King James Gospel
Fansided

The Suns have given the Cavs the perfect blueprint for their rebuild

By Justin Brownlow

Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (#1), Phoenix big Deandre Ayton (#22) and Phoenix guard Chris Paul (#3) celebrate after a win. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (#1), Phoenix big Deandre Ayton (#22) and Phoenix guard Chris Paul (#3) celebrate after a win. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /
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Monty Williams, Cleveland Cavaliers
Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams huddles his team in-game. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

Yeah, yeah, I know, most Cleveland Cavaliers fans don’t necessarily think the team is in a rebuilding phase..

I hate to break it to you folks, but the Cavs have been trying, unsuccessfully, to rebuild since LeBron James left for the Los Angeles Lakers in the summer of 2018. Well, technically they were still trying to rebuild during King James’ last season in Cleveland.

On the bright side, the Cavaliers got lucky and landed the number three pick in this year’s draft. Also, luckily enough, the Cavs just need to take a peek out west to see how the Phoenix Suns have masterfully built a championship-caliber team through the draft.

With the Suns now only three wins away from their first NBA title, let’s take a look to see how the Cavs can transform into a championship contender in a relatively short period of time. It all starts with the 2021 NBA Draft.

Take the best player on your board with the number three overall pick, Cavs.

Previously, I had written about how the Cavs might want to trade back to get more value out of the draft. Well, if they want to follow Phoenix’s blueprint, which seems to have worked this year, the idea of trading back needs to be thrown out the window. It’s pretty much a forgone conclusion that the Detroit Pistons will take Cade Cunningham with the first overall pick.

However, once you get to the Houston Rockets’ pick, things get a little bit confusing. ESPN’s Jonathan Givony has stated in a report (subscription required) that other teams expect Houston to prioritize Green over Mobley. In a perfect world, Houston would take Mobley, leaving Green to be taken by the Cavs. He would be the Cavaliers’ future Devin Booker-type. Nonetheless, taking Mobley would be a nice consolation.

If the Cavs are to take Mobley, fans can look at him as sort of a Deandre Ayton-type. Both of their games are very different, but in theory, Mobley could be as good if not better than Ayton in the future. Following this blueprint would also mean cancelling out my previous article about bringing Mobley in off the bench.

If you take a look at Devin Booker’s rookie year, it wasn’t a great one. He averaged just over 13 points per game, while shooting poorly (42 percent/34 percent/84 percent). It was more of a year for growth than anything else for Booker.

If the third pick is Mobley, the Cavaliers should play him plus minutes, and let him grow within each game. If Mobley or Green show the organization they are future All-Stars, or have the potential to be, then step one of the Suns blueprint is checked off.

That’d then lead to the next steps.