Post-Draft Thoughts

 

 

 

Photo from Cleveland.com

After the inevitable Anthony Davis selection by the New Orleans Hornets, my mind started to wander. What was next? Will the Cavs trade up to take Bradley Beal, would Charlotte take Beal as trade bait, hopefully for Cleveland, would the Bobcats take Thomas Robinson? What would it be?

And then to me, they did the unthinkable. The Charlotte Bobcats select ... Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. WHY!? Well, he is the second best prospect in this years draft. Everyone has heard all the good about him and I'm sure Michael Jordan was tired of hearing all of that draft criticism. Now back to that three-letter question. There was almost no ties with MKG to the Kitties, and that selection had me, the Cavs fan, worried. Because I surely knew who the next pick was going to be.

Sure enough, Beal went to the Washington Wizards third overall. There went our top two players, just like that. I don't recall ever seeing a mock draft that didn't give us the choice to take one of those two stellar prospects. Beal wasn't a surprise, the selection was more like a kick while we were down. Immediately, I thought the selection for the Cavs at four would be Harrison Barnes. And why not, at points the Cavs front office had him ranked higher than both players that went two and three. But there was also lingering concern for me that Chris Grant would aim for the best player and take Thomas Robinson. That selection would pretty much render the Tristan Thompson pick from last year worthless. But maybe not, I don't work in an NBA front office.

Then came possibly the biggest surprise of the night. Dion Waiters at number four. For the record, I've liked this kid a lot, since his freshman year at Syracuse. His game truthfully has few weaknesses and on shots he'll likely take in the pros, he shoots a fantastic percentage. His comparisons are of a Dywane Wade/Russell Westbrook hybrid. Byron Scott lobbied for this selection for three weeks now, and it got Grant and Dan Gilbert's blessing. So get ready for my honest take: I love Waiters, and would have loved this pick had we traded down to six or seven. That way, we could have got our guy and either picked up the 11th or 30th pick as well.

After seeing Barnes fall to seven, I'm a tad upset that Cleveland didn't pull the trigger on the offer from Golden State: Anderson Varejao and pick #24 for the seventh pick. Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters and Harrison Barnes. Wow, is all I can say about that possibility that we passed up. The Cleveland Plain-Dealer is reporting that we aren't giving up and working to acquire Barnes from Golden State, but at this point I think it's an afterthought.

The next thing Cleveland did was move all their remaining picks -- #24, 33, 34 -- for the draft rights to Tyler Zeller. I absolutely love this move. Zeller will fit in nicely to this Cleveland team. He runs, all the time, a center willing to run on fast breaks is a great thing to have. He's also a great post defender and has the best current offensive skill set of any of the Cavalier big men. Even though Cleveland gave up a lot for him, it will be worth it.

Today the Cavs also signed Kevin Jones from West Virginia. Personally, I can't believe Jones didn't get drafted as he can become a pretty good player off the bench.

But with all of these picks, obviously nothing is certain and time will tell how these three men will pan out in the NBA. Let's all hope that it's for the better.