Cavs draft: Examining Giddey’s defensive outlook
This area is where Giddey needs the most work. He’s pretty slow at this point, especially with his lateral movement and his opponents can many times get by him because he is slow.
With that height though he can block shots. He had 30 of them in this past league play in the NBL. But he doesn’t bend his knees well enough yet in defensive positioning and that could be a sticky point for some NBA teams.
The Cavs obviously need to play better defense next season. Giddey certainly would add some flare to the offense, particularly with those amazing passes, but would it be enough to draft him?
If he were available for the Cavs, would I take him?
I would in a heartbeat. I think the passing abilities and Giddey’s feel for the game are above what we currently have with some of our Cavalier players. The ceiling is very high for Giddey and the rest of his game will improve with time.
So then the question many frustrated Cavs fans will share is how much time are we going to be in a rebuild if we take another talented, but very young player, with the fact that we already have a very young core of players?
I think what the Cavaliers management needs to be looking at more is bringing in talented players that will win eventually at this point. I think they are doing that already and by bringing another, almost guaranteed star in the league will only enhance that consistency that the Cavs need to get too.
As I mentioned at the start, Australian players, like the ones that helped the University at Buffalo and my daughter reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament a few years back, are just built to be team players and usually bring success. That’s why we love current Cavalier, Matthew Dellavedova!
The Cavaliers potentially taking Giddey in the 2021 NBA Draft could draw a few raised eyebrows and rolling eyes by some fans, but it would be a good selection, and even more so with Cleveland’s backup playmaking needs, with Delly getting up there and not seemingly likely back.
And more generally, Cleveland needs more talent to win again and Giddy would fit the bill for sure.