Cavs: Reported workout, dinner could seemingly improve Jarrett Culver draft chances

Texas Tech’s Jarrett Culver seems to fit what the Cleveland Cavaliers are looking for in the 2019 NBA Draft and in the coming years.

The Cleveland Cavaliers will have plenty of rumors surrounding them leading up until the 2019 NBA Draft and realistically, through the end of June, as we’ve noted.

It seems that a player that could very well be on their radar, anyhow, with their first draft selection at fifth overall is Texas Tech wing Jarrett Culver, though.

Culver is a player that really came on during the 2018-19 season for the Red Raiders as a sophomore; he averaged 18.5 points on 50.5% effective field goal shooting, along with 6.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game (per Sports Reference).

The listed at 6-foot-6-and-3/4 wing (per Tankathon) took on a significantly higher workload in his second collegiate season, and made things happen for himself and his teammates in impressive fashion.

Culver had an assist rate of 26.1%, compared to an assist rate of 13.7% as a freshman (per Sports Reference), a year in which he was more of a role piece.

Though I wouldn’t want Cleveland Cavaliers head coach John Beilein to deploy Culver as a primary playmaker a ton early on if he were selected by Cleveland, it seems reasonable that Culver could be one of the team’s best and most productive passers in the coming years, alongside Kevin Love, Cedi Osman and potentially Matthew Dellavedova.

Additionally, it would be nice for Cleveland to aid Collin Sexton more on the defensive end with a quality defensive wing in Culver that could feasibly be a plus defender against primary ball-handlers or primary playmaking wings.

Furthermore, Culver reportedly fits what Cleveland is looking for in the coming years in regards to their roster construction in essentially valuing strong work ethic, unselfishness and team-oriented players.

The Cleveland Cavaliers reportedly held a private workout with Culver on Monday, and the 20-year-old prospect also had dinner with key members of Cleveland’s organization, according to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.

Fedor would note that those members of the Cavs included general manager Koby Altman, assistant general manager Mike Gansey, Beilein and associate head coach J.B. Bickerstaff.

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Fedor would then emphasize how when given ample exposure, “the Cavs consider the dinners and sit-downs a valuable opportunity for the braintrust to get to know the prospect and gauge how he would fit into the culture they are trying to instill.”

Of course I’m not saying that a workout and then dinner is the 100.0% stamp of approval for the Cavaliers drafting Culver.

Nonetheless, if he’s available with the number five pick, I would imagine that it wouldn’t hurt his chances of being drafted by them at that spot if he’s still on the 2019 NBA Draft board.

According to Sam Amico of Amico Hoops in a recent appearance on 92.3 The Fan’s “Baskin and Phelps,” (and h/t Factory of Sadness’ Nick Dudukovich), though, it seems that Cleveland may want to draft Duke’s RJ Barrett by trading up to the New York Knicks’ third overall pick.

Amico suggested Cleveland could eventually give up their fifth and 26th overall selections in the 2019 NBA Draft, and then give up their future Milwaukee Bucks’ first-rounder (in 2022), and as Dudukovich hit on, it seems that Cleveland could be a team that helps facilitate an Anthony Davis (currently of the New Orleans Pelicans)-to-Knicks trade.

I’d be more than fine if Cleveland came out with Barrett, who had a heck of a season at Duke, leading a stacked-ACC in scoring with 22.6 points per game on 50.6% effective field goal shooting (to go with 7.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists per contest, per Sports Reference).

That being said, if a potential trade up for Barrett doesn’t happen for the Cleveland Cavaliers, getting a prospect the likes of Culver (I like Duke’s Cam Reddish as well, especially for his defense, for the record) fifth overall is quite alright.

Fedor would also mention that Cleveland wants to meet with Reddish (who reportedly sustained a core muscle injury) and wants to hold a private workout with Virginia’s De’Andre Hunter, but it seems that Monday had to have helped Culver’s Cleveland chances, anyhow.

If Cleveland does in fact draft Culver, I would think that a key reason for them doing so was the reported private workout and dinner on Monday, as it probably allowed the Cavs to get to know the Texas Tech product a bit more beyond the scouting report.

Given the Los Angeles Lakers at fourth overall being a logical fit for Vanderbilt’s Darius Garland, I would think Cleveland could definitely get Culver at five, anyhow.

Though it was previously reported by Sporting News’ Sean Deveney that Cleveland (and the Atlanta Hawks) may have Culver as even the second-best prospect in the 2019 NBA Draft on their board, I would think there’s a great possibility they wouldn’t need to trade up to get the young wing.

Now, as we have previously referenced, Atlanta now has the eighth, 10th and 17th overall picks, though, and according ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, they may try to come up to fifth, and make a deal with the Cavs.

However, even though Amico in a different report would say that Cleveland may be open to trading back from that fifth spot to accumulate more picks, I’d think the Cavs would still definitely consider just taking Culver if he’s available at number five.

Anyhow, personal relationships are going to matter a whole lot for Beilein, and if he and the other members at the dinner with Culver were blown away by the youngster, I wouldn’t think they’d be nearly as motivated to trade up, and that’d be okay, too.