2020 NBA Draft prospect Deni Avdija could be a great addition to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and three players on the Cavs come to mind that’d benefit the most if the team were to select Avdija this June.
This season for the Cleveland Cavaliers has been a year of growth, to say for the most part. Sitting as the 14th seed in the Eastern Conference with a 19-45 record, the Cavs will more than likely have a top five pick in the 2020 NBA Draft in June.
At this point, even though we know the lottery rules are much different now, Cleveland is currently projected to have the third overall pick in a few months, according to Tankathon, for what it’s worth.
Despite what many people see as a weak draft, general manager Koby Altman and the Cavs could walk away from it with one or more impact players, depending on if they make any trades perhaps leading up to the draft or during draft night.
One player in this draft that could grow and blossom into a potential franchise-altering player is Deni Avdija of the Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv B.C. of the Israeli Premier League. Maccabi Fox Tel Aviv plays in the Euroleague often and actually has more, as well.
Anyhow, Avdija is a 6-foot-8 small forward (mostly) that has quickly emerged as one of the top players in this draft with his combination of size, shooting potential and playmaking feel. This season in the I-BSL, he is putting up 12.4 points on 55.7 percent shooting (including a three-point shooting clip of 38.8 percent), to go with 6.05 rebounds, 2.50 assists and 1.1 blocks per game, according to Real GM.
Granted, in the Euroleague where the 19-year-old Avdija has had a smaller role, he’s only averaged 4.04 points on 43.6 percent shooting, including a 27.7 percent three-point shooting hit rate, but he’s only played 14.3 minutes per game. In the I-BSL, he’s played 26.6 minutes per contest.
That being said, Avdija is a versatile player, and he has very high potential as a wing at the NBA level.
Currently at the small forward position, the Cavaliers are playing Cedi Osman and Alfonzo McKinnie, as well as Kevin Porter Jr. a bunch this year (but not as much lately), and Dylan Windler has not played at all this season and won’t due to complications involving a reported stress reaction in his left leg, though next year he could be involved in that rotation. There should not be much competition for Deni and he would be a starter from day one, though.
Not only would his size and defensive potential drastically improve this team but, his versatility could lead to a lot of creative lineup options from head coach J.B. Bickerstaff.
Factoring in that, we’re going to look at three players in particular who would benefit most from the addition of Deni Avdija, beginning with a player picked highly by the Cleveland Cavaliers in last year’s draft.
Darius Garland
Darius Garland‘s first year with the Cavs has been up-and-down, to say to the least, but he has shown some great flashes and has the potential to be the point guard of the future for this team. During his time at Vanderbilt, albeit a small sample size due to a meniscus injury, he showed off his impressive ball-handling ability and his deep range.
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After a successful workout with the Cavs, they decided to select him with the fifth overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.
Darius looked lost to start the season as it seemed as if he was trying to still get back up to game speed. After the game had started to slow down for him, though, we saw a ton of improvements and he had his best stretch in that first half of January.
From January 2 to January 18, he averaged 15.7 points and 6.0 assists per game on 42.5 percent from the field, 34.4 percent from three-point land, and 91.3% from the free throw line, according to Basketball Reference.
This upcoming offseason, assuming Garland’s current left groin strain isn’t completely hampering the rest of this 2019-20 season, should be a healthy one for Garland and would allow him to focus on improving his strength, conditioning and overall game rather than focusing on rehab.
Additionally for Garland, despite his low assist numbers, Avdija has shown an ability to be a facilitator and, as a secondary playmaker, he could find immense success. Avdija’s post passing acumen has been particularly promising, too, as FanSided’s Jackson Frank highlighted here.
Having another guy who could facilitate would allow Garland to focus more on scoring rather than passing. Currently, Garland is taking 11.8 shots per game and having him take just a few more shots could be the difference between a win and a loss.
Plus, Deni’s defensive ability and feel could make him the best perimeter defender on this team. Having someone with his size and higher ceiling on the defensive end than Osman could help to hide Garland’s defensive woes.
Lastly, as stated earlier, Deni is shooting shooting 38.8 percent from three in the I-BSL. This means that the Cavs would be adding another possible floor spacer and this added spacing would give Garland more room to operate on the court off-the-bounce.
The second player that comes to mind that’d benefit in a big way from the Cavs selecting Avdija in the 2020 NBA Draft is another 2019 Cavs’ draft selection.
Kevin Porter Jr.
Porter Jr. has quickly established himself as a fan favorite and could become a star in this league. Falling all the way to the 30th pick overall in which Cleveland reportedly acquired him via trade of cash considerations and future second-round picks, KPJ has proven to be perhaps the steal of the 2019 NBA Draft.
Throughout the season, KPJ has been oozing with potential and has shown the ability to score, playmake, and defend from an individual sense for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Since returning from a left knee sprain, KPJ has had a great stretch from January 28th to February 12th where he averaged 16.1 points on 51.9 percent shooting from the field and 50.0 percent from deep, according to Basketball Reference, and another great stretch a bit following that.
Porter is currently out indefinitely due to him being in the NBA’s concussion protocol, though, but hopefully the Cavs exercise the necessary precaution there, and they will.
Looking at a benefit that adding Deni would have on KPJ, Deni’s spacing abilities, assuming he can keep progressing as a shooter, would give KPJ more room to operate. Porter Jr. looks to be an iso/pick-and-roll-heavy player and for him to be successful, he is going to need as much spacing as possible.
Clearly, the Cavaliers are more effective offensively when Porter Jr. has been playing alongside a floor spacer such as Osman, a 38.5% three point shooter this season, as opposed to when Porter Jr. has been playing alongside a non-floor spacer such as McKinnie, a 19.7% three point shooter this season, according to Basketball Reference.
Also, adding another wing would allow KPJ to strictly be a shooting guard where he has found his most success playing.
As far as the third Cavs’ player that comes to mind that would benefit most by Cleveland drafting Avdija, it’s their most trusted inside-out threat.
Kevin Love
Kevin Love‘s 2019-20 season with the Cleveland Cavaliers has been filled with drama, but he has been playing with more passion and energy since John Beilein stepped down as the team’s head coach and was re-assigned to an unspecified role with the team.
Though he may welcome a trade this summer, and he reportedly preferred to be traded before the 2020 deadline, per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor (albeit operations have been better lately under Bickerstaff, I know) it may be wise for the Cavaliers to hang on to the five-time All-Star.
Love can alleviate the offensive pressure from the young guys, such as Collin Sexton, Garland, KPJ and in this 2020 NBA Draft scenario, Avdija, and be a veteran presence, and likely a better one under the direction of Bickerstaff than was seemingly the case under Beilein.
To speak on Love’s recent stretch, in his past four games, he is averaging 22.3 points per game and including a three-point shooting clip of 45.9 percent, to go with 11.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists per outing, as indicated by NBA.com.
Not to mention, the Cavs are 2-2 in their last four and are coming off big wins over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday and an overtime victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday.
If Love is on the team next season, Avdija’s size and versatility could call for more creativity from Bickerstaff and we could see more Love at the center position.
In the past, Love has voiced frustrations with playing the center position but, in this new era of basketball, spacing is lethal and having Love at center could create a lot of mismatches in a bunch of instances.