3 potential wings for Cavs to take with fifth selection in 2019 NBA Draft

Cam Reddish

Reddish almost seems like an afterthought at this point among the Duke prospects. That isn’t a slight of Reddish or his game in any way; it’s just that Barrett and Williamson are two of the headliners of the 2019 NBA Draft class and were sure to garner more attention than Reddish.

The 19-year-old (and listed at 6-foot-8, 218-pound, per Sports Reference) wing had an up-and-down season as a member of the Blue Devils, and faltered down the stretch, scoring an underwhelming 33 points in three NCAA tournament games (per Sports Reference).

Like many players in today’s game, Reddish can play multiple spots on the floor at his size and is also a high-upside defender with a 7-foot-1 wingspan, and his 2.1 steals and 0.8 blocks per 40 minutes at Duke gave evidence of that defensive upside.

Reddish connected on 33.3 percent of his three-point shots (though that was on 7.4 attempts per game) and can stop on a dime and hit the mid-range jump shot with some consistency, as after all, he reportedly often played as a primary ball-handler in high school and AAU play, and it shows.

The main concern with Reddish is the fact that he did not live up to his potential at Duke, and would sometimes disappear for long stretches of games. Cam would sometimes fall in love with the long-range shots, even when they were not falling, too.

But at such a young age, and still the right amount of untapped potential, Reddish could be that versatile wing player the Cleveland Cavaliers and new head coach John Beilein and his incoming staff can develop and give them their “3-and-D” player of the future, while potentially fitting alongside the likes of Sexton, Cedi Osman, Larry Nance Jr. and others.

Overall, it was a disappointing night for the Wine & Gold as the ping pong balls did not bounce in their favor. That being said, there are still quite a few talented players at the top of the draft board that should have fans excited.

While Cleveland isn’t landing Zion, they still could very well draft a critical piece that will help this team out of the near-NBA basement and build the Wine & Gold back to basketball relevance.