With the season coming to an unfortunate end, the direction quickly shifted to the offseason for the Cleveland Cavaliers. With the core intact, the team is now looking for players to continue to grow in different ways. Isaac Okoro should look to focus on improving his offensive game, Evan Mobley looking to expand his range and array of post moves, and Collin Sexton continuing to rehab his meniscus injury and re-sign with the team.
Missing the playoffs meant that the Cavaliers retained the pick used in the Caris LeVert trade. They know own the 14th-best odds at landing the number one overall pick with a chance of 0.5%. This is a hard way of saying that the team has the 14th overall pick, or likely near that, and should do extensive research of players who could be available around their pick.
The 2022 NBA Draft brings a question that the Cavaliers have had to answer over the last four drafts, should they draft for fit or talent?
Judging the roster, the team’s core seems to be set, as stated by many. Darius Garland and Evan Mobley look to be the “star” players that the team has been looking for since LeBron James’ last departure. For Garland, an All-Star campaign has multiplied his national buzz.
Career-highs in points, rebounds, assists, steals, field goal percentage, and three-point percentage, he was the one to keep the offense afloat despite the many injuries the Cavs went through. A combination of shifty dribbling, offensive orchestration, and deep-range, he has the goods to reach Damian Lillard/Trae Young-like play.
Evan Mobley showed it all in his rookie campaign as the scoring, defense, and playmaking were so impressive for such a young player, as our own Dan Gilinsky demonstrated. It’s scary how controlled and composed he was for a 20-year-old and as he continues to grow into his body, his play should only get scarier.
Jarrett Allen and Collin Sexton look to be complementary pieces to the core, and the All-Star-level play they’ve shown over the last two seasons is what gives the core that extra layer.
Isaac Okoro is looked at to be the glue that brings it all together, depending on his offensive growth.
Add in the veterans that the team has surrounded those players with and you see why they made the jump that they did.
Now, we look back to the draft. It’s easy to look for a plug-and-play guy as this draft has several but a swing at talent could result in a massive boost in their championship chances.
So, talent or fit? In today’s article, we’ll look at this question and see which route the team should go.