NBA Draft: 5 wings Cavs could take if they keep first-round pick

NBA Draft: 5 wings Cavs could take – AJ Griffin, Duke Blue Devils

The player on this list least likely to be available for the Cavs to draft is Duke forward AJ Griffin, as his pedigree and recent strong play have elevated him up most draft boards. You can find him as high as five on some, but early in the season he was late-lottery or later, and that reality could surface again – at least enough to give the Cavs a shot at him.

Griffin’s primary calling card at Duke this season has been his 3-point shooting, and he is hitting a scorching 48.1 percent of his 3.7 attempts per game. In conference play that goes up to 48.7 percent on 4.6 attempts per game. In a recent tight game against the Virginia Cavaliers, Griffin got hot late, hitting two triples in the final minutes — including a sick sidestep bomb — to hold off the Wahoos’ charge.

Griffin got off to a slow start this season due to a knee injury, and he has a history of lower-body injuries so the medical report on him will be key for any team considering drafting him. If the knees hold up he is an excellent athlete, and he leverages that defensively to jump passing lanes but also hold up against larger players. He should comfortably play the 3 in the NBA, and as his body fills out he could be a smallish 4-man as well.

Griffin shoots just 75 percent from the line, but that’s a small sample size and there isn’t anything mechanically wrong with his shot. On the Cavs he would be a bit of a project, but as he is polished up he could be exactly the sort of 3-and-D wing with upside beyond that every team wants. That probably means he goes too early for the Cavs, but Tyrese Haliburton should have too — you never know.