Cleveland Cavaliers Star Not Likely to Be Ready for Training Camp

Cleveland Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said today that he doesn't expect star point guard Darius Garland to be ready for training camp. 

The Cavs were the best team in the Eastern Conference during last year's regular season and Garland was a major part of that. 

The veteran guard was tremendous for the team last year, averaging 20.6 points per game to go along with 6.7 assists. He shot 40.1% from the three point line and was named to his second All-Star team. 

By the time the playoffs rolled around, Garland was dealing with an injury to his big toe and it clearly affected his play. He still averaged 18 points over five playoff games, but his three point shooting dipped to 28.6%. 

The Cleveland Plain Dealer's Chris Fedor relayed this story via YouTube: 

"I also talked to Kenny Atkinson. That story is going to come out on Cleveland.com this week. And I asked him, I said, 'You know, as a coach, you lost Ty Jerome and Darius Garland is obviously recovering from toe surgery. Are you anticipating Darius being ready for training?' And he said, 'No, I don't decide these things. It's going to be up to Darius and the training staff led by Steve Spiro.' But he said, 'I don't expect him to, and I want to take his time with this, and we're not going to push it. We're not going to rush it."

The Cavaliers are returning most of their players from last year and will look to challenge to win the Eastern Conference again this season. They are going to need a healthy Garland to do so.