2019 NBA Mock Draft: The Lakers are finished
Vanderbilt. Darius Garland. 6. player. 211. . PG
There are few young players in the world who can navigate screen-and-roll situations as well as Garland. The 18-year-old has all the tricks: a strong recovery dribble that allows him to survey the defense, a crossover that sends him downhill, a pull-up jumper from any distance, and the body slam to put defenders in jail.
Those all set up his own scoring, though, and the main scouting item that NBA teams missed out on when Garland went down with a torn meniscus this winter was his passing. Most of Garland’s wiggle and pop develops to probe the defense and create separation for his own scoring. Many players operate this way in college — even consensus top-three stud R.J. Barrett looks for his own offense first on a roster stacked with as many as four lottery picks.
However, those players are operating with a year’s worth of tape. Garland won’t have that much of a track record from which NBA talent evaluators can pull to assess his passing. In the five games he played, Garland had more turnovers (15) than assists (13). Few NBA teams will feel great putting the ball in the hands of a 6-2 lead guard who still has some distance to travel as a playmaker for teammates.
Yet the Grizzlies uniquely can afford that risk. They have Mike Conley, as skilled and efficient a guard as there is, who could actually play alongside Garland as well as be a mentor to him off the court. Ideally, Memphis could create a development infrastructure for their potential franchise point guard like Washington did with Gilbert Arenas for John Wall.