Grade the Cavaliers 2019 Draft

jking948 said:

The Cavs drafted Dion because they were worried about the fit with Lillard? Where did you read that?

That would be idiotic because Dion was also a ball dominant combo guard that didn’t pass. Not comparable.

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Suspect they felt the "fit" was based moreso in simply positional terms, as even though both may be thought of as combo guards, Lillard is more PG and Dion more SG.

I think the opinion vary based upon BPA and fit.

Two questions:

(1) Could we have done better than Sexton in the 2018 draft considering we picked 8th?

(2) Could we have done better than Garland with the 5th pick?

I’m obviously a huge fan of Sexton so question one is an obvious no even with a season in hand. SGA is a good player but I’m NEVER a fan of guys who dictate where they will or won’t go and he certainly didn’t want to get drafted by Cleveland. There is the “just draft him” crowd but you’re no paying attention to the current NBA landscape if you believe that.

I wanted Hunter first THEN Garland. Never on board with Culver, Coby or Reddish. It’s too early in the rebuild to worry about fit. I’m a huge Sexton guy and even I don’t think building around him is wise as I don’t think he’s a natural point guard. Would I have loved to see him prove it in year 2, yes, but he can still do that because I’m sure there will be minutes for him at that position.

I’m really happy with the draft and think it’s unfair some here are comparing us to Atlanta or NOP. We didn’t trade a top 5 talent and aren’t going into year 3 of the rebuild like Atlanta. We still have JR Smith contract and Love to trade so we’re not done.

A-Value for players taken is as good as it gets especially stealing Porter Jr. at 30.
Garland not being an ideal fit changes my vote to a little less than perfect.
But his value if they are flipping him soon was the highest during the draft at 5 and there are still teams that would give up good returns for his services.

AllforOne said:

This isn't the same as the Hawks building around Trae, or the Grizzlies building around Ja/JJJ, or the Pelicans building around Zion. (All of whom, unlike Sexton, were top-five picks.)

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Totally agree with you here. Last year was basically “Year Zero” of this rebuild. This was a team coming off a Finals appearance and drafting at 8th in the lottery. Then, they made a coaching change six games in and had, essentially, a lame duck coaching the rest of the year.

While I would have preferred a safer wing pick like Hunter or Culver, swinging for the fences on a potential franchise guy like Garland is fine by me too.

Garland...I don't know about the whole thing. I think he's definitely an NBA player, so I don't think he ends up being a bust. I do think there is a problem with how he plays and how it meshes with the rest of the team. I also don't know if I buy the "he's a real PG" type of thinking. To me, he doesn't look like Dame, he especially doesn't look like a Kyrie.

I think he's early/mid 90's version of Nick Van Exel.

Windler, dude definitely has a quick shot and release. Guys like him have extremely long NBA careers, but I wouldn't bet on him becoming anything more than a bench 3pt specialist. I know his testing was great but damn does that guy look stiff on the court and just not athletic. Maybe he will become something more than that, and his testing will translate, but I am not going to hold my breathe.

Porter Jr is a pure shot in the dark and worth the investment. If he pans out, great, if not, nothing really lost.

I felt like they chickened out on the JR contract to get under the apron...which is fine, but also typical Cavs where they build up this big asset and then nothing happens (Wally, Haywood, now JR). That might have been my biggest disappointment of the night, seeing all that talent that was at 17, and knowing we could have had that pick? That hurts.

Oh well. I really hope Garland is the guy to take that next step and be a Steph/Dame level guy and not a NVE or Jason Terry type player. I really hope Windler is more Huerter than Ersan Ilyasova. And I really hope Porter Jr gets his head on straight with the Cavs and become a serious talent.

But hope in one hand and shit in the other, see which one fills up the fastest.

Overall? C+ IMO.

Ohio said:

The Hawks had a player to build around. We didn't.

With all due respect to Sexton, he has not shown he's worth building around at this point.

