Where the Cleveland Cavaliers stand after the 2019 NBA Draft lottery
By Corey Casey
The Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t get Zion Williamson and where their pick landed is less than ideal, but through them doing their home work and quality coaching, they could salvage the 2019 NBA Draft, anyhow.
The Cleveland Cavaliers were hoping they would get the number one pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, so they could draft the consensus number one pick.
If nothing else the Cavs, and many others in similar position such as the New York Knicks and Phoenix Suns, were hoping they would be at least in the top three to seemingly draft Duke’s Zion Williamson, Murray State’s Ja Morant and Duke’s RJ Barrett (though that wouldn’t be the grand prize), considering there’s a belief among NBA executives that this draft has a big drop off after that point, as was demonstrated by Jeremy Woo of Sports Illustrated.
"“The consensus among NBA executives is that this spot is where the talent level starts to flatten out.”"
KJG has touched on the new lottery odds, how it could potentially impact the teams at the bottom of the NBA, and how it has increased the chances of some of the middle teams moving up in the lottery, and with the New Orleans Pelicans (who were 33-49, per NBA.com), who had just a 6.0% chance (per Tankathon) winning the 2019 lottery, as opposed to a team with a considerably worse record, you could see that right away.
The Knicks, Cavs, Suns, and Chicago Bulls all were in the top four pre-lottery, but the Knicks fell to number three and the other bottom teams all dropped three spots.
It definitely appears the top three picks are set and as Woo noted, the draft appears to really start at number four, when things really get curious. The last time the Cavaliers underwent a rebuild they had incredible lottery luck and were able to win the lottery three times in four years and LeBron James came back forming a big three with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.
The rest is history, as the Cleveland Cavaliers went from being in the lottery straight to a championship-caliber team, but that’s not happening in this go-round, as we’ve hit on here at KJG.