Cavs draft: 3 ways a potential Cade Cunningham selection would impact CLE
By Corey Casey
#1: The Cavs would get a clear face of the franchise
The NBA is obviously a league where superstars win in the playoffs. The Cavs have had that void since LeBron James departed for the Los Angeles Lakers in the summer of 2018. Nobody can fill LeBron’s shoes, as he’s one of the top two players of all-time and you can’t replace that.
And Collin Sexton is a future All-Star in my opinion, while showing signs of potentially being Cleveland’s franchise centerpiece, but Cade is one of the best prospects to come out in the last 10-15 years, and would definitely be that guy. He looks like he will be a superstar, and establish himself as one of the best players in the game at some point.
Cade Cunningham would solve a lot of issues for the Cavs. I’d imagine he would play the 3 for them and would essentially be their point forward. The small forward position has been a pretty big void ever since LeBron left, and while nobody can ever completely fill his shoes, replacing it with a two-way playmaking wing like Cade is pretty good.
That wing spot is the most important position in the NBA, and it also happens to be the most vulnerable spot on the Cavs roster. Okoro has primarily guarded the best wings the Cavs have played against and has done often a solid job of doing so for a rookie, honestly, and has had some nice outings against primary playmakers, albeit there have been tough outings for him.
Cade stands at 6-foot-8 and 220 pounds, has good length at over 7-foot, is technically sound and is an impact defender, though. And being able to throw someone else at elite wings is incredibly important, even while Okoro could still do so for stretches, anyhow.
Cade would also be the Cavs’ best playmaker and another much-needed one. Very often a lot of minutes the second unit is devoid of a playmaker, and it’s uncertain if Matthew Dellavedova will be around next season to potentially aid in that realm. But you can have a situation where someone like Garland can have certain minutes with the second team that is much-needed.
Again, Cade, would be the Cavs’ best playmaker; don’t pay attention to Cunningham’s assist numbers at Oklahoma State, those being 3.5 assists per outing.
Oklahoma State just doesn’t have a ton of shooting around him. Teams build their game plan every night to make someone other than Cunningham beat them. And when you watch Oklahoma State, typically when Cunningham goes to the rim, the near or seemingly entire defense collapses in an effort to stop him and dare someone to knock down open threes.
They just don’t have very much shooting around him, but Cade’s vision and playmaking is one of the best parts of his game, factoring in vision, ability to create out of the pick-and-roll, and with his feel for hitting looks for high quality shots both on the interior and on the perimeter.
It’s hard to find a real flaw in Cade’s game. He has an ever-improving outside shot (41.8 percent on 3s), a step back jumper, a pull-up game, a mid-range game, can draw fouls and is a terrific playmaker. Plus, he is versatile in being able to legitimately play 1-4 and can defend at a high level.
He’s one of the best prospects to come out in the last 10-15 years and would be the clear face of the Cleveland Cavaliers franchise, again, if they were to land the #1 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. And though Cunningham did injury his ankle on Thursday versus Baylor, it’s not something to frankly be overly concerned about.