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Exactly. Given our situation and the relative weakness of this draft, I think we recognized an opportunity: Find out what Garland can do, see how he meshes with Sexton, and adjust from there. If we'd been able to draft Trae Young, this would be a different conversation and a different grade.

A- from me. It would be a lot lower if I didn't think we were prepared to make Sexton a sixth man. That might be his ceiling. We'll have a much better idea by the end of the season. But I'm glad they're being patient. There's no reason not to, and he's done nothing but improve his outside shot. (How many rookies go from 33% to 40%?) I also expect his assists to go up now that we've got some better shooters (incl. Love if he can stay healthy).

That's the other reason for my grade. We went with BPA but still addressed a glaring problem: our terrible shooting. I agree w/ what everyone's already said about Windler and Porter.

Coyote said:

Exactly. Given our situation and the relative weakness of this draft, I think we recognized an opportunity: Find out what Garland can do, see how he meshes with Sexton, and adjust from there. If we'd been able to draft Trae Young, this would be a different conversation and a different grade.

A- from me. It would be a lot lower if I didn't think we were prepared to make Sexton a sixth man. That might be his ceiling. We'll have a much better idea by the end of the season. But I'm glad they're being patient. There's no reason not to, and he's done nothing but improve his outside shot. (How many rookies go from 33% to 40%?) I also expect his assists to go up now that we've got some better shooters (incl. Love if he can stay healthy).

That's the other reason for my grade. We went with BPA but still addressed a glaring problem: our terrible shooting. I agree w/ what everyone's already said about Windler and Porter.

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Everyone is calling Trae Young a franchise guy. I get that he showed lots of promise. But 4 things are completely worrisome. He shot 41 percent from the field, he shot 32 percent from three, he had 3.8 Turnovers per game, He was terrible defensively as many expected. I think he has Steve Nash type upside. But I wouldn't write him down as a franchise player just yet. He has a lot to work on.

No plus or minus, just a solid B. I really liked the Garland pick in that I think you have to take the BPA that high in the draft. Windler can shoot the lights out and seems to have a high ball IQ. Altman showed me something getting Porter Jr at the end of the first. If nothing else, I think they'll be fun to watch. For those worried about how Garland will mesh with what we have, I think it's important to remember that we were a pretty lousy team. Talent wins in the NBA.

NMCav said:

Everyone is calling Trae Young a franchise guy. I get that he showed lots of promise. But 4 things are completely worrisome. He shot 41 percent from the field, he shot 32 percent from three, he had 3.8 Turnovers per game, He was terrible defensively as many expected. I think he has Steve Nash type upside. But I wouldn't write him down as a franchise player just yet. He has a lot to work on.

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No argument on any of those, really, except that his shooting % improved after the first couple months. I liked him coming out of college, admittedly, and hoped we'd land him. But he's not going to hit Steve Nash percentages. I think it's his playmaking, though, which is a good Nash comparison, that makes him someone you can build around. More than Sexton, at least.

Coyote said:

No argument on any of those, really, except that his shooting % improved after the first couple months. I liked him coming out of college, admittedly, and hoped we'd land him. But he's not going to hit Steve Nash percentages. I think it's his playmaking, though, which is a good Nash comparison, that makes him someone you can build around. More than Sexton, at least.

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If he doesn't get to 45 percent from the field and say 38 to 39 from three I don't see a franchise player. He's also oddly a worse defender then Nash although Nash was 6-4 so he had the height advantage. Everyone is saying Hawks are building Warriors east but if Trae Young continues with he's progressing I see a new age 7 seconds or less Suns team.

Not exactly like the Suns but close. Young is obviously Nash, Collins is similar in a lot of ways to Amare but started shooting threes earlier in his career then Amare did. Then they got shooters all around them with Huerter, Hunter, Reddish. They don't have a Marion type but Marion was one of a kind when he was in his prime.

jking948 said:

Kevin O'Connor's article at The Ringer is a big reason why I am "meh" about the Cavs' draft. Yes, they drafted three high upside guys, but unlike the Hawks, Grizzlies, and Pelicans, Altman and co. seemed to really not care about fit. It looks like we're running around like a chicken with it's head cut off.

