The Cavs could once again be respectable thanks to lottery luck

2022 could be interesting

In July Kevin Pelton of ESPN wrote an article about how the NBA one-and-done rule could come to an end in 2022.

"“As Adam Silver made waves by announcing at Tuesday’s board of governors meetings in Las Vegas that the NBA is ready to make changes to its age limit, teams have been told privately by league officials not to expect that to actually happen prior to the 2022 NBA draft. ESPN’s Zach Lowe reported in June that the NBA sent out a memo indicating to teams that no change will be made prior to the 2021 draft, and it appears the following year is more likely at this stage. If that’s the case, players entering their freshman year of high school this fall will in turn be the first ones to benefit from this potential rule change. The Miami Heat have already traded an unprotected first-rounder in 2021 — subsequently rerouted by the Suns to the 76ers at this year’s draft as part of a trade up — and the sense among plugged-in officials is that the league would prefer to make the terms of the new reality abundantly clear well before any change actually goes into place. No team has as yet traded an unprotected 2022 first-rounder, and the only one that could potentially change hands at this point was sent by Dallas to Atlanta to move up this year for Luka Doncic. That would happen only if the Mavericks pick in the top five over the next two seasons and in the top three in 2021, a distinct long shot. — Jonathan Givony”"

This could get very interesting, because the Cavs could even have the Milwaukee Bucks’ first-round pick in the 2022 draft if Giannis Antetokounmpo leaves the Bucks.

Per Spotrac, Antetokounmpo can become a free agent after the 2020-2021 season.  Here’s the protections situation from the Cavs-Bucks trade that happened last month, per ESPN’s Zach Lowe.

The Bucks would still have some good pieces on that roster and I know losing a superstar like Giannis would hurt, but it’s not completely out of the question that could become the 11th-15th pick for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Sometimes those picks aren’t great, but the fact that this could very well be a double draft with players straight out of high school entering the draft and with the last year of one-and-done guys in the draft, this could potentially be a big steal for the Cavs.

Another guy to look out for in that draft is forward Emoni Bates, who is currently attending high school in Ypsilanti, Michigan. While he’s very young and you don’t want to assume too much, Bates looks like he is another rare talent.

247 Sports’ Evan Daniels broke down the game of Bates earlier this year.

Daniels even went on to compare Bates to Jayson Tatum, who many believe will be a superstar, and also mentioned the fact that the game of Bates is so “advanced.”

The 2022 NBA Draft is a ways away, so you don’t want to get too carried away, because so much can happen between now and that time. Granted, the Cavs shouldn’t just rely on lottery luck, because most successful franchises are able to find those under-the-radar guys that can make a big impact in the NBA.

The Cavs as a franchise the Cavs have made a lot of mistakes since the summer of 2017. Guys like Rudy Gobert and Nikola Jokic were late first and second-round guys that those front offices scouted and found (those people the Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets, respectively).

If the Cavs are going to become an elite franchise/team again, they will need to be able to find those hidden gems to fill out the roster for the next good Cavs team.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have had a ridiculous amount of lottery luck in the past, so it really wouldn’t surprise me if they pulled off some magic again. However, as I mentioned before, the Cavs shouldn’t rely on that and at some point will need to do a better job as a front office in other ways if they want to become a relevant team again.