Looking like another lottery season. Is small forward the Cavs’ main target? Who would look good in wine and gold? @michael_enio
I really don’t like talking about the draft this early in the NBA and college seasons, but will make an exception since questions like this keep coming up. From everyone I’ve talked to, this does not look like a very good draft. That’s part of the Cavs’ major problem.
Beginning with the 2011 draft, there hasn’t really been a stellar class yet. The Cavs are trying to rebuild their franchise through back-to-back-to-back seasons of fairly mediocre drafts. Regardless of all the buzz over last year’s draft, the Cavs were never very high on it. There were people within the organization who thought Kyrie Irving’s draft was better, for one big reason being there was no point guard in this rookie class of Irving’s caliber.
All of that being said, I’d expect the Cavaliers to target a big in this draft. There are a few good ones, beginning with Cody Zeller, who should be a top five pick and might be the No. 1 pick by June.
I asked Tyler Zeller a few weeks ago if he’d like to play with his brother. He said he’d love to, but he didn’t want to endure a losing season to get that top five pick. At the rate the Cavs are going, however, that’s precisely where they’re headed.
Your thoughts on the big man combinations? Which two-man combos work best/do you want to see more? @conradkaczmarek
I like what I’ve seen so far out of Tyler Zeller and Anderson Varejao. Zeller is having the typical up-and-down issues common for rookies, but I like his potential and so do the Cavs, who believe he can soon put up the type of numbers Varejao is producing now.
I like Zeller’s range and Varejao’s rebounding hustle and think they would look good together in the starting lineup, but the Cavs are committed to giving Tristan Thompson this season in the starting lineup and I can understand why. But Thompson’s long-term future, I believe, is the first big off the bench. That’s part of the reason the Cavs will take a long look at bigs in this draft.