The Hawks Are Building a Team to Complement Trae Young

With the draft-night additions of De’Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish, Atlanta GM Travis Schlenk is assembling a core of pieces around the franchise’s all-rookie point guard

www.theringer.com

Again, I actually like all three players the team drafted. To me, they all have the potential to be all-stars or high-level role players. But the fit is so questionable that I wonder if they can actually reach that potential. I give the draft a B-.

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I understand the point, but my thing is..they have Trae Young(and Collins)Young showed legit legit all-NBA/star potential last year as a complete PG (offensively) and offensive dynamo.

I like Sexton a lot and think save for SGA he was a fine pick at 8 but he’s realkstically a shooting guard. It’s not about the assist totals it’s about feel for the game, pace, etc. I feel like Collin is lacking too much in that area to have elite star power. Can be a useful productive positive player, but elite status is not looking great. He also excelled when playing off the ball more which this helps with greatly. I think starting lineups can be focused on too much anyways. But either way, I think there are big portions of games esp in today’s NBA where that pairing can survive—-especially if Sexton dedicates himself to becoming a good defender. He’s got the frame and mentality to be able to be a very very strong and stout defender. And can defend a lot of 2s in this league...but obviously is very far away from even being average defensively.

Regardless, the point is that we are still in search for that star power. Garland could be that guy, at least one of them. Porter Jr as well could maybe be great if things go perfectly for him.

I think Windler was a good start on the wing once we used our lotto pick on Garland. I see him being a lot better defensively than expected. His shooting and versatility also could allow us now going forward to maybe be able to focus less on shooting. It takes multiple years to really put a rebuild together. Even though we had 8 last year I think it’s important to remember that Atlanta is ahead of our rebuilding timeline.

Next year’s draft, particularly if the Cavs look like they hit big on some or all of these picks, will in my estimation start to show a more coherent plan in terms of team building, for, etc. But we desperately need an influx of high level talent. Without that it doesn’t matter how well your team fits or is built, because your ceiling is low.

Douglar said:

Cavs said Waiters would fit next to Kyrie when they drafted him, but he never looked like a natural fit next to Kyrie to me. It always seemed clear that they were going to have to change their games to fit and it never happened. Cavs are saying Garland & Sexton can work together. While they could work together, it doesn’t seem super realistic to expect them to fit in the real world.

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I think their fit will be fine. The issue is the lack of size and both of them projecting as subpar defenders though Sexton especially has some decent potential to shore himself up physically and learn how to defend which could change things.

But offensively...I think they can be dynamite. Sexton excelled when Knight started playing next to him. I don’t see him having any issue playing off of Garland as a secondary ball handler. They will be exciting as hell.

A.

Dont really know how they could have done better

Douglar said:

Cavs said Waiters would fit next to Kyrie when they drafted him, but he never looked like a natural fit next to Kyrie to me. It always seemed clear that they were going to have to change their games to fit and it never happened. Cavs are saying Garland & Sexton can work together. While they could work together, it doesn’t seem super realistic to expect them to fit in the real world.

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The main reason Irving/Waiters failed, and the reason so may of these small guard combos fail offensively, is because of one or both players lack a jump shot and/or the ability to play off the ball. Also, Waiters just flat out wasn't a good player.

Heading into last season I would have questioned Sexton's ability on both fronts. However, throughout the season he excelled in both aspects. I'm not sure about Garland's ability to play off the ball, but he can shoot.

Offensively, it'd be very surprising if they weren't good together. Defensively, we'll see.

I really like the commitment to drafting prospects who can shoot in this draft.

Now, looking ahead to the 2020 draft, I'm thinking it's time to take a chance on a high upside wing. The league is generally dominated by stars at the SF position (give or take a few exceptions, like Steph Curry and Anthony Davis). Unfortunately, next year's draft projects to be very heavy in elite guards and bigs. It may take a few years to find our SF.