NBA Draft: Should Cavs target Brandon Boston Jr. via potential trade?

Cavs Draft: Boston had a rough year at UK, but the talent is there

Boston did not have the freshman campaign he would’ve hoped for. Kentucky had a really down year as an overall group, and finished just 9-16. It was not the season Boston himself coming into the year, nor the program in general would’ve hoped for.

Boston, individually, had a fairly rough go of it, and a hand injury early didn’t help him establish a rhythm early on. For the season overall, in 25 games, he had 11.5 points per outing, even while he did tie for the lead among the Wildcats in scoring. But he did so on only a 40.7 percent effective field goal shooting clip, and hit an underwhelming 30.0 percent of his 4.0 three-point attempts per game.

Needless to say, even with the hand injury suffered in preseason, Boston had his share of inconsistencies, and just in a general sense, it was not the year one was expecting from the 6-foot-7 highly-touted wing out of powerhouse Sierra Canyon. Boston, for further context, was ranked as the #7 recruit in the 2020 class by ESPN.

That said, when you factor in the talent level, on-ball abilities/shot creation potential and him having a smooth playing style and with how he’s able to consistently generate space off-the-bounce, there’s reason to believe Boston could have star potential.

He’s again a 6-foot-7 wing that while he is thin (listed at 190 pounds), should end up gaining weight gradually in the NBA. And with his handle, shot creation abilities/with how he’s able to easily generate space off-the-bounce, I couldn’t blame the Cavs for targeting him via potential draft trade.

Boston I believe, whether or not Sexton ends up being traded, could come along off the bench for Cleveland early on, and though it wasn’t shown at UK necessarily, he does have a clean stroke and I think will show real range off-the-catch.

Plus, on-ball, feasibly in minutes off the bench I’d think in Year 1, and maybe more from there/potentially as a starting 3, Boston could provide Cleveland with on-ball scoring punch from the wing. His shake, pick-and-roll promise as a shot creator, pull-up capabilities and skill level could be very dynamic at the NBA level with more open floor opportunities to boot.

Now, defensively, Boston has a ways to go, and will take time to develop into a competent/good player on that end; I’m not denying that. Nor am I suggesting that there won’t be growing pains with him early in his NBA career.

In that 20s-mid 20s draft area potentially though, one couldn’t blame the Cavaliers for going for him, as they previously did with Kevin Porter Jr. (I won’t go into that further).