u2019s made a huge change, a huge positive change for this group.\u201d<\/p>\n Lopez has been one of Garland\u2019s favorite parts of becoming a Clipper. When Garland learned he was going to Los Angeles, he knew exactly what he wanted from Lue. When he was drafted by the Cavs in 2019, Garland was effectively replacing the man he modeled his game after: Kyrie Irving. Lue was the coach who propelled Irving into a champion. It was the ideal fit.<\/p>\n \u201cMy first game out, I told him in the timeout, \u2018I\u2019m trying to fit in,\u2019\u201d Garland said. \u201cHe said, \u2018Nah, this ain\u2019t the time for you to fit in. They fit in with you.\u2019 That was the first time he got on my a\u2013, for real.\u201d<\/p>\n The point guard has been doing lots of one-on-one work to hone his bag, working on how to go out and just be himself. But what Lue wants to see is more aggression, less fitting in and more imposing himself on the game.<\/p>\n \u201cI just noticed since he\u2019s been here, on misses, he gets the rebound, and he\u2019s kind of just jogging it up, surveying instead of pushing the tempo to get in the paint early before the defense gets set,\u201d Lue said.<\/p>\n Garland emphasized multiple times that Lue\u2019s best skill as a coach is the way he instills confidence in his players, while knowing how to put a chip on their shoulders to propel them. He praised the coach\u2019s creativity on the whiteboard. \u201cHis ATOs [after-timeout plays] are, like, crazy. You know you\u2019re going to get a good shot out of it.\u201d He remembered Leonard\u2019s game-winner in Indiana, saying that all three of the play\u2019s options were open. But it was too easy to give it to Leonard and let the former NBA Finals MVP go to work.<\/p>\n Now that Garland is running pick-and-pops with Lopez, he can create more room to roam in the midrange. Coming from a Cavs team that specialized in crowded spacing to play over the top, Garland is enjoying the free range he has to roam. Playing alongside a player with Leonard\u2019s r\u00e9sum\u00e9 and championship experience has been exciting, running inverted pick-and-rolls and just feasting off the double teams Leonard draws all the time.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a lot easier to just play with him, play off of him,\u201d Garland said. \u201cEverybody is just playing freely. You don\u2019t have somebody behind your back and somebody that\u2019s over your back all the time. Just going out there, just playing the game.\u201d<\/p>\n He looks back fondly on his time in Cleveland, grateful they took a chance on him with the fifth pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, even though he played in only five games in college. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t want to have done it nowhere else and wouldn\u2019t want to take it back,\u201d he said. But he\u2019s struggled with injuries throughout his career, playing more than 70 games just once. The Cavs knew they needed a deep playoff run to secure a future with Mitchell, so they made the move for Harden. The Clippers needed to create some long-term sustainability, particularly with the specter of the Aspiration investigation<\/a> looming. They found a 26-year-old two-time All-Star who is happy to be there and is excited about where his game, and life, will go from here.<\/p>\n There were some dark days in Cleveland, knowing his time there was numbered. But now he\u2019s enjoying the sunshine of his next chapter in L.A.<\/p>\n \u201cGod blessed me with another day. That\u2019s all I can ask for,\u201d Garland said. \u201cI see the sun. I talk to my family. I\u2019m good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2014 Darius Garland\u2019s new life started with Dave Chappelle. Garland vividly remembers meeting Chappelle. 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