Patrick Williams is one of the best defensive prospects in the upcoming draft, and the Cleveland Cavaliers need to be more competent on that end.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are guaranteed to have a top six selection in the 2020 NBA Draft, so they should be able to land a meaningful contributor. While I can’t fault the Cavs if they went with the likes of LaMelo Ball of the NBL’s Illawarra Hawks or Georgia’s Anthony Edwards, for instance, Cleveland does need to become more competent defensively.
Those prospects are reportedly players that are among Cleveland’s top tier for this draft, with James Wiseman, who briefly played at Memphis, as the other one in that trio.
Nonetheless, while of those three Ball is the one that I’m personally a fan of if it came to it, there are still major question marks about how defense and shooting. Anyhow, swinging back, the Cavs, from my perspective, need to value the defensive end.
USC big Onyeka Okongwu, who had 2.7 blocks and 1.2 steals per game in 2019-20 and is very switchable, would fit that mold, as would Auburn wing Isaac Okoro.
That said, a player that, especially at the number five or six selection, would be a high quality defensive pickup would be Florida State’s Patrick Williams. Williams’ basic stat line of 9.2 points and 4.0 rebounds per outing in his lone collegiate season at FSU doesn’t bring wow factor, no.
Playing for Seminoles head coach Leonard Hamilton, though, Williams played just 22.5 minutes per game, as FSU went 11 deep, as KJG’s Amadou Sow previously stressed. That didn’t exactly help FSU’s Devin Vassell, a fellow 2020 prospect, either.
So while perhaps the Cavs could acquire Williams later on with how ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported how some believe NBA owners could lose “tens of millions per franchise” next season given the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic, and that teams could potentially sell even first-rounders, Williams would likely be a pretty high pick.
Granted, if that were a possibility somehow, Cavs owner Dan Gilbert did fork over record compensation and even $5 million, to go with the team sending four future second-rounders to the Detroit Pistons, for Kevin Porter Jr. during the last draft.
Either way, Williams, from my perspective, would be a very good add for Cleveland with how he could end up impacting winning earlier on, thanks to his defensive capability.
Looking onward, here, we’ll hit on two goals for Williams if he’s drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The first has to do with that defensive ability.