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NBA Draft: 4 ways Jalen Suggs would help Cavs if he’s #3 pick

By Justin Brownlow

Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Jalen Suggs celebrates after making a game-winning three-point basket in the 2021 NCAA Final Four semifinal. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Jalen Suggs celebrates after making a game-winning three-point basket in the 2021 NCAA Final Four semifinal. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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Jalen Suggs, Cleveland Cavaliers
Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Jalen Suggs shoots the ball on the interior. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

Heading into the 2020-2021 NBA season there was a general consensus that this upcoming draft would have four or five players that were franchise changers.

Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Evan Mobley and Cade Cunningham were ESPN’s top four prospects in the class of 2020. All four of them were looked at as potential All-Stars. Then around the middle of the 2020-2021 college basketball season, Jalen Suggs, ESPN’s sixth-rated prospect in the class of 2020, started creeping up draft boards.

Now let’s fast forward to the present, where Cade Cunningham is the popular choice to be taken first overall by the Detroit Pistons. After Cunningham, Mobley and Green were also viewed as future All-Stars. Cunningham is the tier one of the 2021 NBA Draft. Whoever takes him is going to get a future All-Star. Green and Mobley, on the other hand, are the tier two of this upcoming draft.

So, what happened to Suggs and Kuminga? Well, to be honest, nothing really.

Kuminga shot poorly in the G League and is a mystery at this point. Even so, he has the potential to become one of the best young two-way players in the league. As for Suggs, many expect him to be the fourth player off the board in the upcoming draft.

Suggs hasn’t done anything wrong, it just looks like teams value the high ceiling of Mobley and Green more than anything else. However, with Collin Sexton reportedly “very available” in trade talks, Suggs is a player the Cleveland Cavaliers should take a look at. He’s still very young, and a natural athlete.

He would also bring four valuable traits with him to the Cavs that’d greatly help them. Four traits you just can’t teach.

#1: Suggs would help the Cavs from a consistency standpoint

While Collin Sexton may be headed out the door, he did bring offensive consistency to the Cavs. He was their go-to guy. That said, while Suggs may lack the scoring punch that Sexton has, he’s extremely consistent on both ends of the floor.

While playing in Spokane for Gonzaga head coach Mark Few, Suggs and the rest of the Zags had a very successful season, finishing 31-1. Sadly, that one loss came in the national championship game. Although I wouldn’t put the blame on Suggs.

Suggs scored more than 10 points in 22 of the Zags games. On top of that, Suggs recorded five or more assists in half of the Zags games. If you add in his shooting percentages (50 percent/34 percent/75 percent), you have the making of a very consistent player. This also shows how adaptable Suggs is.

He was the star of his high schools’ team, in football and basketball, as KJG’s Billy Beebe previously highlighted, but once he got to Spokane, he knew his role would be different. He took that challenge head on, and proved to many, why he should be a top-four pick.

While his 14.4 points per game doesn’t necessarily blow your mind, if you take a look at Suggs’ impact game-by-game, you can clearly see that he’s the type of consistent player the Cavs should covet in this draft.