Goodbye Darius
I can’t lie, I couldn’t even focus on the game. As my eyes peered at the TV, half asleep because it was so late for a West Coast game, the broadcast cut to Darius Garland, who was the at one point longest-tenured Cleveland Cavalier on the other side of the court… as a Clipper. The bitterness of the moment hits like a tidal wave during high tide. It wasn’t supposed to end this way. The guy who brought hope that beamed as bright as his smile after nailing a back-breaking 3 in crunch time to the city in a post-LeBron world, wasn’t going to be in wine and gold because the team could no longer trust his availability due to injuries.
You would think for someone on the edge of 30, these emotions wouldn’t be spurned over a player anymore, but I can’t lie, this absolutely sucks. It’s hard not to reminisce on good times, some of which I was in attendance for with one of my dear friends, witnessing Garland, Mobley, and Allen put on a show in the skills challenge on that fateful All-Star Saturday Night in Cleveland. Announcing the Cavs were back to a national audience. Also something as small as the time I went out of my way to seek his autograph at the local Giant Eagle in Strongsville, the line stretching out the door and slithering through multiple sections of this very affluent grocery store to a hastily put-together table where Darius Garland gave 2 hours of his time making small talk and scribbling his autograph on 4x6 headshots to local Cavs fans. I was one of the last people to meet him. By the time I got to him, I could tell he had to be whisked away to do other important stuff, but he gave me enough time to make the moment memorable for me, even though his eyes were weary with the weight of his newfound stardom in town. I still have that autograph to this day because I cherished the moment that much.
All of this to say, my bitterness comes from the feeling that we were robbed of an opportunity to see where the journey ends. Would it be with him lifting the Core 4 to new heights, whether it be to an ECF appearance or even The Finals? Would a healthy and effective Darius Garland do these things? We will never know. It’s not even bitterness toward Koby Altman; he’s a man who has to do what’s best for the Cavs organization, but in a perfect world, I think most of us wish it would be him who would lead the charge back to the promised land. Obviously, this isn’t anything rational, but I don’t care; I’m a fan at the end of the day. I wish Darius nothing but the best, be that bringer of joy that you were in Cleveland to LA.