The return of the Cavs not named Darius Garland is criminally underrated

While unofficially until the announcement of the starting lineups, all signs point to The Cleveland Cavaliers are bringing back Darius Garland for his season debut on Wednesday night against the Philadelphia 76ers. But for the big boost Garland’s return will give them, the Cavs may also have Sam Merrill back.

Merrill, along with Garland (left big toe), Jarrett Allen (fractured left toe) and De’Andre Hunter (illness), is listed as questionable with a right hip contusion. Cleveland’s head coach Kenny Atkinson labeled it a hip pointerwhich occurred in the first half of the team’s October 27 win at Detroit. The injury, resulting from a collision with Evan Mobley, sidelined Merrill for more than a week.

Atkinson revealed Tuesday that Merrill went through a full workout: “The only (negative) thing with him is getting hit, right? He’s moving really well. He’s feeling good. The fear is that he’s going to get hit, so we’ve got to work on that, what it looks like.

“Obviously, there’s a tolerance for pain. I guess there’s going to be padding, that whole thing. But the great news is that no contact feels really good.”

Before the setback, Merrill was off to a great start. He’s averaging a career-high 17.3 points per game on 52.5% from the field and a ridiculous 51.4% from 3-point range on nearly nine attempts per game.

Merrill is one of 15 players in the league to make more than half of his shots from the perimeter. Narrowing it down to those with at least 30 attempts, only Washington Wizards sophomore Keeshon George (53.8%) and Milwaukee Bucks shooting guard AJ Green (52.9%) have a better 3-point percentage than Merrill.

While the Cavs understand the spacing he brings as an outside threat, they’ve also missed his off-ball mayhem and defensive effort over the last three games. Advanced glass cleaning metrics suggest that Merrill outscored Cleveland by 20.4 points per 100 possessions in court. When sitting, the net rating of wine and gold drops by 29.0.

“Guy was probably our best player the first three games,” Atkinson said after the Cavs’ win over the Milwaukee Bucks the night before he was injured. “He just wreaks havoc,” added Donovan Mitchell.

There’s a reason Cleveland’s locker room has been singing Maryland’s praises since the start of training camp. The proof is in the pudding.

Let’s hope this pesky hip doesn’t stop Merrill from being who he was in the first four games he played.