The three biggest questions about the Cavaliers’ offseason
By Corey Casey
#1: Will the Cavs win the draft lottery again/if they don’t, what’s likely their approach?
The Cavs have won the draft lottery four times since 2003. Saying the Cavs have had a lot of lottery luck would be a understatement, but they’ll look to recapture some of that lottery luck at the 2019 NBA Draft lottery on May 14.
This isn’t just a Cavaliers’ question, its a big question nationally, as Duke’s Zion Williamson is one of the best prospects and most dominant college players to come out in a very long time.
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If the Cavs are able to once again win the lottery it would be a monumental moment for the franchise on and off the court. On the court, the Cavs would get that franchise-changing caliber player that they currently don’t have, and Zion is someone who would speed up the rebuilding timeline.
Williamson is the easy number one pick if the Cleveland Cavaliers win the lottery, but if they don’t, many questions will come up. What if they get the second pick?
Would they draft a point guard for the second straight year (which would likely end up being Murray State’s Ja Morant)?
It’s actually been reported by The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie (subscription required, and h/t Amico Hoops’ Colton Jones) that if the Phoenix Suns, who are tied with the Cavs and New York Knicks as having the best chances of winning this year’s lottery due to their bottom three finish last season (a 14.0% chance, per Tankathon), won the lottery, the Suns would actually prefer to draft Morant.
That report was recently shot down, though, by John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (h/t NBC Sports’ Dan Feldman), so basically the Cavs would more than likely need the first pick to draft Williamson.
Some reports yesterday that the Suns would prefer Ja Morant over Zion Williamson are totally off base. If the Suns did get the #1 pick it would be Zion. If they get #2 it's Ja and if a team like Atlanta gets #2 they may try and trade with them to get Ja because that team has a PG
— John Gambadoro (@Gambo987) April 23, 2019
Moreover, if Cleveland believes Morant will be a star, they should pick him at number two. If they did draft Morant they would probably be conceding that they view Sexton as a sixth man, and there’s nothing wrong with that line of thinking at all.
This is a top-heavy draft in my opinion (along with many others), and after Williamson, and to a lesser degree, Morant, things get really dicey.
If Cleveland picks third or lower, it really is up in the air in terms of who they would pick.
There are plenty of questions about the next wave of prospects such as Duke’s R.J. Barrett, Texas Tech’s Jarrett Culver, North Carolina’s Coby White and Duke’s Cam Reddish.
If the Cavs fall out of the top two, it’s really anyone’s best guess who they should take.