Top five prospects for Cavs at fifth overall in the 2019 NBA Draft
By Corey Casey
If the Cleveland Cavaliers do indeed end up drafting fifth overall, these are their best options with that selection in the 2019 NBA Draft.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have known for a month now that they’ll have to settle for the fifth pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, at least if they stand pat with their first selection at least, but while not ideal that doesn’t mean they can’t find a a blue chip player for their future.
It’s been mentioned by KJG contributors before if the Cavs are going to get back to prominence they’ll have to do a better time this time around making savvy front office moves and finding talent when you don’t have the first pick (or the top few picks), like they did three times in four years the last time they underwent a rebuild post-LeBron James free agency departure.
During this ranking, I won’t include Duke’s Zion Williamson, because he’s almost certainly the number one pick for the New Orleans Pelicans and the Memphis Grizzlies are seemingly locked in on Murray State’s Ja Morant at the second overall pick, based on reports.
The Cavs seemingly could go a number of different directions in the 2019 NBA Draft, and anyhow, with their first pick (at least currently), here are my top five prospects for them at that spot.
#5: De’Andre Hunter – Virginia
De’Andre Hunter spent two years at Virginia and after a shocking early round loss last year, he helped lead the Cavaliers to a NCAA championship. Hunter is your prototypical “three-and-D” type of prospect, standing at 6-foot-7 and 225 pounds (per NBA.com), and has the versatility to guard multiple positions, likely the 2-4.
Last year for the Cavaliers, Hunter averaged 15.2 points on 57.9% effective field goal shooting, 5.1 rebounds, 2.0 ast, 0.6 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game; he also shot 43.8% from three-point range (all per Sports Reference).
What stands out most about Hunter is his individual defense. It’s not a coincidence that another likely NBA lottery pick in Texas Tech’s Jarrett Culver had one of his worst games of the 2018-19 season against Hunter, and in that game Culver really struggled from the field, shooting five-of-22 (h/t CBS Sports’ Reid Forgrave).
As for how he would fit on the Cleveland Cavaliers, it seems to be a sound one.
The Cavs obviously really struggled on defense everywhere last season, and Hunter is the type of player that should be able to help improve what was the worst defense in the NBA, as Cleveland had the worst single-season defensive rating in NBA history since that metric has been recorded by Basketball Reference.
Cleveland also is a team that needs to add more shooting and Hunter looks to be a knock-down shooter when open from the perimeter. Along with that, according to Sam Amico of Amico Hoops, head coach John Beilein “really likes” Hunter.
Hunter is a solid prospect that would contribute and help right away, but the knock on him is he seems to lack upside. With the fifth pick in the 2019 NBA draft and needing a blue chip star, the Cavs may opt to go with a guy that has more star potential and be a prospect who could project as a primary or at least secondary playmaker.