NBA Draft: Cavs Have Three Options Tonight

The NBA Draft is Thursday. (Kind of a Cleveland joke, hopefully most of you get it.)

Today is Thursday.

The NBA Draft is TODAY!

So while man of us Cleveland Cavaliers fans are still a bit emotionally hungover from the NBA Finals loss, the NBA Draft will take place tonight. Amazing to think that is was a little over a week ago that the Cavs finally ran out of gas on a difficult season.

Since then Kevin Love has opted out of his contract and J.R. Smith reportedly is doing the same thing. Yet the Cavs, and the rest of the league, have been in tons of conversations leading up to tonight’s NBA Draft and we expect a lot of excitement via rumors and actual trades.

The the Cavs tonight is actually quite simple. They have 3 options as they look to move forward from a successful first season of LeBron James, David Griffin and David Blatt leading the way. Important to realize that it was the 1st year for all three of those men in their positions with the Cavs, technically true for LeBron coming home and Griff was the interim GM late last year.

On to the Cavs three options tonight in the NBA Draft with their 1st Round pick:

Draft Someone

See this is the kind of hard hitting analysis you come to us for right? I’m proud of this one.

In all actuality this could be the Cavs move. This draft class has some impressive depth and we could see a player or two slide down to the Cavs pick at #24. The Cavs could look to add a backup point guard, a wing player or a stretch big man.

There are a few players that fit this mold that could be in play for the Cavs at 24.

Point Guard – Tyus Jones (Duke), Jerian Grant (Notre Dame), Delon Wright (Utah), Terry Rozier (Lousiville), Cameron Payne (Murray State)

A few of those guys are likely off the board by 24 but Payne’s finger injury and depth at other positions could drive a few of them down.

Wing – Sam Dekker (SF), Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (SF), R.J. Hunter (SG), Justin Anderson (SF), Rashad Vaughn (SG), Anthony Brown (SF)

Quite a bit of talent between the mid to late teens and 10 picks later. Anderson and Brown seem to be great fits and Brown would not shock me at 24 as a 3 and D guy.

Stretch Big – Bobby Portis (Arkansas), Kevon Looney (UCLA), Trey Lyles (Kentucky), Christian Wood (UNLV), Chris McCullough (Syracuse)

There are at least these 5 power forwards who could be drafted anywhere from late lottery to end of the 1st who project as good stretch 4 players in the NBA. That is a lot and would be a perfect fit with the Cavs already having Tristan Thompson, Timofey Mozgov and Anderson Varejao on the interior. Getting a stretch big to backup Kevin Love is important for spacing.

Trade The Pick

If the Cavs decide to go in another direction, even though there is loads of talent likely available at 24, they could trade the pick. With Brendan Haywood‘s huge non-guaranteed deal, technically not worth the full over $10 million until after July 1, the Cavs can look to trade it and 24 for an already established NBA player. They have reportedly been looking to do just that.

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Draft and Stash

The Cavs could do like many other good teams have done for years by drafting a player that they want to stay in Europe for a few years. This would open a roster spot for the Cavs to pursue another vet who may want to compete for a ring, on a cheap contract. The Spurs have done this for years, including Tiago Splitter who developed for a couple years before coming over. Most recently the Bulls did this with Nikola Mirotic, who played very well in his rookie season. This move would be a long term play but could get the Cavs a high level talent in a couple years.

What do you want the Cavs to do tonight in the NBA Draft?

Next: Rumor: Teams Targeting Cavs Center in Trade Talks